Ever wonder why you have sites listed as "referrers" in the log files of your web server even though those sites don't actually have links to your site? Simple. The answer is greed.
Since the early days of the web, people have been finding ways to manipulate search engines like Yahoo, Lycos and Google. The first people who were successful at this were the pornographers. They discovered that by loading their "keywords" met-tags with random english words they could get higher listings in the search engines. You would do a search for "pepperoni pizza" and end up getting 20 listings for porn sites. Higher listings means more traffic. More traffic means more money. Shortly after that trick reared its ugly head, the search engines began ignoring meta-tag keywords and, although they don't overtly admit it, they still do to this day.
So how do you get a higher listing in the search engines? The engine operators are very closed-mouth about this for one reason -- money. Why would they tell you how to move your ranking to the top of the list for free when they can charge you to move it there? About the only reference Google currently makes to their methodology is that they decide who and when to crawl based on how many other sites have links to your site. Supposedly this allows the Internet to rank itself. The more popular your site is with the Internet at large, the higher your ranking in the search results.
So if you can't get hundreds of people to list your site out of the goodness of their heart, how do you get your site URL under the nose of the search engine robots? Simple, you force your URL on unsuspecting administrators.
Simply, the losers who came up with this "Referer SPAM" scheme place their URL into the referer field of a robot and let it roam across the web. The log files of unsuspecting site administrators are now littered with the URL of the spamming sites. What good does that do? Well in the case of my site (and millions of others) it does absolutely no good. But some sites actually put copies of their logs on-line for others to view. Usually these are highly formatted with programs like Analog or AWSTATS. Several of the blog programs also show referrers right on the front page of the blog. The search engines stumble on these logs and the spammer's URLs get counted.
The solution to this problem will be left as an exercise to the student. However, for those that like to keep informed about these kinds of nefarious activities, we offer a short but positive list of those who have spammed us here. We welcome contributions from others, please send enough information that we can confirm the details.
Source Address Referer Spammer ====================================================== 64.182.124.212 mywbs.com 64.182.124.212 pacificair.com 66.178.190.231 spidervisit.com (hostitcheap.com) 205.236.189.32 bravespider.com (hostitcheap.com) 205.236.189.33 fastcrawl.com (hostitcheap.com) 205.236.189.31 asitesearch.com (hostitcheap.com) 205.236.189.35 aweblist.com (hostitcheap.com) 205.236.189.34 asitelist.com (hostitcheap.com) 205.236.189.36 bigweblist.com (hostitcheap.com) 205.236.189.37 catagoryhound.com (hostitcheap.com) 69.31.82.202 i-horny.com 64.235.219.73 w3md.net 64.235.219.73 cartedaffaire.net 205.209.177.70 xopy.com 67.166.104.224 timberfrog.com 204.209.140.66 finderfox.com 64.207.46.75 syntryx.com 207.248.240.119 harry-potter-fire.com 207.248.240.119 trans-union-review.com 207.248.240.119 pimp-my-ride-tuning.com 148.244.150.57 game2code.info 148.244.150.57 toyota-ford-truck.info 148.244.150.58 carpetcleaners2.info 148.244.150.58 cars-wheels-auto.info 148.244.150.57 car-q.info 148.244.150.58 computer-softwaree.info 148.244.150.57 auto-motorcycle-helmet.info 148.244.150.58 car-insurance-zone.com 148.244.150.58 health-insurance-2.com 148.244.150.58 barcodecs.com 148.244.150.58 mobuma.com 64.182.91.100 pokerlistings.ca 83.205.225.62 arkadia.com 67.124.148.101 FreeGame123.com 66.28.54.254 alledvd.de 66.28.54.254 euroautoteile.de 66.28.54.254 eurofahrrad.de 66.28.54.254 eurohoroskop.de 66.28.54.254 euroklingelton.de 66.28.54.254 flirtenjetztg.de 66.28.54.254 greatnotebook.de 66.28.54.254 happyhund.de 66.28.54.254 happykatze.de 66.28.54.254 happypferd.de 66.28.54.254 jetztjob.de 66.28.54.254 megagesundheit.de 66.28.54.254 megakosmetik.de 66.28.54.254 superkontaktlinsen.de 66.28.54.254 topdigitalfoto.de 66.28.54.254 wohnunghier.de 66.28.54.254 worldlastminute.de 66.28.54.254 xxlgarten.de 66.28.54.254 xxlgeschenk.de 66.28.54.254 xxlpfundeweg.de 66.28.54.254 xxlwellness.de 66.28.54.254 greatimmobilien.de 66.28.54.254 flohrlaw.com 66.28.54.254 exercise-i.com 66.28.54.254 ixkey.com 66.28.54.254 avatarprinting.com 66.28.54.254 bluewaveradio.com 66.28.54.254 feiyuantools.com 66.28.54.254 timekapsules.com 66.28.54.254 titletownbrewery.com 66.28.54.254 art-comp.com 66.28.54.254 artcoa.com 66.28.54.254 ashtarte.com 66.28.54.254 processedge.com 66.28.54.254 sawneedrug.com 204.188.105.194 ipayforhouses.com 204.188.105.194 paperbagssite.com 204.188.105.194 paperbagsfyi.com 204.188.105.194 fyipaperbags.com 204.188.105.194 bagag.com 204.188.105.194 bestpaperbags.com 204.188.105.194 my-post.com 204.188.105.194 ny-eye.com 204.188.105.194 binnb.com 204.188.105.194 beddingi.com 204.188.105.194 imixrecords.com 204.188.105.194 tellduilaw.com 204.188.105.194 tpty.com 204.188.105.194 favorsspace.com 70.87.208.34 discountnexus.com 70.87.208.34 besftbuy.com 70.87.208.34 bestbujy.com
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