Domain name alert! Make sure to keep your DNS records up to date!

[Melooon]

This is probably a niche issue but it's one that caught me out and could happen to you if you have a custom domain name!

I had a subdomain I was using for one of the old melonland servers, after I switched host I closed that old server, but I forgot to disconnect the subdomain from the IP of the old server. It seems like someone figured out what webhost I had been using with that IP address (It was DigitalOcean) and they managed to claim the IP address on their account and started publishing SEO junk on it 

So in essence, my subdomain was pointing to a website that I did not make Thankfully the old SSL cert would have stopped most people from actually finding it. However I really don't like that a site under my name was posting things I didn't know about.

The subdomain is now fully deleted and their website is dead, but it was a bit of a wake up call to be more careful about subdomains and DNS records.

If you have a domain name, make sure to keep your DNS records up to date and don't leave stray subdomains unattended 

[DiffydaDude]

Man i hate how so much of the internet is dedicated to seo spam

[nobo]

yeah, that is annoying.
especially when search engines like Google will sometimes punish you and all your websites if they catch you doing certain shady SEO tactics.

[bingus_baby]

started publishing SEO junk on it

As someone disgustingly interested and educated on the topic... What kind exactly? It doesn't really matter what kind it was, I'm just curious! The kinds I've seen most often are fake storefronts and fake "facts" websites, putting up articles and fun facts about video games, written by chatGPT.

[DiffydaDude]

Someone on OpenStreetMap said that alot of their SEO spam was actually tracked as coming from Pakistan. So maybe there's some pakistani/indian call centers spamming these to make money. Also those fake storefronts are obnoxious! Theyre always "selling" random pictures

[Melooon]

What kind exactly?

It was quite sneaky; they were doing some sort of junk facts/articles site (prob paid ads and clickthroughs), but they had clearly pitched to try and fit into a melonland aesthetic, mixing regular clickbait news with articles about Sanrio and Tamagotchis.

Im guessing they were banking on my sites having enough traffic to be worth their while, but they made the mistake of using a subdomain that was never actually linked anywhere, it was only ever used for ssh access to that server.

I also doubt it was a real person; I imagine it was some sort of script that tries to take over dead websites and restore fake replacements based on GPT descriptions of what the site was. There's something a bit creepy and necromantic about that

EDIT: I'd also like to link this thread discussing the importance of having plans in place for your site to be looked after or gracefully shutdown when you die, because I don't think anyone would want this to be the fate of their site after they are gone: https://forum.melonland.net/index.php?topic=1267.msg11018#msg11018

[DiffydaDude]

@Melooon the seo spam that Openstreetmap was tied to real people. I think its people from call centers trying to turn stray websites into honeypots. Thats the thing that annoys me. so much of the internet is now just trying to drill money from it in the shadiest ways possible instead of actually posting things that are good for people