370K spam comments in one day

July 10, 2018July 10, 2018 ~ msgracefulnot ~ 30 Comments

I swear to anyone listening that no one can make this shit up! If anyone wonders, why I swear so much….this is ONE example.

No that is not a typo!….. What it is, is just my luck!…. I spent a good hour yesterday emptying my spam folder. (even with bulk edit, it only lets you empty 20 at a time). I had almost 2000 comments in spam, so it did take awhile.

I don’t know if you can read that, but when I was done yesterday it said I had -17 spam comments. Not sure how they came up with that number either, like I said just my luck?

When I signed into WP this afternoon after running all my errands this morning, I had 370K

Before I was done chatting with “WP support” I had another 7000.

When I started writing this I thought I was “gonna go off” about this, but to tell you the truth now, I am just plain exhausted. Below is a copy of the chat with wp:

I emptied my spam folder yesterday and today I have 370k comments in spam. Can you do a mass delete for me?

Help?

Hi there!

Hello

What type of spam are you talking about please? Is it comment spam?

yes

Ok, Comments can be managed via the WP Admin area of your site here:

https://yoursite.wordpress.com/wp-admin/

Click on that link and then on Comments tab on the left bar.

You can then select the spam comments and at the top of the comments list

that is what i did yesterday and I deleted all the spam comments 20 at a time

i got 370k overnight

I see.

In this case I advise you to blacklist this spam source

how do I do that?

You can do that by coping the email address of the spam comment and pasting it in the Blacklist textarea in this settings page here:

https://yourwebsite.wordpress.com/wp-admin/options-discussion.php

the messages are coming from no email address

Do you have an example for me to help you?

You may copy the IP address as well.

I mean instead of the email address.

you cant sign into my account?

ip is the www address?

The IP address appears below the comment author’s gravatar

The IP address is a number

I’ll send you a screenshot, hang on, please.

i think i found it

how do you add multiple ip addresses

Ok, one per line

and is there not a way to do a “mass dump”?

Actually no, the same IP needs to be added just once.

czadh@gxjyt.bo 6 minutes ago·www.herpescured.com

jbqxkqkot@yjhn.hk

they are all different ip addresses

I advise you to activate the comments option that makes name and email required.

i just want to make sure you are telling me I have to add them all manually? there isn’t on dump all spam bucket

Yes, that’s correct.

OMG!

There isn’t a way to add those IPs or emails automatically.

We already have an anti-spam tool

I thought so too, but why did I get so many?

askimet right?

it is working but the comments that passes through it, they need to be marked as spam or blacklisted manually.

Yes, correct.

ok, well ty for your time, I apparently have a lot of work to do

I think this comment option is really important to activate.

but it still wont dump the ones there

No, it’s just to avoid that amount of spam.

In the future

one last question

Sure thing!

sarcastic question

has anyone else ever had that much spam in one day

or am i just lucky?

I can’t tell, but making name and email requirements, makes it more difficult to robots send spams

Ok ty for your help. Have a nice day

Did I mention you can’t make this shit up?!?!?

Needless to say, I am NOT going to go through an add all of those ip addresses, and I am kind of disappointment that they were not able to help other than to suggest that I only let people with a wp account comment. That is what I have done for now.

I was thinking of switching to self hosted next month, maybe things will change for the better then. In the meantime, I apologize if you can’t comment on a post.

Has anyone ever had a problem like this? Help? Advice? Tips?

NOT THE TUBE!!!!

July 6, 2018October 5, 2018 ~ msgracefulnot ~ 35 Comments

By the time this post appears, I am probably already stuffed in the tube for my annual MRI. Nothing new really, I’ve only had 40 or more, I should be a professional by now. But Today is a First for me. I am going to attempt to go in without being drugged. Lately, I have been pushing myself to do things outside my comfort zone, you know like dealing with FEELINGS and shit….. :(, So I figured why the hell not….?

Tonight (well now last night) Thing two looked at the dry erase board with all of our schedules on it. She saw that I was scheduled for an MRI at 10 AM Friday, and asked who was taking me. Like a proud 4 year old that learned to tie their shoes, I replied, “I’m going by myself.”….. The NEIGHBORS could hear her laughing……smh heh Thanks for the support kid!

I guess I should start at the beginning and maybe share some of my MRI tragedies with you. The very first time I went in for an MRI was 20 years ago, when I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. I had never even heard of such a thing. The doctor explained, “it’s just a glorified xray machine, but it will take much better pictures”. If she was still in practice I would find her and let her know exactly how I feel about her bullshit explanation by placing my foot in her ass. SMH….

So about 20 years ago, My sister in law and I show up at the hospital for my first MRI of my brain. I thought they were looking for a pinched nerve or something simple to explain the numbness in the left side of my body.

I was 25 and had no idea that I was claustrophobic. I laid down on the table and they put something that is called a coil around my head.

Coil my ass! This thing felt like a vice and I couldn’t breathe!

While they were trying to calm me down, the doctor called down to say that she wanted a cervical spine and thoracic MRI as well with GAD otherwise known as Gadolinium for contrast. This meant another coil and two more hours to the one I was already committed for. The second coil looks like this.

Oh fuck no! Although the coil is very lightweight, it felt like 100 lbs on my chest. I started panicking and hyperventilating before they even put me in the tube!!!!

Hey guess what…. I’m claustrophobic as fuck!!!!!!

They called the doctor back and told her I was being ‘uncooperative’, could they give me something to relax me? After all these years, I still can’t believe I was the first person to ever freak out about being put in a tube, in fact I am positive that I wasn’t. Seriously though, no warning!!!!

I don’t know what they gave me to sedate me, but I kind of remember climbing back onto the table, being “strapped down”, given a little “panic bulb” and being pushed inside the machine. I must have fallen asleep. When I woke up, still inside the machine, I tried to squeeze the little panic bulb, but I had dropped in in my sleep.

I started yelling, and kicking the machine from the inside. No one was coming!!!!! My sister in law could here me yelling in the waiting room and came busting through the door yelling, “can’t you hear her in there, get her out!!!!”…. That is the LAST time I ever let anyone put me in an MRI machine without being drugged to some degree.

In fact this is the perfect time to share another MRI mishap. It was 5 years and several MRI’s after that first bad experience. This time I was going to be smart though…or so I thought…. I had scheduled the MRI for 6 am on Black Friday. My thoughts were, that I would stay up the entire night before shopping and I would be so exhausted that I wouldn’t need as many drugs to go in the tube. Sounds like a good plan right?

We went to Thanksgiving at my parents, did black Friday shopping, but I couldn’t stay awake. The last time I looked at the clock it was 2 am Friday morning. The next time I looked at the clock it was 11:30 am. I started yelling at my husband, why didn’t you wake me? I had to be at the hospital by 6 am!!!! When I stopped yelling, he said, “Grace, you were at the hospital and you had your MRI, Honey it’s 11:30 on Saturday!”

NO fricking way!!!!!

My stomach was growling so loudly, so I went in the fridge to find something to eat.

I found something like this with a section filled with turkey, another with sweet potatoes, and so on and so on.

When I finished stuffing my face, I told Ken that he his idea of filling the veggie tray with leftovers was brilliant.

He responded, “I didn’t do it, you did.” “after we went for your mri, we stopped by your parents, you ate almost a full plate of deviled eggs, and filled this up with leftovers”

I have absolutely no recollection of anything after 2 am Friday morning. Apparently, everything he said was true though. Looking back, I Think I self medicated TOO much. That’s the only explanation for it.

I really scared the shit out of myself with that one!

Since that time, I have learned better and SAFER coping mechanisms for being placed in the tube, but it has taken me years to work up to this.

I know how to disconnect the coil myself.
I only schedule one mri at a time.
I do keep my eyes closed the entire time.
I keep the music on very loudly in the headphones
I “tie” the panic bulb around my hand
I make the technician talk to me between each picture and tell me how long the next image will take. (so I can break it down into 5 minute segments)
and perhaps most importantly, I go to the same place with the same technicians each time, so I have developed a bit of trust for them.
I know that if I can’t make it, I always have the option of LIMITED drugs

I hope to write tomorrow (later today) that it was a piece of cake. I have to try! MS is not going away, nor are the yearly MRI requirements to stay on Tysabri, so I might as well give it a shot. If you are interested in learning more about my experiences, with Tysabri, please type tysabri in the search box, I think I have made several posts.

How do you deal with repeated MRI’s? Any tips?

Questions for Ex-smokers

June 21, 2018 ~ msgracefulnot ~ 49 Comments

Ok I did it. NO I haven’t quit smoking, but I picked a day to quit smoking. Before you think, heh big deal you picked a day, please let me tell you that this is more than I have ever done in regards to quitting. In fact, just thinking about quitting smoking causes the emotions in my head to get so fired up that I end up lighting up another cigarette to ‘calm my nerves’.

I honestly don’t remember a time that I didn’t smoke. No, I don’t remember my first cigarette. I don’t remember why I started, as I said, it’s just something that I have always done. It’s hard to find a picture of me without a cigarette in my hand. I wake up, I smoke. I drink coffee, I smoke. I walk the dog, I smoke. I drive the car, I smoke. Talk about a list of triggers?!?!?

I have been trying to make a list of reasons to quit smoking, and I keep coming up with more reasons not to. (self sabotaging much?)

I made a promise that I would quit. I picked a day. August 15, 2018.

The things that I have been reading about quitting smoking say that some helpful tips are to: make a plan, pick a day, tell friends and family etc. I am working on the plan.

Would you mind sharing your story about quitting with me?

What were your reasons for quitting?

What tools did you find helpful in quitting?

What positives did you personally notice after quitting?

What was the hardest part about quitting? How did you work through that?

Anyone want to jump on the wagon with me?

August 15, 2018 is my day.

Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!

May 15, 2018October 5, 2018 ~ msgracefulnot ~ 23 Comments

So last night, after avoiding the forced Microsoft update for more than a couple weeks, I finally Clicked that damn button. After what FELT like hours ( because my cell phone is “in the shop” and it was pouring rain outside) the upgrade was finished. I restarted my computer, and was met with ” a new and improved” sign in option to use a pin and biometrics. Biometrics? Now you want MY BLOOD?!?!?…

Ok, not my blood…YET… just my fingerprints and/ or an iris scan. And they are “selling you all of this to make you feel safe?!?!? Where are you going to store this information? How are you going to protect me from hackers who can download the information and duplicate it to steal my identity?!?!

That’s ok, you don’t have to answer. The fact that I signed in on May 14, 2018 and didn’t immediately throw my computer out the window says that I’m surrendering any right to fight you right? Funny that you’re telling me I need to then close my Microsoft account before May 1, 2018 if I don’t like it.

Apparently I was looking for a fight last night (and maybe still am today), so I continued reading the terms I “agreed” to.

In the Code of Conduct section, we’ve clarified that you should not publicly display or use the Services to share inappropriate content or material, including involving offensive language, and that you should not engage in activity that is fraudulent. Inappropriate content means illegal or harmful content, and offensive language means violent, profane, or hateful language. We’ve made this change to ensure the public parts of our Services are safe and secure for all customers. This doesn’t change our existing policies – it simply clarifies that inappropriate content includes offensive language, among other things.

WHAT THE FUCK EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Does that mean I need to start learning linux? and would that even help?

Several months ago I wrote a post, Is it possible to go off the grid? Many of the responses I received said the using the internet etc was a privilege not a right. I can understand that line of thinking, but are you sure you really know exactly what you are paying for that privilege or convenience?

I’m not trying to tell everyone to ditch their phones and their computers etc. I am asking you to think about it. Are you so dependent on your technology that you are allowing others to control your actions?

How did I get here?

March 6, 2018 ~ msgracefulnot ~ 29 Comments

I woke up this morning feeling, I would like to call it “recharged”, but it is better than that, and I really can’t find a word to “define” it. Liberated? Free? Optimistic?….I guess the definition doesn’t really matter, but the feeling is INCREDIBLE.

Today, I was “supposed” to run electricity with my dad, but the weather changed our plans. As I reached for my “to do list” to fill up my day, a thought hit me. I really LIKE this feeling. Instead of rushing to fill the “free time” with some other task, I decided to do nothing, just for a minute…. Did I mention I like this feeling??!?!? I still don’t have a word for it, but I really like it.

Those damn feelings of CO-Dependency kept trying to creep in. Someone, somewhere must need something. I am positive that I am forgetting something for the wedding, maybe I should start packing now, so I can recheck it 50x before we leave Friday morning? STOP IT GRACE!!!

I looked at the calendar, everything is right on or ahead of schedule. How the hell did that happen? The last two? three? weeks are kind of a blur.

Okay so how did I get here?

I reread some of last weeks blog posts. Oh yeah, I kind of remember doing that…. maybe? I’ve been living on auto- pilot. I have been “going through the motions” and not letting myself FEEL anything.

Yesterday, when I arrived at the hospital for my Tysabri infusion, the nurses kept asking me if I was ok. “Are you sure, you’re ok?” I replied, “Yes, I’m good, just overdue for this infusion and I’m really tired.” and then they asked again…”Grace, are you going to be able to drive home after this?” I responded, “I’m not driving, I promise…my parents will be here in a little bit.”…. one more time….”Are you sure?”….. uh huh…..and I was out.

I woke up to my dad’s voice in the hallway calling out my name to see which room I was in. The minute, I saw their faces, tears came pouring out of my eyes. What the hell is this, why was I crying? It didn’t really matter, it’s not like I could stop the tears anyway. So I just let them flow.

I don’t remember anything else from yesterday. I know my parents brought me home. I know I ate at some point etc etc. and I slept. I really slept. I still don’t have the adjective to describe this feeling and I am going to let that be ok.

In the past two hours that I have been sitting here, drinking coffee and reflecting I have “learned” some thing about myself.

I can “handle” physical pain, but I do everything in my power to run from emotional pain, in fact, I think I have done this my entire life. I stay busy all the time. I go out of my way to try to make people feel better all the time, because I can’t handle tears. I can’t handle watching someone who is grieving suffer. I literally would rather go to the dentist, get shot, jump off a cliff, you name it, than to FEEL emotional pain.

My first thought, was “that’s just pathetic”. But then I asked myself, “Why?”. Who says it’s pathetic? Seriously, who’s voice is that judging and belittling me? The voice was my own. There is no one to blame. It’s that VERY FRICKING LOUD “little voice”, in my own head trying to sabotage myself. When I type it out in black and white, it looks just plain silly.

Ok, so I have some work to do on myself. (But not today). Today I am going to just be. I am not “planning for tomorrow”, or “thinking about yesterday.” Today, I am just going to be.