Debito disappears!
I noticed during the last month or so that a few times Debito’s blog went a bit funny, spewing out random characters instead of the usual blog, behaviour that some might argue was an improvement, I suspect.
However, today (21st May) I got a hit from someone searching for “Debito”, so I did the same search to see what was going on and:
Eh, no debito.org! The site is still running, but even trying the site-specific site:debito.org turns up not a sausage.
I also noticed that Occidentalism.org dropped off Google recently, but I susupect the reason for that was due to a lot of keyword stuffing in hidden text, something that doesn’t seem to be happening at Debito’s site.
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Maethelwine said,
May 21, 2008 @ 22:16
Hey, I just wanted to let you know that I’ve listed you on Japan in Motion’s “Blogs on Japan” site. We’re trying to direct attention to Japan-oriented blogs that we especially like, written from a foreign perspective. This includes both well-known blogs and some that are flying under radar. If there are any Japan-based blogs you’ve enjoyed, or read regularly, maybe you could leave a comment and let us know. Thanks, and keep up the good work!
Arudou Debito said,
May 22, 2008 @ 14:20
Hi Ken Y-N. I’m afraid hidden keyword text stuffing is precisely what happened (not sure upon what you based your assessment that it wasn’t that). We have remedied the problem and have reapplied to Google for relisting. Damned nuisance, really. Debito in Sapporo
Ken Y-N said,
May 22, 2008 @ 22:16
Maethelwine, thanks for the review, and I dropped a comment.
Debito, I didn’t say you were keyword stuffing as I couldn’t see any on your site, and I’d never seen it either. I occasionally look at the source code for sites I visit, and every time it seemed normal. DId you get hit by some sort of exploit?
On the other hand, Occidentalism.org was obviously doing something naughty as the off-screen links could be seen for a split-second as the page loaded, and the ads they were serving were all credit card-related, and it had been that way since the New Year at least. I’d better check I’ve not been hacked…
Arudou Debito said,
May 23, 2008 @ 07:21
Sorry. I misunderstood. Yes, I got hit by some kind of exploit (something that put text in there that I was unaware of). That’s why my site was also down for some days. Again, damned nuisance. Debito
Ken said,
May 26, 2008 @ 02:21
Occidentalism.org was obviously doing something naughty
Ken, I don’t think Occidentalism was intentionally doing anything bad - it looks like a case of exploit through SQL injection. It seems as though they were the victims of a nasty exploit.
There are a lot of these SQL exploits out there for older versions of WordPress. JEN was hit, and I noticed it right away due to checking Google Webmaster regularly. I took it all out and upgraded - luckily never had any negative effects in Google.
One potential problem is installations of WordPress include this line in their headers:
For a bot looking for an outdated installation of WordPress to exploit, this is sort of like giving the keys to your house to a criminal. This line should always be taken out of any WordPress installation.
Ken said,
May 26, 2008 @ 02:22
I guess that code didn’t make it through the comment, which is a good sign! It’s sort of like this:
meta name=”generator” content=”WordPress (insert version number)”
Ken Y-N said,
May 26, 2008 @ 07:45
Ken, thanks for pointing that out - I’ve been meaning to remove that line but never got round to it, so I’ve done that now. For anyone interested, it’s under Presentation/Theme Editor/Header.
I know Debito used to be running 2.0.x, which had a couple of known exploits. I assumed Occidentalism must have been aware of it (yes, I should contact them instead of spouting baseless opinion…) as it was so obvious! Remember a few years ago even Wordpress.org itself was selling links.
Debito.org for sale » 世論 What Japan Thinks said,
September 25, 2008 @ 23:05
[…] Such links would certainly not be acceptable on What Japan Thinks (I’ve refused a couple of lucrative but unethical offers), and Google takes a dim view of participating in link buying and selling for PageRank schemes, so he is risking his second ejection from the Google index. […]