So, earlier I get a AIM message from someone I have no idea who it is, and its asking me if I think the Dow will drop below 6,000 this year. I ask who it is, and answer. The guy has no idea who I am, saying I messaged him first. ??? What's going on here?
Well, it's actually a bot that ferrets out your username somewhere and sends a random message to you and another person, and automatically forwards the replies it gets to the other person. So, the situation is the same for both: you get a random message from someone you don't know, and you try to figure out what's going on. I dismissed it rather early, and immediately googled the SN to find out it's a bot part of a humorous scheme.
A blog post sums it up well:
http://nixiepixel.com/blog/index.php/aim-fish-bot-help
Here is an excerpt of the conversation she endured
![SS-20090123222809.png]()
It's completely harmless and can be opted out of by sending $optout to the bot. Here's a blog of some of the hilarity that ensues:
http://community.livejournal.com/themissinghat/
Well, it's actually a bot that ferrets out your username somewhere and sends a random message to you and another person, and automatically forwards the replies it gets to the other person. So, the situation is the same for both: you get a random message from someone you don't know, and you try to figure out what's going on. I dismissed it rather early, and immediately googled the SN to find out it's a bot part of a humorous scheme.
A blog post sums it up well:
http://nixiepixel.com/blog/index.php/aim-fish-bot-help
Here is an excerpt of the conversation she endured
It's completely harmless and can be opted out of by sending $optout to the bot. Here's a blog of some of the hilarity that ensues:
http://community.livejournal.com/themissinghat/
