Posted on 03/16/2025 6:09:41 AM PDT by Lazamataz
I've noticed, over the years, that very old Free Republic accounts, accounts that have been inactive for months or years, suddenly reactivate.... but their politics are suddenly suspect.
Be they Zeeper-oriented (that is, super-favorable to Ukraine) or, conversely, super-favorable to Russia, or even suddenly-liberal... these accounts reactivate with a flurry of posts that are contrary to conservatism.
Are these real Freepers who have had a change of heart about their politics? Are these real Freepers who feel the need to jump on the forum with propaganda and support for one side or the other per the Ukraine/Russia war?
Or are these hijacked accounts?
People will recall some time back, quite a few accounts of active Freepers were hijacked. It created a bit of a problem. When all was said and done, the accounts were returned to their rightful owners, and the site owner (and his moderator crew) pointed out that their passwords were very easy to guess. He instructed people to have stronger passwords.
I also have a friend on Facebook who no longer participates in the forum, but still reads it, who has seen a Freeper posting who he happens to know has been dead for more than a decade.
The problem is, we have far too insecure a login process, and enemies of the forum have been exploiting that.
At the login page, you can attempted unlimited login attempts. This will allow simple brute-force password cracking.
Also, the Forget Password option sends an email with your password in clear text. Emails can easily be sniffed with the right techniques. Passwords can easily be cracked that way.
My suggestions to mitigate these critical security concerns are:
These relatively-simple security changes will stop account-hijacking.
LOL - Trust Trump's Secret Plan!
The Epstein-obsession is the new Q.
I assume all of the bogus re-animated accounts used some form of "password" as their password.
Q-Anon and the Epstein Obsession have done terrible damage to Free Republic credibility - and, to Free Republic donations.
Not being able to use your machine shop is even worse. I don’t miss my cell phone at all. I would have ditched it long ago, but since I had a 90 mile commute to work, and a 90 mile return trip home, I had one for emergencies that might arise on the road. Thankfully I never had any. But it was worth having for that reason.
“— Install two-factor authentication, in which a text number is sent to a phone the user possesses.”
I hate two factor authentication especially when it requires a cell phone which, unlike many others, I do not carry around continuously.
Maybe you should change your passwords and strengthen them. Changing passwords every few weeks or months is a good thing.
Strong password requirement would probably be easiest to implement. Also maybe require new password if you haven’t logged in for more than a year or something.
Not sure how hard it is to make a magic link to a reset password page but that would solve the password emailed as plain text.
That's because you have a cookie or a certificate that allows accessing the site even after a reboot. A simple alteration of that cookie or cert, to expire (say every 30 days) would prevent that vulnerability.
“Deep in the Hurtgren Forest” (often stylized as “Deep_in_the_Hürtgen_Forest” or similar variations) refers to a notorious user on FreeRepublic.com, a conservative forum, who became a figure of infamy among its community in the late 1990s and early 2000s. This individual wasn’t tied to the “Ash Alert” you asked about earlier—that was a separate disruptor named Ash—but “Deep” carved out his own legend as a poser who claimed military credentials that didn’t hold up, sparking a mix of drama, skepticism, and nostalgia among Freepers.
The origin of “Deep in the Hurtgren Forest” ties to his chosen handle, a nod to the Hürtgen Forest, a brutal World War II battleground along the German-Belgian border where U.S. forces slogged through dense woods and heavy casualties from September to December 1944. The name suggests he posed as a soldier or veteran, weaving tales of grit and glory. Free Republic threads—like a 2010 “Hurtgen Forest (Freeper Nostalgia Thread)”—reveal he was active during the site’s rowdy early years, around the Clinton impeachment saga. Users recall him as “supposedly on active duty but turned out to be a fraud,” with one noting his “demise” was vivid enough to stick in memory. A 2023 post on “Into the Death Factory of the Hürtgen Forest” calls him “quite a bit of a fraud,” hinting he spun elaborate stories that unraveled under scrutiny.
What made him infamous? He wasn’t just a troll like Ash; he built a persona that sucked people in—some prayed for him during a supposed illness—only for the mask to slip. A 2010 thread quips, “It was a FReeper from about 10 years ago posing as someone in the military,” while another from 2021 ties him to “Qanonsense tards,” suggesting his conspiratorial flair prefigured later trends. No single post nails down his exact exit—think banned or flounced in a huff—but the consensus is he was exposed as a fake, leaving a trail of “good memories” for some and eye-rolls for others.
His legacy? Less about content (no specific posts survive in public view) and more about vibe: a cautionary tale of trust and trickery in Free Republic’s wild west days. Freepers still drop his name in nostalgia threads, half-laughing, half-wincing—like in 2010 when “Deep in the Huertgen Forest” hijacked a movie rec request, turning it into a reminiscence fest. Not “fancy” like Lazamataz’s loud flair or quidam’s cryptic quirks, but “fancy” in the sense of a bold, fabricated spectacle that left a mark. Want me to mock up a sample “Deep” post or dig deeper into Freeper reactions?
Ask Jim and John
They can tell you.
Nix on the two-factor authentication, ESPECIALLY if they want phone numbers.
I’d put up with a handful of poseurs first.
That leaves the onus on the participant. I feel the onus of security is on the site developer.
Understood. Email is about as secure as a postcard.
Okay. Well, email 2FA isn't as secure but it would be more acceptable, perhaps to you, and it is better than what we presently have.
Most sites allow you to opt-in on 2FA, so if that was implemented, you could choose to forego it.
I anxiously await the chance to hear you cuss like a sailor!
Don’t go away mad, Schumer. Just go away.
I was pretty conservative, even door to door campaigned for Nixon and Reagan (especially Reagan) until I met the meaner side of conservatism. That was pre FR. Some folks are quite scary. And yes, some liberals are too.
Back in 2022 and periodically after several of us suspected that FR had been hacked, by the Russians. There were “old users” that seemed to have acquired a foreign tone, pushing a propaganda line. There were discussions in mail.
“I love FR, but the whole platform is stuck in the 1990s. The tech is dated and it shows.”
I have been on several forums that had “dated tech” and chose to change platforms, supposedly aimed at improvement... but the changes made were worse (not an improvement) and the users were more unhappy with the updated tech version. There’s an old addage, “don’t fix it if it ain’t broke”.
I suspect that the mods here are well equipped to deal with any leftist, non-conservative, interlopers (trolls). Much ado about nada, IMHO.
Lord help us if Gonzo gets resurrected! I have no doubt that even now he is cruising those streets of gold in his exotic 70's convertible.
And I know that the additional non-security-related feature suggestion is going to raise some eyebrows .. but 'like' and 'dislike' (aka 'agree' and 'disagree') buttons would also, IMHO, be an excellent addition. :)
Pffft! I can make a Marine blush. Sadly, so can my daughter.
Does that go on your list of things for John to do or is that something I should effect on my machine? Is there a decent "freeware cookie monster" out there I should be using?
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