Orkut Spam, And How To Block It (For Life!)

Warning: This post is fairly long. You may need a cup of coffee (or even a few donuts) to get through this. ;-)

(Image Credit: AppScout)

Unless you are apart of the tiny minority who enjoys annoying the human race, you probably agree with me that spam is very evil.

Whether it's in the form of phone calls, emails or Orkut scraps from strangers, spam is the worst time waster in my opinion, mainly because their is no joy in reading or hearing messages that you have very little interest in.

So for those of you desiring to live a "spam free" life on Orkut, here are a few tips that you can use to make surfing Orkut a lot more fun.

Defend Thy Scrapbook

One of the great things about Orkut scrapbooks is the ability to leave messages that all of your friends can read. Unfortunately spammers have often used scrapbooks as a form of free advertising to the world, which can be iritating to both you and your friends.

Google has done an excellent job in fighting this using word verification, although unfortunately those days may be quickly coming to an end.

In order to keep spammers at bay, you may need to change your privacy settings to allow only friends, or friend of friends to post on your scrapbook. More information about that can be found over here.

Replace or remove Orkut email

Although its great that Orkut has an email system, its filtering abilities are limited at best.

In order to keep yourself from wasting time sifting through annoying emails, I would recommend either replacing Orkut email with Gmail or disabling Orkut email completely.

In order to set this up simply visit www.orkut.com/NotificationsSettings.aspx, and uncheck every box underneath the "message" column...



...and either check the boxes underneath the email column to have your favorite email address handle the messages...



...or you can leave all of the boxes blank and spammers will have no way of emailing you through Orkut (although neither will your friends).

Note: Currently there is not a way for only your only friends (or friend of friends) to email you, like the scrapbook, although Google will hopefully add this to Orkut sometime after their API launch.

List Digital Numbers Only

Unless you don't mind receiving random phone calls from strangers, you should never list your home or mobile number on Orkut (or any social network for that matter).

However, if you need to list a number online (for like business reasons), then you should list a "digital number" (with spam protection) instead.

Digital numbers are like regular phone numbers, and you can easily purchase one from Skype for a small fee, or from Google's GrandCentral for free (note: currently open to US users, but if you need an invite simply email me).

To add (or change) your number on Orkut, simply visit the "edit contact" page over at www.orkut.com/EditContact.aspx and scroll down to the "phone section" and enter your numbers below.



Last, do not forget to adjust your privacy settings in order to limit who can view your numbers.



That's it! These three tips have helped me avoid receiving spam messages while using Orkut.

If anyone has any other tips to add, be sure to let us all know by commenting below.

Stolen Orkut Forums, And Ways To Get Them Back

Note: Thanks to Ajay Choudhary for reminding me to post this.



So lets say you started a forum on Orkut, and to your surprise, many people are not only joining your community, but inviting their friends as well. Your forum blossoms into the thousands, which you continue to monitor and promote.

Then one day to your horror, you discover that somehow someone else has taken over your forum. What do you do?

There are two methods that of securing your Orkut forum (actually there are three but the third involves hacking which I WILL NOT discuss here, so don't ask). I have witnessed others using both of these, and I suggest users give them a try to see whether or not they are effective.

<-----------------Method One----------------->

Since everyone loves stories (at least I do which is why I like movies) I'll retell this event that I saw online. Note: Names have been changed in order to protect the innocent guilty those involved.

<---Story Time!--->

A girl names Shekut started a community called The Fun Forum (not its real name, but you get the idea). Shekut ran the forum for awhile, but the community grew too large for her to manage.

She then passed on Admin powers to Hekut, who took over The Fun Forum, while Shekut retreated back to the real world as Orkut was taking up way too much time.

Later on when Shekut returned to her community, she discovered it in the hands of Hackut. Now Hackut had through "brute force" acquired the forum from Hekut, claiming he was saving it from deletion by Hekut.

Hekut disagreed and claimed that Hackut was a liar (as well as a loser) and decided with the help of several friends to use their hacking powers to reclaim the forum by force. Unfortunately Google was in another round of purging hackers from Orkut, and Hekut and his gang were booted from the system.

Shekut and other members of the forum were upset about this, and tried to appeal to Google for help. Unfortunately since Shekut originally gave the forum away to Hekut (who was now banned), Hackut's authority of the forum ran unchallenged.

Darkut (that would be me) was contacted regarding this situation, but since Darkut did not work for Google, there was nothing Darkut could do legally.

Shekut then began to contact members of The Fun Forum to petition Hackut to return the forum back to Shekut. Members contacted Hackut through his scrapbook, his email and within the forum and (to my surprise) Hackut decided to give back the forum to Shekut, resulting in much celebration within The Fun Forum.

<-----------------End of Method One----------------->

As you saw in the above example, you can sometimes reason with the person who took over the forum to return the community back. In this case, that was the only alternative Shekut had, although others have used it to retrieve stolen forums, and it the person has a kind heart this method doesn't take too long.

But lets say the person who stole the forum is Jerkut, instead of Hackut, and he doesn't care for whatever particular reason. Here is a second (and faster) way of getting your forum back.

<-----------------Method Two----------------->

If your community has been hacked, and the person who dethroned you is unwilling to give it back, here are some necessary steps that should help speed up the process of reclaiming your forum.

1. Contact Google: You need to alert Google about this situation, by contacting them over here.
   
   Make sure you include as much information as possible, such as the date you started (or began administrating) the forum, the date you think it was stolen from you, and what the forum description was about.



2. Contact Forum Members: Send them an email asking them to report the illegal take over as well (with the same amount of detail mentioned above).
   
   DO NOT scrap all of your friends regarding this (as that would alert the thief) and do not ask your Orkut friends to report this on your behalf, unless they are members of the forum (as Google is more likely to believe a member than an outsider).



3. Be patient: Google employees (to my knowledge) do not spend all of their time reading trouble tickets. Most engineers (if not all) spend a large portion of their time making their pet projects better, of which the same holds true for Orkut.
   
   The good news is that if you are able to contact a Google employee fairly quickly, they will have the ability to help you out with your problem and understand your dilemma. The bad news is that due to the number of trouble tickets that they receive, you will probably not get a response back unless they need more info.


4. Secure Thy Internet: After getting back your forum (although I would recommend doing this while waiting) you should change your password on your Google account, not to mention delete any cookies, temporary internet files and cache.
   
   Also I would recommend finding a secure browser such as Opera, Firefox or Internet Explorer with security extentions.

According to Orkut Guide, (a Googler on the Orkut Help google group) Google is in the process of setting up a special forum for stolen communities.

Until then, I would recommend the methods above, as they will help "speed up" the process towards you reclaiming your forums.

Note: If anyone else has any other suggestions, feel free to post them below.

Hack: RSS For Your Orkut Communities

(Hat Tip: Orkut Plus)

This has probably got to be one of the best hacks that I've seen on Orkut in a long time! (and one that I have been requesting Google to create ever since logging onto Orkut).

Called Orkut Feed, this site allows any user to discover updates to discover updates to their favorite forums via site feed and add them to their favorite reader.

I am guessing the author is Brazilian as here is a brief explanation via Google Translator.

orkutFeed is a service that disponibiliza Feeds RSS for the communities of orkut. It is not necessary to make I register in cadastre! You only need to inform link of community, and to catch link of the Feed.

In order to add your favorite community, simply find the link of the forum in Orkut...



...and copy and paste the link into the space provided below (note: you have to love the "humongous font").



Next, click the "OK" button...



...which will bring you to a new screen. If your site feed is already listed via button form (which is to the right of the "big orange square" or the universal symbol for site feeds) then simply click on your preferred button (in this case I'm going to click on Google Reader) and subscribe.



Thus far, the site feed only shows title links, and not any of the content of the forum (as shown below).



This is probably a good thing (as it prevents other users from stealing one's content) although the anonymous coder may expand it later on to include full posts.

The great thing about this site is that both Firefox, IE and Opera users can enjoy the full benefits without having to switch over to a different browser.

Note: Will add this to the sidebar underneath Orkut User Tools.

Attack Of The Orkut Clones (And How To Remove Them)

(Image Credit: Collectoybles)

Story: So you are surfing Orkut one day and your friend contacts you and asks why you are scraping disgusting remarks about their girlfriend. You laugh at the your friends accusation, saying you would never do that until he points you to a profile that has your image on it.

Worse, it has your contact info, as well as a list of all your friends. It's a fake profile. So now, what do you do?

______________

Many people have been scraping, commenting (on older posts) or emailing questions on how to remove a fake profile. Although some may consider this trivial, it has resulted in some embarrassing situations for certain people, and believe it or not I've heard of worse examples bordering on criminal.

So for those of you who are harassed by these fake profiles, here are some recommended steps that you can take to successfully remove these profiles from Orkut, as well as suggestions of what NOT to do when you discover one.

1. Flag the profile: This is the first step that you need to do (and if you skip this, you may end up making the process longer). Underneath every profile (and community) there is a report abuse button where you can notify Google of the offense.
   
   
   
   Select the impersonating someone else or is a fake person option...
   
   
   
   ...and in the text field below provide a detailed description of why this profile is fake, along with links to your real profile and the fake one for Google to compare.



2. Alert your friends: Contact your friends online (via email not scrapbook) and ask them to do the same above.
   
   The email method would be advisable over scrapbook because it doesn't alert Mr. Fake Profile on what is happening and it keeps your friends scrapbook from being flooded with unnecessary outrage.
   
   Note: For those of you who are Firefox fans, Orkut Helper makes this process so much easier as all you have to do is right click and select "report as bogus" on the profile link.
   
   
   



3. Alert the Orkut Public: believe it or not, there are certain forums whose sole purpose is to alert each other about fake profiles so they can (as a group) remove them from Google's system. See this post for details.



4. Contact the Authorities: Only do this if the fake profile created is posting your personal info online (i.e. phone numbers, email, address) and random people are requesting disgusting services (you know what I mean by this).
   
   American users will probably receive a faster response (being that Orkut is hosted here locally) than those in other nations such as Brazil or India. Either way, don't go off into "Google hating," as they often have to balance user privacy against justice issues.
   
   Note: If you are a lady, I would recommend contacting the authorities if the profile is harassing you in any way, as these losers should know better.



5. Relax and wait: Don't let this one profile ruin your experience online. After you (and various individuals) have reported this, simply go on surfing Orkut, and enjoying life in Google's deep blue forum.
   
   Also give Google at least two weeks to remove the profile, as they are supporting close to 50 million users on Orkut alone, let alone the hundreds of millions (if not billions) who use their other services daily.
   
   Note: if after two weeks you do not receive a response, you can contact Orkut directly over here or alert Google at security [at] google [dot] com .

Now that you know the steps you have to take to successfully remove a profile, here are several things you SHOULD NOT do:

• Hack the account: This will not only get you banned from Orkut, but also from most of Google's services.
  
  Worse, your fake profile would still remain, spreading even more havoc online.



• Threaten the user: Although it may feel great to vent how you feel towards Mr. Fake profile, this could also not only get you banned, but also arrested as well (which would make the situation worse).
  
  Note: Ironically in similar situations I've seen some people get banned from Orkut because of this (which helps out your enemy more than it helps out you).



• Spam their scrapbook: It's not only a waste of time, but also a quick way to earn Google's wrath.


• Yell at Google: I would only recommend this if you want to slow down the response time for Google to solve your problem.
  
  Simply alert Google to your problem, and do not spell in all caps (it's considered yelling) and check your grammar and spelling.

That's it thus far, and hopefully these steps will help aid your fight against these impostors. I am interested to hear on other ways people have combated these Orkut clones, and if you have any advice or stories to share, then let the rest of us know by posting below.

Rahul Ressurects Orkut Toolbar For Firefox

Orkut Toolbar was one of the first Orkut hacks that I came across that made life easier "orkuting."

Unfortunately after I upgraded to Firefox 2, I lost the ability to use this tool, although its absence was short lived with hacks like Orkut Scrapper and Orkut Helper filling the void.

It seems however Rahul has taken the time and energy to ressurect this Firefox Add-on, which you can now install over here.

Thanks Rahul!

A New Tool For Orkut Citizens

(Hat Tip: Welcome to Devils Workshop)

There is another great website for those of you who either:

• lack a beautiful profile



• lack the ability to create "text art"



• lack the ability to customize your name or



• All of the above

If any of these apply to you, then Orkutando.net (and Orkutando.net/eng for those of us who speak english) is the site for you. This tool can be quite useful when you have to scrap a friend.

However make sure that you keep your message short as Orkut has length restrictions on how long your message can be.

They also have some nice profile pics, although you may not want to choose them unless you can figure out a way to remove the "mini link ad" within the image.

Note: Adding this to the sidebar underneath Orkut User Tools Orkut Related.

Update: Orkutando was more of a helpful site for Orkut rather than a hack.

Another Orkut Hack (Orkut Scrapper 1.0)

Update: Thanks Priya for the info! Corrected authorship below.

It appears that we have another Orkut hack that might dethrone Orkut Cute from its number one position.

Developed by Binny K Mathew Priya (from India), Orkut Scrapper 1.0 gives users the ability to see a live preview of their message before posting on their friends scrap book. It also adds a reply button within the scrapbook, making it easier to notify your friends. Here is a screen shot below via the official Orkut Scrapper blog. (click on photo to expand)



Their are a host of features associated with Orkut Scrapper including the ability to send invisible scraps, delete all your messages in your scrapbook (very handy if you are being flooded), although the ability to flood someone else's scrapbook may not make Google very happy.

Priya is also promising to add According to Priya (a friend of Binny's) there will be even more features such as the ability to change one's background skin as well as a scrap alerter.

For a list of more features (future and current) regarding this hack please visit the Orkut Scrapper blog (or the forum) for more details.

Note: Will be listed under Orkut User Tools on the sidebar.

Update (11:41 AM): It looks like Orkut Scrapper is no longer working after Google updated the scrap book. Sigh.

Google Search Within Orkut Forums (Sorkut)

I am not talking about the search feature mentioned on Orkut News, but rather the ability to search within a specific forum or community.

Known as Sorkut, this hack was developed by Rohit Kumbhar and is only available for Firefox users (sorry IE fans). For those fortunate enough to partake of the browser rebellion, you can download the add-on over here. Here is a brief description about Sorkut below:

Use this toolbar to search for threads with specific words in the title. Just give the cmm id of the community you want to search, enter the search term and click Search. Its basically an automation that an ultra patient person would go through for searching the threads he wants.

NOTE: You must be logged in to orkut to use this toolbar.

This hack is great but for those of you who are visual, lets do a picture recap below.

The CMM ID of a forum is the number at the end of the forum link.



Simply copy and paste that number into the CMM Id box.



Next, type in what word you want to search. In this case, I am searching a Christian community with the word "bible" in it.



This will bring up every post with the word "bible" in it's topic headline. For those of you who want to search for a word within the forum, simply check the Search posts box and it will Google the word for you.

Note: The Search posts may produce some errors, so I would suggest not searching for common words like "the" which can give Sorkut a headache.

Update: Listed on the Sidebar underneath Orkut User Tools.

Orkut Online Status Indicator?

Update (8/15/06): This hack is no longer working. See this post for details.

One thing that Orkut lacks that many social networks have is an online status indicator. Many other social networks (such as MySpace.com) have this feature by default, but Orkut users were left out in the cold--until now.

The Orkut online status indicator (its official name is On-Off 1.0) was developed by Link who designed it to allow users to let their friends know whether they were online or not.

This feature requires both Firefox and Grease Monkey and is listed on the sidebar underneath Orkut User Tools.

Once installed users will notice a Status link between their email address and the Settings link.



After clicking on it, users can then select whether they are online, busy, away or offline.



After selecting their availability, the feature will update their status on their profile page.



Another cool feature about this is that it also updates your profile link throughout Orkut, letting everyone known whether your online or off.

Note: This hack is originally in Portuguese, but if you want to switch it towards your language follow these steps.

• Search for onoff.user.js on your computer (recommend using Microsoft search)


• Once the file is found, open it up inside Microsoft Wordpad


• You should see something that says, Muda seu status de On/Ocupado/Ausente/Offline no orkut. Simply change Ocupado to Busy throughout the entire document (or whatever language you love) as it repeats several times.


• Repeat the step above for each word you want to change (such as Ausente or Offline)


• Save and restart Firefox.

If anyone has any problems changing it over to their language, post here and I'll help you out as time permits.

Update: Added extra step in "translating" Orkut On Off 1.0 . Also added to sidebar underneath Orkut User Tools.

Update 2: For those of you who were confused, here is the GreaseMonkey link to install this hack, which is also listed on the sidebar.

Changing Your Orkut Background

Although Orkut's sibling Joga.com gives users the ability to change the appearance of their background, members of the "deep blue forums" were unable to alter Orkut to their desired taste--that is until GreaseMonkey came along.

Many users within the world of Orkut have found ways of altering their screen backgrounds with the aid of GreaseMonkey, a tool (for Firefox) used to alter a web browser's appearance (more info via Wikipedia).

Here are some of the best background hacks that I have seen thus far:



1) Creamkut gives Orkut a total face lift. What I love about Creamkut is the fresh look it gives by adding new font styles, borders and even replacing the original buttons with customized ones to match the hack. Creamkut also has an official forum for those with further questions.

Recommended for anyone looking to escape the basic baby blue colors of Orkut as well as spice up the overall look of the forum. (download script)

(Designed by Alex da Silveira Ceara)

______________________

2) Pinkut is a skin that makes Orkut...well pink. The design is not as beautiful as Creamkut, but it does add a "feminine touch" to Orkut, which many girls would probably enjoy. Pinkut also has a dedicated forum for those with questions or comments about this skin hack. (download script)

(Designed by Jacques, or is it Julie now?)

______________________



3) Blackut is for those who like their Orkut rather dark. Although it appears to me as if the skin makes it "grayer" than anything else. This skin piece also looks fairly well, and may be preferred for those who think that the baby blue color of Orkut is really dumb (although the color has a weird calming affect on the mind).

You can visit the official Darkut forum for further details and questions. (download script, or install directly into Firefox)

(Designed by Jacques)

______________________

4) Bluekut (not to be mistaken for this Bluekut which I misspelled) is for those who enjoy Orkut's blue background, and like Creamkut this is a complete hack as it covers not only the background and forums, but also the buttons as well. (download script)

(Designed by Igor Thiago)

______________________

5) Redkut is also a complete hack although you may notice spots not covered while surfing throughout Orkut. This hack kinda reminds me of blood, which may be cool for those either in the medical field or if you are into the "vampire" mood. Redkut has a small forum here, although from what it appears this skin does not seem to be as popular as the previous ones. (download script)

(Designed by Marcella)

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6) Orkut Roxo (or Purple) gives the Google forums a slightly romantic look. Also Designed by Igor, this skin would also be recommended. I am not sure if this is the official Roxo forum, but from all appearances it may as well be. (download script)

(Designed by Igor Thiago)

______________________

7) Orkut Verde (or Green) is for those who are feeling a little bit of Irish. This skin also has a very nice layout, and the green does make Orkut appear a little bit more "relaxing" than the baby blue, although it may wear out on you over time. Their is a forum inside Orkut dedicated to Orkut Verde where you can post further questions or comments on. (download script)

(Designed by Igor Thiago)

______________________

There are many other skins you can try out, although I posted what I thought were some of the best ones out there. More scripts are listed on Igor's Orkut Scripts page (as well as more Orkut tweaks). For those interested in customizing your own personal skin of Orkut, you can either try creating a GreaseMonkey hack or simply download Orkut Cute, the unofficial browser for Orkut.

If anyone knows of any other skins, feel free to let me know by posting below or scrapping me via Orkut.

Update: Corrected some grammer.

Advice From The Masters

I long time ago in a forum far, far away I posted in the Community Owners forum asking what their advice was on building a successful forum. Here are what the experts (at least to me) have to say:

(Tom (C-YtEK)) Popular, broard, [controversial] issues.

Don't limit your subject matter too much. the broarder the topic the more discussion you can have on it. [...]

Advertise but don't spam. Word of mouth will do a far better job of attracting members than by pissing them off in other communitys with spam.

Find a topic a group of people (your friends is easiest) is already interested in, tell them about your intention to start the community, a community started with one member tends to bomb out, but if you have a handful people see potential for discussion.

(Carolyn) Some of your decisions will piss people off, and some of them will have even people you like disagreeing with you. Own your decisions. That doesn't mean that you should be unwilling to reconsider if you've been wrong, but don't be afraid to say, "I made a decision, live with it."

(Dr. Awkward) I'm in favor of strong moderation. Some (but not all) of my communities are strictly English and I delete all Portuguese posts. [...] All off topic spam gets deleted too and so do troll posts full of hatred. I'm sure most members appreciate this and if not...tough luck.

One of the tones stressed is moderation of forums. Although I generally try avoid being the "censor police" (unless of coarse it is violent and threatening) I can see their point in why filtering out "the trash" helps promote discussion. Forums without rules are forums without purpose and only by checking out their communities do I see their advice producing fruitful forums.

Gabrielle also had some suggestions, which I consider the "icing on the cake" for those seeking to build successful forums. Here are some of her suggestions below:

• Have an descriptive profile for your community. Basically, what the prospective members can find, who should join, etc...


• Announce it to your friends, in Orkut and outside


• Inform members of related communities (i.e.: if you create a community called science, people hanging in other communities such as mathematics, biology, chemistry, engineering, etc... are likely to have some interest in your community too. Silly example but you get the gist of it.). In the threads not in messages, this pisses me off so I do not inflict it on others;


• Equally important, ask the owner for their permission and create reciprocical links


• Post. I see communities where the owner/moderator has created a community just go away without ever posting anything, what is the point? Also, you give the tone by posting...


• Try to spend time with your members. Get to know them. By doing so, you are most likely to know what makes them tick and then source the relevant information that is likely to interest them


• Use gimmicks to make them loyal to your community, wanting to come back. My ebook community allows me to post my list and offer to share my books with them. Painstaking time spent on this but worth it


• Keep the motivation up. It is easy to spend two hours a days for three weeks and then disappear for a few weeks, but this is a mistake. Even ask somebody to moderate for you while you are away or if your need a break.

Gabrielle last two suggestions are probably unheard of throughout the Orkut forums, but both of them are probably the reasons why many of her members visit her communities. It would be fun to collect everyone's tips and write them in a small book, but for now a weblog will have to do. ;)