Josh, I'm happy to report that 4 days ago, your TubeGuardian software repelled a votebot attack against my channel, disabling the ratings on all my videos in time to make the attack 100% unsuccessful! THANKS AGAIN, hero! :-)
Damnit! If only I'd heard about the software at the time it'd have saved me some hassle... but it wouldn't have gotten me the positive attention that the attack gave me =P
I would have it installed, if it wasn't about 1:24am here in Ireland =P Actually I'll head off and install it now and then give it a proper review within the next week... Shouldn't really be doing this, but... *fingers crossed* that I get hit again soon so I can properly demo it.
I'm actually surprised my computer hasn't burnt out yet... it's been running near constantly for the past few months! Poor thing... then again, that's what it gets for being such a pimped out machine. Got the program running and messed around with the settings. I can now confirm that it works, well, up to the point of it auto-disabling the ratings. That part still requires testing. This gets two thumbs up from me. It's extremely simple to navigate and figure out too, which is great.
You can test the enable/disable feature by right clicking a video in your Observer Status screen, and telling it to disable the vid. If it succeeds (check in a browser), tell it to enable the vid. If it does both without a problem then you're 100%. The triggering mechanism is tested and confirmed working :).
Congrats on getting it up and running. The stats form is really buggy yet, but it can make some cool charts once you have some data.
Thanks DoR, I literally collapse like a school girl giggling each time someone tells me that TG thwarted an attack. The fact that this comes from you means that I'll need a new diaper.
I use the desktop recording software Camtasia Studio. Sadly, this software is semi-expensive; you might also consider the free alternative: hypercam. PM me if you need links ;).
Haha, yes I know. I actually read about Euler as a young child, and it was years before someone corrected my pronunciation (we didn't talk much about power series when I was young ;P). I've never broken the habit, and I don't think I ever will. I'm an old dog at this point!
I've heard of another user having this issue. I am looking into it. Could you tell me if the program is writing to the log files (CollectData.log, TubeGuardian.log) located in the same directory as the program? I saved settings directly to file using the same code as I did for the log files. In my next release I'll do the proper thing, and store data in the settings environment MS provides... Old habits (manual saving/loading) die hard!
yes the .log files are in the same dir as the .exe, only difference being is the location of the folder, which i am guessing is the issue, that is if you have hard coded it to look for the settings in
Hard coded constants!? I would never! JK, yes I hard coded the filenames (not the log file option is disable ... yes, I'm forcing you to log!). The actual code goes more like:
Kevin, I bet you're right. I run my stuff with admin privileges, so maybe that's why I didn't run into it (running the binary at least ;p). I'll address this in the next release. Thanks guys!
What if a video is legitimately getting one star votes for poor content? This program could be used by those who censor to prevent their videos from being rated down.
No, it works on statistics of what your average vote is and how often you are voted. So if you get lots of votes in a short period of time, which are far from your mean vote, THEN it will jump in. So with legitimate votes, even if far from the mean, should be easily far enough apart to not get picked up, and as it can't act till after it's received information of low votes, it can't stop individuals.
I'm sorry guys, I rushed this out, and it's only windows at the moment. I use some low level socket handling through managed COM. What that means, in short, is that I have to do a bit of re-writing to make it MONO compatible so that MAC and *Nix users can get in on the party. My thinking was to get the largest chunk of users first, and deal with the other operating systems later. My apologies ... I have a solution in the works :).
I am offering the TubeGuardian for download from my site too. Now immattoneil will have to share the page! I have 3 of his MP3's for download as well, a gift to the YouTube community :)
Since many members of the community live in different time zones maybe we could organize a buddy system that would ensure that if one user goes offline, his/her account is still protected. What do you think?
1. Will there be any problems if you have two people running the guardian on the same account? Such as letting your friend run it on his computer, and your own just in case one goes down for some reason.
2. It looks like this program is almost always downloading things, even if small. What is the transfer rate like with it? I assume it is nothing noticable. It's just worth taking note of, because some people have internet providers that limit downloads per month.
2. The program downloads only once per user account per cycle. You set the cycle time (how often the data refreshes). The data isn't a huge issue (enable/disable is almost negligible) unless you live under special circumstances (low daily limits?). I will have more detailed information on the exact amount of bandwidth usage involved, but it's certainly variable and highly dependent on user settings.
I'm sorry perrson you will need to get a Windows emulator (VirtualPC, etc) in order to run it on mac. An online version is possible in the future. Stay tuned.
Hello Josh, First off I want to say thank you for this program. Small channels such as mine can not take hits of this kind time and time again. But I have to ask you if you can do something. I did download your program but I am not one that knows a lot about how to run such programs. Maybe if you have the time you could do a "How to set up and use" video that takes things step by step. Once again I thank you for taking your personal time to help people combat votebots with this program.
*Update* It took a bit to find out how to run the program on my own, but I got it up and running now. It is working great and I even jumped on a few sock accounts of my own to test it. It did just like you said and I will be passing the info out to others about this program. Once again Thank you vary much for this program.
thanks for the heads up threed. I have a bit of a clue as to where it's coming from... do you not experience it at all...ever? I'm too tired to re-write the section of the code I need to in order to test my theory ... but no bug is too big to squash.
... thou shalt not blaspheme against thy lord god - Chrome
Is there any programme that can up rate an already attacked video? Thanks for the programme BTW, it saved me from 1 attack =D
SimCity4IE 2 years ago
This has been flagged as spam show
JoshTheGoods are you a white hat hacker and if you are could you please help me in some of the challenges please I beg you...
nicevagina1 2 years ago
I've had my computer on for years, no problems. Actually, it's easier on your hard drives if you keep your machine up and running all the time.
squirreljester2 2 years ago
holy shit you sound like seth green
ReekOfPutrefaction17 2 years ago
The only flaw is that you have to keep your computer on.
Other than that it works very well.
kvj1989 2 years ago
Josh, I'm happy to report that 4 days ago, your TubeGuardian software repelled a votebot attack against my channel, disabling the ratings on all my videos in time to make the attack 100% unsuccessful! THANKS AGAIN, hero! :-)
DefenderOfReason 2 years ago
Damnit! If only I'd heard about the software at the time it'd have saved me some hassle... but it wouldn't have gotten me the positive attention that the attack gave me =P
1rishShaman 2 years ago
That is indeed a trade-off! So do you now have the software installed? If so, you can sleep easy......
DefenderOfReason 2 years ago
I would have it installed, if it wasn't about 1:24am here in Ireland =P Actually I'll head off and install it now and then give it a proper review within the next week... Shouldn't really be doing this, but... *fingers crossed* that I get hit again soon so I can properly demo it.
1rishShaman 2 years ago
(Just make sure you leave your computer on once it's up)
DefenderOfReason 2 years ago
I'm actually surprised my computer hasn't burnt out yet... it's been running near constantly for the past few months! Poor thing... then again, that's what it gets for being such a pimped out machine. Got the program running and messed around with the settings. I can now confirm that it works, well, up to the point of it auto-disabling the ratings. That part still requires testing. This gets two thumbs up from me. It's extremely simple to navigate and figure out too, which is great.
1rishShaman 2 years ago
You can test the enable/disable feature by right clicking a video in your Observer Status screen, and telling it to disable the vid. If it succeeds (check in a browser), tell it to enable the vid. If it does both without a problem then you're 100%. The triggering mechanism is tested and confirmed working :).
Congrats on getting it up and running. The stats form is really buggy yet, but it can make some cool charts once you have some data.
joshTheGoods 2 years ago
Simplicity at it's simplest lol
DefenderOfReason 2 years ago
Thanks DoR, I literally collapse like a school girl giggling each time someone tells me that TG thwarted an attack. The fact that this comes from you means that I'll need a new diaper.
joshTheGoods 2 years ago
LOL Just send me the bill - I'll be happy to buy a year's supply for what you accomplished :-)
DefenderOfReason 2 years ago
I apologies for ask this stupid question but.
I always wondered, How on earth do you take vids of your desktop ?.
Thanks in advance =D.
bloodangel13 2 years ago
I use the desktop recording software Camtasia Studio. Sadly, this software is semi-expensive; you might also consider the free alternative: hypercam. PM me if you need links ;).
joshTheGoods 2 years ago
I just DLed today... so far no problems, thanks so much for your hard work on this thing!!!
spikesmth 2 years ago
Is the program open source? I would love to learn how to do this stuff.
mavaddat 2 years ago
No, I'm sorry it is not open source. The potential for abuse is real with this code. If you have any specific questions - please feel free to PM me.
joshTheGoods 2 years ago
Euler is pronounced like "Oiler" =)
Geochron 2 years ago
Haha, yes I know. I actually read about Euler as a young child, and it was years before someone corrected my pronunciation (we didn't talk much about power series when I was young ;P). I've never broken the habit, and I don't think I ever will. I'm an old dog at this point!
joshTheGoods 2 years ago
Your the best Josh!
King of youtube!
SuperAtheistBrothers 2 years ago
FUCKING AWESOME!!! YES.
ThoughtfulAtheist 2 years ago
thank you dearly
AxiomofDiscord 2 years ago
Hi josh,
Is the source of the app avaible somewhere? If so under what license if not, why not.
Cheers,
Jonas
veers0r 2 years ago
No, I'm sorry it is not open source. The potential for abuse is real with this code. If you have any specific questions - please feel free to PM me.
joshTheGoods 2 years ago
is anyone else getting the issue on x64, that when you reboot your pc tube guardian isnt remembering your settings?
threedfiend 2 years ago
I've heard of another user having this issue. I am looking into it. Could you tell me if the program is writing to the log files (CollectData.log, TubeGuardian.log) located in the same directory as the program? I saved settings directly to file using the same code as I did for the log files. In my next release I'll do the proper thing, and store data in the settings environment MS provides... Old habits (manual saving/loading) die hard!
joshTheGoods 2 years ago
yes the .log files are in the same dir as the .exe, only difference being is the location of the folder, which i am guessing is the issue, that is if you have hard coded it to look for the settings in
C:\Program Files\TubeGuardian
on x64 they are in
C:\Program Files (x86)\TubeGuardian
threedfiend 2 years ago
unless you mean as long as it sees there exe is there all should be good ?
threedfiend 2 years ago
Hard coded constants!? I would never! JK, yes I hard coded the filenames (not the log file option is disable ... yes, I'm forcing you to log!). The actual code goes more like:
string filename = Application.Path + "\CollectData.log";
Nonetheless, you guys are right. I'll change the settings to save to the registry.
joshTheGoods 2 years ago
Vista and later don't like you writing to files in the Program files folder, and "virtualize" it instead. Don't know if that's the issue.
KevinSolway 2 years ago
Kevin, I bet you're right. I run my stuff with admin privileges, so maybe that's why I didn't run into it (running the binary at least ;p). I'll address this in the next release. Thanks guys!
joshTheGoods 2 years ago
thank you for this program i needed something to help with this problem have been trying for a long time thanks again
donnylester 2 years ago
What if a video is legitimately getting one star votes for poor content? This program could be used by those who censor to prevent their videos from being rated down.
dlo3434 2 years ago
No, it works on statistics of what your average vote is and how often you are voted. So if you get lots of votes in a short period of time, which are far from your mean vote, THEN it will jump in. So with legitimate votes, even if far from the mean, should be easily far enough apart to not get picked up, and as it can't act till after it's received information of low votes, it can't stop individuals.
theretard666 2 years ago
Is it possible to get a version of this for the linux distros?
PaganMale81 2 years ago
Indeed... I am currently using FC9. :O/
Katalyzt
Katalyzt 2 years ago
I'm sorry guys, I rushed this out, and it's only windows at the moment. I use some low level socket handling through managed COM. What that means, in short, is that I have to do a bit of re-writing to make it MONO compatible so that MAC and *Nix users can get in on the party. My thinking was to get the largest chunk of users first, and deal with the other operating systems later. My apologies ... I have a solution in the works :).
joshTheGoods 2 years ago
Josh: I use Fedora 11... I'd be willing to help test the program if you need help.
I can also quickly setup Ubuntu, OpenSUSE, and Debian in VirtualBox instances to test as well.
Give me a shout if you need testers.
Jason
J6a6so6n 2 years ago
So, incase you guys missed it ... it appears that TG runs well in VirtualBox. Mac and *Nix users, come on in!
joshTheGoods 2 years ago
Grrrrrrrr......
SuperFlyNB 2 years ago
I am offering the TubeGuardian for download from my site too. Now immattoneil will have to share the page! I have 3 of his MP3's for download as well, a gift to the YouTube community :)
DoomedEarth 2 years ago
Thank you for doing YouTube's job for them. 5 stars to you hero.
HappyCabbie 2 years ago
Hmm...
Since many members of the community live in different time zones maybe we could organize a buddy system that would ensure that if one user goes offline, his/her account is still protected. What do you think?
richi1173 2 years ago
I was thinking about this myself ... stay tuned for the solution I've come up with for people on macs/unstable internet/etc.
joshTheGoods 2 years ago
awesome
SliceA1A 2 years ago
josh did you mention me and porkytree - 1:14
ThePorkySon 2 years ago
ps
You sir win 1,000,000 internetz, now you'll never need any more internetz.
TheReasonWhyGuy 2 years ago
This would have been helpful it the program wasn't so easy I figured it out in a mater of seconds. :/
I'm surprised people have had issues with basic functions...
The only issue I had was that I had another program which somehow was interfering with it :/
TheReasonWhyGuy 2 years ago
WOW your so on the ball Josh!!!
I need to watch this a couple of times to make sure my brain has observed it correctly.
(Actually I'll get my programing loving son to look at it for me LOL because I am not smart wit this stuff)
nelliediddle 2 years ago
Thanks nellie ;D. Feel free to PM me if you have any issues!
joshTheGoods 2 years ago
Okay, two questions.
1. Will there be any problems if you have two people running the guardian on the same account? Such as letting your friend run it on his computer, and your own just in case one goes down for some reason.
2. It looks like this program is almost always downloading things, even if small. What is the transfer rate like with it? I assume it is nothing noticable. It's just worth taking note of, because some people have internet providers that limit downloads per month.
BloodiedHorror 2 years ago
1. No issues there.
2. The program downloads only once per user account per cycle. You set the cycle time (how often the data refreshes). The data isn't a huge issue (enable/disable is almost negligible) unless you live under special circumstances (low daily limits?). I will have more detailed information on the exact amount of bandwidth usage involved, but it's certainly variable and highly dependent on user settings.
joshTheGoods 2 years ago
Thanks for your help Josh!!
;~)
EvilBproductions 2 years ago
lol, frank.
BloodiedHorror 2 years ago
Have you been up non-stop programming since last week? Rest on your laurels for a bit and get some sleep! Great job.
DrMarcusHill 2 years ago
Just about Doc, you're right I'm going to try and lay down .... just ... one ... more ... zzz
joshTheGoods 2 years ago
does this work with macs the file name has .exe so i dont think it will work
perrson22 2 years ago
I'm sorry perrson you will need to get a Windows emulator (VirtualPC, etc) in order to run it on mac. An online version is possible in the future. Stay tuned.
joshTheGoods 2 years ago
brilliant. i have downloaded this and will keep the machine running over night.
BespokeGroupUK 2 years ago
Hello Josh, First off I want to say thank you for this program. Small channels such as mine can not take hits of this kind time and time again. But I have to ask you if you can do something. I did download your program but I am not one that knows a lot about how to run such programs. Maybe if you have the time you could do a "How to set up and use" video that takes things step by step. Once again I thank you for taking your personal time to help people combat votebots with this program.
PaganRon 2 years ago
*Update* It took a bit to find out how to run the program on my own, but I got it up and running now. It is working great and I even jumped on a few sock accounts of my own to test it. It did just like you said and I will be passing the info out to others about this program. Once again Thank you vary much for this program.
PaganRon 2 years ago
Awesome Ron! Thanks for posting, each happy story gives me the energy to provide support for the 3,4 less happy stories I get PMs about :).
joshTheGoods 2 years ago
Well here is something to put a smile on your face. I now proudly have on my channel front "This Channel Is Protected From Votebots By TubeGuardian."
PaganRon 2 years ago
Great stuff Josh. :)
Terrentia 2 years ago
on x64 systems it installs to c:\program files(x86)
threedfiend 2 years ago
i havent seen that error on firefox josh, so maybe its just an IE issue?
threedfiend 2 years ago
or a chrome issue ;) - i would look towards java and flash being the issue
threedfiend 2 years ago
thanks for the heads up threed. I have a bit of a clue as to where it's coming from... do you not experience it at all...ever? I'm too tired to re-write the section of the code I need to in order to test my theory ... but no bug is too big to squash.
... thou shalt not blaspheme against thy lord god - Chrome
joshTheGoods 2 years ago
nope, no msg windows
im on vista x64 using firefox 3.5.2 - adblock plus addon installed.
Could this not be an error that comes up as chrome is pretending to be IE? or does this happen on IE directly, if so which version of IE?
Mind you people who use IE deserve what they get :p
threedfiend 2 years ago
Thanks for mentioning me :)
And the program works great :-) Cant wait to get attacked.. LOL
Vogter2100 2 years ago