My GMRS Hacked or Glitch?

[Raybestos]

 Browsing My GMRS repeater listing just now, I noted the number of repeaters listed for SC had jumped from 41 to 43, but I saw no new listings.  Finally, I noticed that the listing's for Hopkins and Palmetto GMRS Columbia 725 had "duplicates" with the "duplicate" listing in all lower case letters.  The information for both differed somewhat from the legitimate listings to include a coverage map for Ft Meyers, FL for each.  Looking around, I noted similar weirdness on other states' sites, to include the Kershaw, SC repeater  being listed on the North Carolina page as being Lancaster, NC.  Again, the coverage map shows the Ft Meyers, FL area.

Under the Georgia repeater listings, there is a lower case listing for "camden", again with a Ft Meyers coverage map.

Not sure how widespread this is but I wanted to make you aware of it.  

 

[Guest]

I’d bet some one again re listed them as their own attempting to add them to the “my repeaters” list. Not knowing that adds another repeater.  This has happened a few times before.  Or it’s something else….. 

[Raybestos]

That is an interesting thought!  I was unaware of that possibility.

[WRUU653]

1 hour ago, RayP said:

That is an interesting thought!  I was unaware of that possibility.

This has happend so may times it has become ridiculous. 

[Raybestos]

So, does an Administrator or other person at MyGMRS eventually remove those bogus listings (and maybe the account who created them), or do they just stay up indefinitely?

[UncleYoda]

Ray, as you may have noticed before (a while back), the 725 repeater, formerly at 600, was listed twice, once under each frequency, for a time.  That may explain part of it, if the 600 listing was later updated.  As I know you know, that owner changes things so much it's hard to keep up with.  I'm not sure on Hopkins, except it was listed as permission required for a while recently before going back to open.  I got permission from the owner during that time and he didn't say anything like it was supposed to open.   And I don't know if it's relevant to the problem you bring up here, but last time I got the list for SC, sorted by last update, there were multiple entries for some of the same repeaters.  I hadn't noticed that before; I was expecting each one to be listed only by the last update..

[SteveShannon]

40 minutes ago, RayP said:

So, does an Administrator or other person at MyGMRS eventually remove those bogus listings (and maybe the account who created them), or do they just stay up indefinitely?

If someone reports them Rich takes care of them but if nobody reports them they might remain in place. 

[Raybestos]

1 hour ago, SteveShannon said:

If someone reports them Rich takes care of them but if nobody reports them they might remain in place. 

Thank You, Steve!  Can you advise me on what the reporting procedure is?  I cannot find a "flag" or "report" button for the bogus repeaters or the page for the guy who has them in his "my repeaters" list.

[SteveShannon]

22 minutes ago, RayP said:

Thank You, Steve!  Can you advise me on what the reporting procedure is?  I cannot find a "flag" or "report" button for the bogus repeaters or the page for the guy who has them in his "my repeaters" list.

Make a post saying which repeaters are bogus then click on the three dots in the upper right corner and choose Report.

[Raybestos]

11 hours ago, UncleYoda said:

Ray, as you may have noticed before (a while back), the 725 repeater, formerly at 600, was listed twice, once under each frequency, for a time.  That may explain part of it, if the 600 listing was later updated.  As I know you know, that owner changes things so much it's hard to keep up with.  I'm not sure on Hopkins, except it was listed as permission required for a while recently before going back to open.  I got permission from the owner during that time and he didn't say anything like it was supposed to open.   And I don't know if it's relevant to the problem you bring up here, but last time I got the list for SC, sorted by last update, there were multiple entries for some of the same repeaters.  I hadn't noticed that before; I was expecting each one to be listed only by the last update..

Hi Uncle Yoda!   It appears that this is a situation like WRXP381 and WRUU653 had indicated.  This looks to be a bogus creation along with three others, that interestingly all wound up under one guy's "My Repeaters" list.  All four have a coverage map for the Ft Meyers, FL area.  I know the owners of three of the four.  You can see where the creator of the bogus listings used parts of past listings, current frequencies and PL's, and other stuff thrown together.  The all lower case type, is another clue, though on one, the lower case is on the location, not the repeater name.

I can't imagine why anyone would do this but it seems likely it is some childish need to make people think you put up repeaters that you never did.  Used to see this in the old ARRL Repeater Directories of previous decades.  I haven't bought one in over 15 years, but people would list themselves as having (ham) repeaters up, year-after-year-after-year, that either never existed or had not been working in years or even decades.  The ARRL would not accept the word of anyone but the repeater "owner" about status or anything else, therefore these vapor/paper repeaters infested their directory for years.

As I noted somewhere else, I guess this is the same pathetic mindset that motivates some people to commit "Stolen Valor" and claim to have been "Special Forces", "Navy Seals", and similar who were never those things and in many cases, never even served in the military.

[UncleYoda]

@RayP I see it now; I didn't notice the owner circle button (that needs to be enlarged or changed so the callsign is fully visible).  I did reprogram one radio channel based on the bogus listing.  I'll have to look for the last update by the real owners I guess.

 

I'll help Ray out:  @rdunajewski bogus listings:

9299 ... real is 9024,

9296 ... real is 2898

9295  ... real is 6541

and I think also 9297 and 9298

 

[WRUU653]

7 hours ago, SteveShannon said:

Make a post saying which repeaters are bogus then click on the three dots in the upper right corner and choose Report.

I have also found sending Rich a message from the contact page has worked as well for me. I did this once for a friend’s repeater that had a bogus listing. He took care of it no problem. 

 

3 hours ago, RayP said:

can't imagine why anyone would do this but

More often than not it’s done mistakenly. One person came here after they tried to save it as a favorite but noticed this happened and then didn’t know how to fix it. I try not to think the worst of people when it comes to this because it’s so prevalent. I feel one extra layer of safeguard would be beneficial, like a pop up that says “are you sure you want to upload this repeater as one you own” or something like that before it post. I don’t know something. 

[Raybestos]

2 hours ago, WRUU653 said:

I have also found sending Rich a message from the contact page has worked as well for me. I did this once for a friend’s repeater that had a bogus listing. He took care of it no problem. 

 

More often than not it’s done mistakenly. One person came here after they tried to save it as a favorite but noticed this happened and then didn’t know how to fix it. I try not to think the worst of people when it comes to this because it’s so prevalent. I feel one extra layer of safeguard would be beneficial, like a pop up that says “are you sure you want to upload this repeater as one you own” or something like that before it post. I don’t know something. 

You might be right.  I can't imagine how or why so many elements were altered in each one if it were a legitimate mistake, though.  Stuff like the Ft Meyers coverage map, the Kershaw GMRS repeater (in Lancaster County, SC) being listed in "Lancaster, NC", DPL Codes from Columbia 725 showing when they are not currently on the legitimate page, and other stuff.

Still, weirder things have been known to happen, so you might be right.

[WRXB215]

I don't know how long it's been this way and I may be misunderstanding exactly what it means but under "My Repeaters" there are two tabs, one for Favorite Repeaters and one for Owned Repeaters. Perhaps this will help.

[SteveShannon]

6 hours ago, RayP said:

You might be right.  I can't imagine how or why so many elements were altered in each one if it were a legitimate mistake, though.  Stuff like the Ft Meyers coverage map, the Kershaw GMRS repeater (in Lancaster County, SC) being listed in "Lancaster, NC", DPL Codes from Columbia 725 showing when they are not currently on the legitimate page, and other stuff.

Still, weirder things have been known to happen, so you might be right.

I think that those “altered elements” can be explained as notes that people made for themselves.

[WRUU653]

4 hours ago, WRXB215 said:

I don't know how long it's been this way and I may be misunderstanding exactly what it means but under "My Repeaters" there are two tabs, one for Favorite Repeaters and one for Owned Repeaters. Perhaps this will help.

If I remember correctly the default used to be “my repeaters” equaled owned repeaters and this is a change Rich made to try and make it more clear from how it used to be. Seems pretty clear now so who knows why people do what they do.