Russians hack The Online Darkroom



I wrote in this post how I'd inadvertently missed the blog passing the one million hits mark and I've since been determined not to repeat the error when the 1.5m target was due to be reached. Well, that goal was passed today - helped by some suspicious activity from Russia.

Although anyone with even basic critical thinking skills can see that allegations of the Russians helping to elect Donald Trump were most likely "fake news", there's no doubt at all that the Russkies helped me reach another mile stone.


I was expecting to write this post in a few days but, for some reason, I got quite a spike in traffic from Russian visitors. It's happened before once or twice and I can't really account for it. I've never exchanged emails with John Podesta or Huma Abedin and never discuss politics on the blog. I have, however, sold vast quantities of US uranium to Russia. Oh no, wait a minute, that was Hillary Clinton.

So, for whatever reason, thank you Russia and thanks also to all my loyal readers who helped me scale new heights even if, in the grand scheme of things, the 1.5m figure is more mole hill than mountain.
Written by Bruce Robbins at

12 comments:

  1. Omar Özenir17 March 2017 at 04:33

    Bruce, I suggest you use Google Analytics for a much more realistic view. The standard Stats interface on Blogger includes all non-user generated activity: bots, spiders...and whatever else is crawling around the web.

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  2. Keith Tapscott17 March 2017 at 08:42

    There's nothing to worry about Bruce, Vlad just wanted to do some research of his stash of Kodak HIE film and wanted the time for the Firstcall developer. ;-)

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  3. Bruce Robbins17 March 2017 at 10:23

    I haven't used Analytics for ages, Omar. Went and had a look and - lo! - the Russian spike was gone. However, I also gained a quarter of a million hits! Result!! It does mean that I missed the 1.5m Mark, though. :)

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  4. DavidM17 March 2017 at 20:58

    Perhaps you are going to be President. We already have Hadrian's Wall.

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  5. Bruce Robbins17 March 2017 at 23:33

    Sadly, can't be president, David. You have to be a US born citizen - one of the 50 states or Kenya seem to fit the bill. How ironic that Hadrian's Wall was built by immigrants to keep out the natives...

    ReplyDelete
  6. DavidM18 March 2017 at 08:31

    I was suggesting President of the People's Republic of Free Caledonia. Why not? At the very least, Minister for Tartan.
    But I can't keep up with it all. Who can? I had always thought of the Scots as reasonable and prudent, never breaking the Laws o' Physics.
    Enough perhaps. We are trespassing outside the darkroom.

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  7. Bruce Robbins18 March 2017 at 09:56

    Scots do have those qualities. Scottish socialists are another matter! But yes, back to the darkroom is a good idea. I'm breaking my own rule.

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  8. Dave Jenkins18 March 2017 at 20:47

    Apropos of nothing in today's post, Bruce, I received my Shell Guide to Photographing Britain today. It was ordered on March 9th from Merry Olde England and cost me the princely sum of $1.19 plus $3.99 postage. I would rate the condition as Very Fine. I'm looking forward to digging into it.

    A cursory inspection reveals that Lewinski used a Pentax 6x7 extensively -- one of my all-time favorite cameras.

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  9. Pavel D22 March 2017 at 05:46

    I am very relieved lately when I read the news, as it seems that China and the rest of the world have stopped any espionage or hacking attempts, and it is only Russia responsible for all of the worlds ills.
    The good guys at the CIA and others with ethics will stop him, I'm sure of that, and then we will all be safe.

    Putin is completely evil. I'm quite certain that the Russians have hacked my Nikon. Now it's taking terrible photos!

    It's important to be safe from these hackers - I for one am going back to film. Take that Vladimir!

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  10. Bruce Robbins22 March 2017 at 08:28

    You're right Pavel. It's pathetic how the west is seeking to demonise Russia. The three letter alphabet spaghetti of security agencies in the US obviously NEVER carry out any surveillance of foreign politicians. Isn't that right Frau Merkel? GCHQ is as pure as the driven slush as well. Even if Putin did interfere in US politics in a bid to have Trump elected, quite how the US manages to go after him when it's own history of "regime change" is long and bloody is beyond me. It's a dirty world and none of them are clean but, from what I can tell, the US and Israel are probably at the top of the dung heap. Not their citizens, obviously, just the security services and politicians.

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  11. DavidM22 March 2017 at 14:17

    A handy tip:
    Many photographers' work can be greatly improved by protecting the camera from hacking. Wrapping the camera completely in kitchen foil will usually work, but Leica owners will find that as Leica lens caps are solidly made of metal, keeping them in place while shooting will prove effective. It will certainly remove clichés and poor composition. It may even save on film costs.
    A glorious era of more imaginative, perhaps even conceptual, photography awaits, as well as digital security. Please note that this will not work on Lomo and similar apparatus. A robust safe is the only solution. Keep the combination secret will help, but forgetting it will work even better.

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  12. Dave Jenkins23 March 2017 at 13:17

    The life of every Israeli is on the line every moment of every day. The next time you're at the library, pick up a few Daniel Silva books.

    ReplyDelete

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