We just never got around to blogging about it, but it was one of the first things we listed. We keep seeing more of their stuff, and listing all of it.
For other views, see
- http://www.vitavonni.de/blog/201208/2012082001-researchgate-spam.html
- https://www.biostars.org/p/63561/
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ResearchGate#Criticisms
- http://www.quora.com/How-did-ResearchGate-acquire-2-2MM-users-All-by-spamming
- https://www.reddit.com/r/compsci/comments/1i5hpm/researchgate_please_stop_spamming_me_again/
and countless other similar posts.
The latest bit is that they have hosting in Peer 1’s datacenter in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and they’re spamming from there, too. The CASL might take care of that. If you received spam from ResearchGate from 209.15.214.0/24, make a complaint to the Canadian authorities as well. (If you use bl.scientificspam.net for blocking spam, you won’t get any, of course.)
Currently listed IP addresses:
- ResearchGATE Corporation PEER1-RESEARCHGATECORPORATION-01 (NET-69-174-243-128-1) 69.174.243.128 – 69.174.243.191
- 216.152.133.228 to 237 (unSWIPped range by Peer 1 in violation of Section 4.2.3.7.1 of the ARIN Number Resource Policy)
- 66.135.44.244 to 253 in Dogster, Inc. PEER1–DOGSTER-INC–01 (NET-66-135-44-192-1) 66.135.44.192 – 66.135.44.255
- 207.198.102.84 to 93 (unSWIPped range by Peer 1)
- 209.15.214.196 to 206 (unSWIPped range by Peer 1)
Timeline:
http://fossilsandshit.com/illegal-file-hosting-site-researchgate-acquires-massive-financial-investment/
Congratulations to RG on the funding. Thanks to Green Tea and Velociraptors for independent confirmation of our findings: the spam.