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General >> Administrative >> something needs to be done about spammers
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Message started by xxkid123 on Aug 20th, 2009 at 6:09pm

Title: something needs to be done about spammers
Post by xxkid123 on Aug 20th, 2009 at 6:09pm
well i was thinking, something should be done about the spammer problem. i know the web sites budget isn't exactly too high, but we have C_A with computer skills though... so i was thinking if we could do something where someone is spammed by a moderator, the person will be banned from this site forever by doing something with the IP code (it happened to me once because i was to young to use meebo...) so either way it would be much better.

we could also use Captcha, it's that annoying thing on youtube that makes you type in what you see in those words that only a real person can see, and not a spam bot

Title: Re: something needs to be done about spammers
Post by slinger87 on Aug 20th, 2009 at 8:03pm
yea, reporting spam isnt all that fun after about the millionth time.

Title: Re: something needs to be done about spammers
Post by curious_aardvark on Aug 26th, 2009 at 12:43pm
we block ip addresses, we block email addresses (well I do)

The problem is that these are not spambots they are real people signing up for forum accounts, so none of the auto block things work.

I do go through new members and delete any obvious ones - but they're not all obvious till they post spam.

Any ideas are welcome

Title: Re: something needs to be done about spammers
Post by xxkid123 on Aug 26th, 2009 at 4:13pm
hey, maybe if we could make it so that they had to make one post on the new members thing before they can post anywhere else, just read. their likely to be dissuaded (unless their stupider then i thought), and go to an easier target

Title: Re: something needs to be done about spammers
Post by curious_aardvark on Aug 28th, 2009 at 11:35am
well I suspect they'd just post spam first in the new members forum and then go and post it elsewhere.

keep thinking :-)

Title: Re: something needs to be done about spammers
Post by xxkid123 on Aug 29th, 2009 at 10:30am
maybe we can't post large links? like links that can only go to one website or soemthing, and not those large spam-up-your-computer links?

Title: Re: something needs to be done about spammers
Post by curious_aardvark on Aug 31st, 2009 at 10:35am
not sure that's practical - or even possible.

The problem is that currently, until they post, it's very hard to tell a spammer from a 'normal' member.

I do check all the new members and delete a fair number before they post - but I have to give some very odd email addresses the benefit of the doubt. It's a thin line between deleting spammers and deleting genuine members.

Given the timezone distribution of the slinging.org membership (and for our younger american members that means a lot of us Do Not Live in the states :-) there is always going to be a point when a spammer appears and no mods are logged on.
Equally, given that aussie is 11 hours ahead of me and I'm 8 hours ahead of chris, we do have mods around at times that an all american website would not.

Why we get so many spammers I couldn't say. It might well be the international nature of the forum, or simply the fact that we're it as far as slinging goes on the web.




Title: Re: something needs to be done about spammers
Post by xxkid123 on Aug 31st, 2009 at 4:21pm
nah, i don't care about what time they get deleted, just before they seriously mess up the site (unless it's a spam bot)

Title: Re: something needs to be done about spammers
Post by Captain Paul on Sep 9th, 2009 at 8:25am
Down with spammers!

Title: Re: something needs to be done about spammers
Post by Captain Paul on Sep 9th, 2009 at 8:25am
What is a spam bot?

Title: Re: something needs to be done about spammers
Post by xxkid123 on Sep 9th, 2009 at 4:08pm

Captain Paul wrote on Sep 9th, 2009 at 8:25am:
What is a spam bot?


first off, thanks for the sling you sent me nearly a year ago, great sling it is, great sling...

as for a spam bot, their basically computer programs/viruses that are designed to post spam on stuff. the only thing is that a spam bot can become a god member in a few minutes :(

Title: Re: something needs to be done about spammers
Post by xxkid123 on Sep 12th, 2009 at 11:29am
DAMMIT HE POSTED ON AN ANTI SPAM POST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IF I EVER MEET HIM IN REAL LIFE... >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:(

Title: Re: something needs to be done about spammers
Post by Eoraptor on Sep 12th, 2009 at 5:50pm
This guy is prolific.  Also, it might just be me, but on the main forum page, where it has info on the latest post to the side of each category, it usually looks like this:

Yesterday at 8:46pm                 (date)
In: Re: introduction                   (thread)
By: Aussie                                (member)

But when it posts, it look like this:

Today at 2:51pm                       (date)
In: Did anyone hear of HYIP?      (???? part of it's post????  this was not the name of the thread)
By: Escasylap                            (member)

I have never noticed this before, but thats not to say that it hasn't happened.  Why is it like this?
Also, is this guy a bot of a person?  (For curiosity's sake, sorry if I'm meddling)  How can we get rid of it?
Personally, I think we should nuke the site from orbit...  

Title: Re: something needs to be done about spammers
Post by xxkid123 on Sep 12th, 2009 at 7:01pm
the "in" part is for newest post, and not newest thread reply

Title: Re: something needs to be done about spammers
Post by wanderer on Oct 26th, 2009 at 12:09pm
C_A,
Great work against the latest miserable b***d spamming the forum :)


Title: Re: something needs to be done about spammers
Post by Fundibularius on Oct 26th, 2009 at 12:54pm
Right. Good job!

That guy was more than one pain in the s.

Title: Re: something needs to be done about spammers
Post by hybrid_throwback on Dec 28th, 2009 at 9:51am
Invincibility lies in the defence; the possibility of victory in the attack. - Sun Tzu.

The stronger the poison, the stronger the locust... all the captchas, tests and hoops to jump through in the world will not change anything but the average "iq" of a spambot.

Prompt reporting and a zero-click thru policy are our only hope and as soon as they get in they have to be eliminated.

There may be a forum software somewhere that offers an option of only allowing three or five posts with a new membership, with further posting ability dependant on approval by "x" members of the first posts, but I've never seen it.

Other forums (with much more, if you can believe it, obscure topics) I am a member of have a MUCH bigger problem with spam.. mods almost everywhere do a sterling job of spotting and nailing spam before it gets in anyone's way and although reporting can be tedious... it's the only way. McCarthyism wasn't a bad system, just McCarthy was a bad guy  ;)

The only "practical" way to keep the place spam free is to make all posts require approval by a mod before being published in the forums... but people get impatient with delays and so on.

Noone has tried to sell me viagra or Hot College Dorm Room Cam XXX Girls so far, so you must be doing something right.


Title: Re: something needs to be done about spammers
Post by curious_aardvark on Dec 28th, 2009 at 8:27pm
I tend to remove most spammers before they post - probably take out a few genuine folk - but at the end of the day we don't have any content restricted to members only. so nobody's lost anything :-)



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