Might be time to work on a spam filter of some sort
Lately, the board has been inundated with nonsense spam. Maybe a new/updated spam filter is needed.
Are the email addresses verified? I've been a member so long, I can't remember. Can there be some kind of check to see if someone is cross-posting the same message, or even just links throughout the site? I know eventually these idiots will tire, and leave, but it may be a chance to eliminate the problem altogether.
Are the email addresses verified? I've been a member so long, I can't remember. Can there be some kind of check to see if someone is cross-posting the same message, or even just links throughout the site? I know eventually these idiots will tire, and leave, but it may be a chance to eliminate the problem altogether.
Comments
I know spammers are insidious in their efforts to conceal their actual identities or any manner to trace them - certainly more so than their selectiveness about what garbage they purvey - but I'd be utterly delighted to see some sort of method in place to not have to read this garbage. That'll leave more time for you all to coach your wives on seeking out their hott single friends for me to go out with. :twisted:
Registration requires three forms of verification: reading an image, entering a VIP code (listed to the left of the textbox where it needs be entered), and clicking on an activation link in the e-mail you receive after requesting registration.
There is also a time limit to how often you can post a message, I think it's about 30 seconds.
We'll look into it, but I just don't see how much more can be done.
And yes, the guy I slammed over n over did indeed post the exact same spew in at least a dozen categories.
Let's say it's somehow possible. I don't know php, but I would imagine you can track that sort of thing. First of all, it would be ineffective. The guy that surfaced today posted completely different things in each thread. Second of all, what do you do, block his account? Let's say a legit user cross-posts on several sub-forums... is he to contact someone to reactivate his account?
I dunno. Like I said, I'll research what's out there, unless someone has some knowledge. We are also limited to what Harman's IT department will allow or not allow to run.
You can click on the phpBB at the bottom of the page to find the forum which will help you with your board management.
I use to admin phpBB boards, but it's been awhile. We did come up with a system that controlled spammers to a large degree, but I always find a few human spammers as sport. It's healthy to ban or toy with the mortals on occasion. We migrated off our phpBB board to v.Bulletin, which gave us lots of upgrades. DT has the techies, to tweak you a good spammenator.
Still...nothing tops a good manual banning.
BAN VOYAGE
Perhaps she'd approve of waterboarding them, or perhaps something simple, like pulling fingernails with pliers. :twisted:
That'd have them begging for death. 8)
If I remember right, on phpBB boards, mods do have registry approval access, which is usually an administrator panel function.
With most sites, the majority of new registrations are spammers, and most use g-mail, although I've found legit registration requests from members also using g-mail, so you do still have to survey requests. If I approve a request I am suspicious of, I'll know within the first post or two, if they are a spammer. I've PM'd some to make them aware of the violation, remove their post, and give them benefit of doubt. Most leave, tho others try to get \"cute and more clever\" which is followed by various levels of humiliation and torture. (much like previously discussed)
Outside of having your registry set up with the randomly generated graphic code, the rest is what your version of software can add to the process. You'd have to discuss this with your webmaster.
Most of these spammers with g-mail accounts use auto-register software.
On V.Bulletin, we use \"captia\" to stop the bots.
Approving new members is a gut check for whoever does it. If it doesn't feel right, it gets deleted. If it's a g-mail, it's probably spam and gets deleted. If it's an odd combination of letters and numbers, it's probably spam and gets deleted.
You learn to recognize certain addresses ( .ru ) which invariably are from foreign countries that are spammers, but again, there will be some legit member approval requests. The link I posted does offer you some solutions which will greatly reduce both human and bot spam.
I haven't been around the site much lately, so I'm not aware you have been having any increase in spam. It can be controlled, but beyond your systems best controls, it is part of the territory, all boards deal with.
This really hurt me to behave this long, and act this seriously. I hope yer happy.
I knew you still loved us! :P
I used Shredd and Cobalt as references, and listed my main interest as Squirrel watching, and I'd never hear back from them.
Determine their isp #, then hire some pinkertons to track them down and have them taken to the nearest licensed digitech repair facility. Where the techs will will strip them naked and bound them to a work bench. Where they will commence methodically burning off pubic hairs one at a time with a heat gun and or soldering iron. Meanwhile you contact you senator and have him set up a congressional hearing where they will be brought up on federal spamming charges!
Isn't it all right there in the moderater manual?....... Oh ....never mind
How many new members do you get on the forum per day, week, or month? I am assuming the spammers would be new registers. If you are successfully blocking the bots, how many potential spammers are you looking at? In general, you guys do a great job keeping the forum clean from spams and we all appreciate it. Spam sucks and I know I spend the extra time to send you guys a PM when I run across a spam message. If these people are non-bots, then I would think you could block and delete all their spam messages on the board and force them to go back and reregister. That should tire them out over time.
I know that there are a handful of steady contributors on the forum, but don't really know how many new registers you get in any given period. If you are getting lots of non-bot spammers, I could see that it might be a real pain for you board moderators. But is it lots of non-bot spammers or the occassional spammer?
My suggestion, if there are lots of non-bot spammers hitting the forum, is to add a button on the posts labeled something like \"Report Spam\" which would send an automated message to you moderators so you could check out the message and deal with it appropriately. If you get a number of reports from the members, that would probably trigger you to look at the poster and deal with them at that point. If someone is a jerk and starts hitting the \"Report Spam\" button just to tick you off, it probably won't matter because other members have not also reported the same message as spam.
I send you guys a PM when I come across a spam, but if there is really a problem with a large number of spamers, then I would suggest someway of making it easier for us to report the spam and easier for you to zero in on the offending poster. If all we are talking about is the occassional spammer who walks into the forum, I think you are probably doing a good job wiping out their garbage and cleaning up the threads. I mean, I have been on this forum for quite awhile now, and I really don't remember too many spam messages hitting the board. You guys are doing a great job.
There are tricks to weeding out human spammers, like using your word filter, and setting a Links Rejector.
But really, like gtaus pointed out, you are doing a good job as it is.
You can get DT's tech crew to install some more aids if you are getting lots of \"certain\" spam. When you have pattern language in your spammers, those can be easily eliminated, like bots. But totally eliminating human spammers is not going to happen. All boards have spam to deal with.
A large board will have a dozen hits daily...to weed out. I can't provide you with a common list of addresses, for phpBB...but you can get that list off your support site. Add these addy's to automatically be rejected.
Being such a small board, and from what I'm hearing, spam is really not a problem here. Apparently you are setting the approvals yourself? Most boards, registry is an admin function. Ask DT to allow you a job specific mod who can be your Spammenator.
SPAM...I KILL YOU
A board your size should do well, with member support, helping point out offenders. Also, with a small board, you can easily monitor a new members first 5 posts. If thier intent is to spam, they will be serving spam right away. Anyway, seems to me you are doing a good job. But no harm in asking the admin to ramp up some spammer controls, or provide you with another helper. Also, make the upgrade to the latest version of phpBB.
As I mentioned, detecting human spam is a gut check, as well as experiance in learning patterns and language. A good Spammenator can smell spam a mile off.