36 replies to this topic

[Richard H]

It seems we are having an ever-increasing problem with spam on this forum. I am sure many of you have encountered this, it is typically of an explicit nature and obviously inappropriate for this forum. I am looking at ways to stop this problem completely. At present it is down to moderators to delete posts / accounts manually, which is not ideal.

At present new members must register, validate their e-mail address, and type in a randomly generated string of letters and numbers which appears as an image in order to complete the process. Either we have a case on our hands of some rather clever machine agents doing this (It is possible) or even worse, real people are being paid by spammers to register, circumvent the anti-spam measures, and post their rubbish.

The only real way I and other moderators see to prevent this, is to approve say the first post of all new members before it appears on the forum, and then upgrade their membership if it is obvious that the post is of a more topical nature!

What does everyone think about this? Of course it means a little more work for us, and genuine, new members will have to wait a little while (typically < 12 hours I would suggest) in order to join discussions. Alternative suggestions are welcome.

[Ritual33]

I've been saying this for a while and don't understand why it hasn't already been done. I think it's a great idea. As for the URL's that are being posted, I haven't looked too much into them yet as I've been busy with life but I'm fairly sure that it's malware, i.e, virus, trojan or spyware packages.

All you dirty little pyros should stay well clear!

Drew

Edited by Ritual33, 29 January 2007 - 03:53 PM.

[Richard H]

Well the problem has only got worse recently, and it does create extra work. Definitely considering it.

[sizzle]

I think going back to the old method of having someone verify your intentions before you are allowed to post, I understand you stopped doing this because it was time consuming and there was a back-log? How about having regular, respected forum members verify accounts too, this would limit pressure on mods/admins and could stop the spam?

[BrightStar]

Hi Richard, good to see you're looking at this. I tend to lurk here quite a bit to follow the ebb and flow of conversation while I'm working and the recent spam posts have been getting annoying.

Yes, unfortunately they are real people registering to post this stuff. It's basically the latest trend in internet marketing and they are paid per post. Now that they have found the forum, they won't let go. I hope that not too many clicked through...

While the original registration system last year (send a CV of pyro credentials then wait a while for approval) was understandable, it semed a little bit excessive. I don't see that approving first posts would do much harm though.

Perhaps you should emphasise in the forum guidelines and whatever registration emails are sent out, that the society welcomes pyros of all abilities and experience. You could make it a policy to approve pyro related posts even if slightly foolhardy (what is it with permanganate???). This would prevent any resentment from beginners and keep the forum as open as possible.

Edited by BrightStar, 29 January 2007 - 05:08 PM.

[Frozentech]

The only real way I and other moderators see to prevent this, is to approve say the first post of all new members before it appears on the forum, and then upgrade their membership if it is obvious that the post is of a more topical nature!

What does everyone think about this? Of course it means a little more work for us, and genuine, new members will have to wait a little while (typically < 12 hours I would suggest) in order to join discussions. Alternative suggestions are welcome.

This is a growing problem with all the php based forum software packages evidently. Spammers seem to have written bots smart enough to navigate registration in an IPB forum for example. I agree initial posts should be mod-approved. Perhaps set up a group based on post count under say, 5 posts, that requires admin approval, after that, normal posting priviledge ?

[Mumbles]

As some of you may know, I run another pyro board. We're having the same issues, though not entirely of such an explicit nature. Something I have kicked around is making only one board visible to new members, then have them post there and we can give them access from there. If they don't post there for two weeks, their account could be automatically deleted. For the time being I'm deleting the posts as they come up and banning them, and often times their host names.

We experimented with the admin approval from an e-mailed questionaire thing, thinking we could weed out some of the kewls at the same time. This severely crippled the new member base, but I learned a lot about the members which was pretty cool. All in all it was far too time consuming, as the process wasn't automated.

[rodney]

as a new member i think the trial period would be good but as i mentioned im a new member and i wonder if i would have to go threw the trial member stage then be upgraded to a full member. also the verifying intent seems reasonable to me and mumbles what site to you run im interested thanks rodney

p.s. im just worried about being put into a different section tell i would be upgraded and then miss out on new topics that could be old by the time it takes for me to be upgraded either way i will still be here in the end

[delta_echo]

There was a firearms board I was part of that tried to help control the spam by instituting a 5 posts minimum before you could start your own topic. Seemed to have worked pretty effectively. Simply reducing the requirement to 1 post (which could be done in the introduction of new members thread) might be enough to to put an additional halt on the spammers without discouraging new members with legitimate questions.

[Richard H]

A good suggestion. Shall look into that too. Planning on upgrading the board this afternoon and I am hoping it will have some more tricks up its sleeve

[TheExplosionist]

It took me hours to remove all the spyware from the site that joker posted.
Just a warning, Windows Defender won't detect most of it. Antivermin is particularly troublesome to remove.

[EnigmaticBiker]

Whatever it takes to put them off; spam, especially backed up with Trojans etc. really annoys me.

I tried one link to confirm my suspicions and removed the resulting spyware with Spybot 1.3 and HijackThis! both useful free tools.

[fishy1]

I got a PM with the heading "magic confetti effects". It doesn't say who sent it. Is this to do with the spammers?

[Richard H]

Possibly someone who has had their account removed before you opened the message.

[karlfoxman]

I have lost count as to how many posts/topics I have removed. Oh and to all the people who have used the report option. Thankyou!

I just hope we can sort this out, I have warned a few and susspended them but this wont help as they only post a few times anyway.

Hope its sorted soon Rich, in mean time ill stay on top of it.