spam

Please post any ideas / changes / or help requests regarding the forum here. Announcements relating to improvements etc will also be posted here.
User avatar
dwl99
Posts: 765
Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2011 7:38 am
Location: Glasgow

spam

Post by dwl99 »

The spammers are getting a bit annoying again - would it be possible to ban new users from posting messages with URLs or moderating their first 2 or 3 messages?
User avatar
BuZz
Site Admin
Posts: 1460
Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2011 1:15 am

Re: spam

Post by BuZz »

not without some forum mods that I dont have time to do right now. Plus as the current spammers are human, they will probably still manage to get around that too. I'll look into some options in the meantime perhaps by banning some ip ranges.
User avatar
roobarb!
Posts: 1745
Joined: Sat Mar 05, 2011 1:30 pm
Location: Salford, UK
Contact:

Re: spam

Post by roobarb! »

And I'll just keep deleting as I spot them! ;)
BirdsLikeWires - Get fresh builds of Debian Bullseye and Bookworm for OpenFrame with the latest 5.10 and 6.1 kernels! 8-)
Juggler
Posts: 249
Joined: Thu Apr 21, 2011 2:34 am

Re: spam

Post by Juggler »

I've highlighted a few, but I thought it has been pretty good for the past few weeks, in that I haven't seen any that I would consider SPAM, and checking the forum has become a daily necessity for me. Must have missed a few...

Still compared to other forums I have seen, there is very little SPAM here.
ilovemyjoggler
Posts: 711
Joined: Sun May 13, 2012 4:42 pm

Re: spam

Post by ilovemyjoggler »

dwl99 is right. There's been a flurry of spam over the past week. Maybe they've been zapped before you've seen them. A nice mix of ufo sightings, people selling kitckens, financial services and one lady selling her body. ;)
User avatar
BuZz
Site Admin
Posts: 1460
Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2011 1:15 am

Re: spam

Post by BuZz »

I have enabled some additional anti spam measures. there was a whole load of spam tonight. annoying.
User avatar
BuZz
Site Admin
Posts: 1460
Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2011 1:15 am

Re: spam

Post by BuZz »

I just removed another spammer who registered before I introduced the additional anti spam meaasures. Their registration would have been blocked (using ip block lists, and other tables shared with other forums etc).
ilovemyjoggler
Posts: 711
Joined: Sun May 13, 2012 4:42 pm

Re: spam

Post by ilovemyjoggler »

go get 'em tiger! ;)
ilovemyjoggler
Posts: 711
Joined: Sun May 13, 2012 4:42 pm

Re: spam

Post by ilovemyjoggler »

I'm a bit baffled. I don't really visit any other forums. Is it normal for people to post the kind of sex advertising we've been getting recently?
User avatar
BuZz
Site Admin
Posts: 1460
Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2011 1:15 am

Re: spam

Post by BuZz »

There has just been a large increase in phpbb spam recently. and no doubt a combination of automation + manual captcha solving etc. the last lot of spam to get on here was from non blacklisted ips or from earlier registrations so it got through (I didnt actually check i just deleted it in a rush). the actual number of attempted spam registrations is massive. some blocked by captcha, some by the ip filters.
QuackingPlums
Posts: 35
Joined: Fri Sep 23, 2011 12:52 am

Re: spam

Post by QuackingPlums »

I used to run a couple of phpBB forums and every so often there would be a similar flurry of spammer activity. It's as if there's a spammer forum somewhere (wouldn't it be great to go troll THAT forum, eh? :lol: ) where they post exploits for phpBB and every time a new one is found they all go out and arm their spambots with the new exploit to go wreak havoc. Most of them don't even go through the usual page navigation that a human would, because the exploits just let them get through to the minimum functions required to register, acknowledge registration and post a message.

I gave up in the end because I didn't have time to delete all the spam posts and maintain all the phpBB updates, which were a pain to apply if you've done *any* customisation whatsoever... :roll:
User avatar
pete
Posts: 2950
Joined: Mon Aug 01, 2011 6:33 am
Location: Time Traveler

Re: spam

Post by pete »

Here too; the Joggler forum is one of only a few that I visit lately. Lately turning into a recluse of sorts.

That said I recently re-registered on another Technical forum and they redid their captcha stuff. I have never seen anything like this before. Its a picture/drawing that you have to put together like a puzzle to validate your authentication or registration. I was totally impressed with what I saw.
- Pete
O2 Jogglers running EFI Ubuntu / Squeezeplayer
OpenPeak Voip Telephony / Zigbee tabletops hardware modded with Seabios / RTC / Ethernet ROM edits / SSD drives running XPe for automation screens

Auto mater
ilovemyjoggler
Posts: 711
Joined: Sun May 13, 2012 4:42 pm

Re: spam

Post by ilovemyjoggler »

Whoa!! Spam gone mad tonight.
User avatar
BuZz
Site Admin
Posts: 1460
Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2011 1:15 am

Re: spam

Post by BuZz »

I just deaded them
ilovemyjoggler
Posts: 711
Joined: Sun May 13, 2012 4:42 pm

Re: spam

Post by ilovemyjoggler »

Does anyone actually understand some of the recent spam we've been getting. They seem to be long paragraphs of garbled, amalgamated, disjointed bits of rubbish. What's the purpose of these i wonder, or isn't there supposed to be one? :?
User avatar
Leonardo
Posts: 146
Joined: Tue Dec 25, 2012 10:51 pm

Re: spam

Post by Leonardo »

What about a activation via email? no automatic subscription and only creation of the accounts by the Forum admin, I know is not very confortable and it's "dirty job to do" but I don't think we have hundreds of subscription per day :/
User avatar
BuZz
Site Admin
Posts: 1460
Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2011 1:15 am

Re: spam

Post by BuZz »

People want to subscribe and post, rather than wait for an admin. It's also easy to remove the spam we get (that isn't really that much), than to check every sign up.
ilovemyjoggler
Posts: 711
Joined: Sun May 13, 2012 4:42 pm

Re: spam

Post by ilovemyjoggler »

BuZz, I'm not complaining about the quantity of spam. It happens and is easy to report. I'm truly curious as to the content of the recent stuff. I understand the sales spam but this gobbledygook - i don't get it?
Last edited by ilovemyjoggler on Fri Jan 25, 2013 9:15 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
BuZz
Site Admin
Posts: 1460
Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2011 1:15 am

Re: spam

Post by BuZz »

I was replying to Leonardo btw :)

I assume the text/nonsense is about attempting to foil any anti-spam software that looks for patterns/words etc (and making each spam "unique".
ilovemyjoggler
Posts: 711
Joined: Sun May 13, 2012 4:42 pm

Re: spam

Post by ilovemyjoggler »

BuZz wrote:I assume the text/nonsense is about attempting to foil any anti-spam software that looks for patterns/words etc.
Ooooohhhh. Ok. That makes sense, in an odd kinda way. Thanks!

And btw, I wouldn't ask to add to your workload for spam - you seem to have enough plates spinning!! ;)
Post Reply