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Re: spam

Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2013 6:54 pm
by Leonardo
BuZz really don't know... today the spam is not too much... but tomorrow? I saw Forums where the spam became terrible and the cleanup job was really hard!
I agree with you: people wants to subscribe and post but if someone is really interested in joining the community, will have the patience to wait for some hour? This is always IMHO!!!

Re: spam

Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2013 7:24 pm
by BuZz
We stop most spam registrations automatically - already running anti spam tool that uses 5 dns blacklists + stop forum spam api, as well as some addition signup forum checks. We also have captcha + email verification. It's under control :) If spam gets significantly worse, I will look at new options, as I did before, but it isn't an issue for the forum right now imho. I don't want to have to manually verify users.

it's probably worth mentioning, this server has 2 other phpbb installs, 3 wikis, and a wordpress setup, which I manage so in terms of if spam increased, apart from the automated measures already running (which can be tweaked), I prefer to go the route of more moderators to help, rather than more work for myself :)

Re: spam

Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2013 9:48 pm
by hawsey
Agreed BuZz,
I recently tried to join Homeseer forum and what a carry on it was to join, I almost gave up. Also every message is vetted so there is no momentum to threads.
I much prefer this way.
They are quite funny too as long as there aren't too many. :smile:

Re: spam

Posted: Fri Apr 12, 2013 10:54 pm
by pete
Wow; someone is hitting every topic today here.

Spam is really bad today.

I don't mind volunteering as a moderator.

Re: spam

Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2013 2:08 pm
by BuZz
pete_c wrote:Wow; someone is hitting every topic today here.

Spam is really bad today.

I don't mind volunteering as a moderator.
Just one spammer though, with lots of posts, so only looks like a lot visually. I have added you as a moderator. However only admins can use the "delete user and report spammer" functionality, so you will be limited to banning their username and deleting their posts.

Re: spam

Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2013 5:00 pm
by BuZz
I've just noticed that the registration Q/A captcha isn't active. I think the later spam filter module took over the signup page, so it will help if I get the captcha back in addition. Will look into this.

Re: spam

Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2013 5:05 pm
by BuZz
Actually it looks like either I disabled it, or it needed re-enabling after install . So that should reduce spam registrations somewhat more, although the spamlist checks on their own were doing a pretty good job (if you look at the number of entries in the block log - 250,000+)

Re: spam

Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2013 9:06 pm
by pete
Thank-you Buzz.

Yeah its looking well today!

Re: spam

Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2013 10:09 am
by Leonardo
uhm, I think spammers are not very smart... how do you think a spam will work if you write in Russian in a UK site?!?!?!
They are just bugging but they will not have any benefit for doing this... strange people...

Re: spam

Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2013 11:41 pm
by acesabe
Yeah, well it's not us the spammers are after, but the web search engine spiders that crawl the site. any links to their website help them get better search result listings...A load more spam posts this eve, things need to be tightened up a bit if we are to keep them out. If any site help needed, I can offer my forum mod experience...

Re: spam

Posted: Thu Apr 18, 2013 8:01 am
by Leonardo
I don't remember, do we have a "captcha" on this forum for registering new users? This should be enough to stop spiders and robots!

Re: spam

Posted: Thu Apr 18, 2013 11:36 am
by BuZz
we do, but it's not enough to stop all. All the Spam we have uses human captcha solvers etc. They also validate the email addresses, and manage to get past the multiple ip blocklists that are used.

Re: spam

Posted: Thu Apr 18, 2013 11:47 am
by dwl99
Can we block posts made in Cyrillic script?

Re: spam

Posted: Thu Apr 18, 2013 2:52 pm
by BuZz
it would be more time than to delete the spam. Just flag it and ignore it :)

Re: spam

Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2014 5:32 am
by dwl99
I see Kitchen boy is back again. Can anyone come up with an imaginative way of putting him off posting?

Re: spam

Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2014 11:12 am
by roobarb!
dwl99 wrote:I see Kitchen boy is back again. Can anyone come up with an imaginative way of putting him off posting?
I run another forum and kitchen spam is all I get there too. Weird.

Re: spam

Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2014 1:21 pm
by hawsey
Maybee if we all club together and buy a kitchen off him 8-),then he will leave us alone do you think that would work .
Hmmmm OK maybe not then ....

Re: spam

Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2014 2:43 pm
by JimbobVFR400
I just don't understand the point unless its some sort of SEO trickery. Even if I was looking for a kitchen in the area I wouldn't use that company as a matter of principle now, same goes for any spam TBH

Re: spam

Posted: Sat May 10, 2014 8:58 pm
by pete
Maybee if we all kitchen together and buy a club off him 8-),then he will leave us alone do you think that would work .


Yup; must be someone that is bored.

Re: spam

Posted: Sun May 11, 2014 8:25 pm
by JimbobVFR400
Maybee if we all kitchen together and club him 8-),then he will leave us alone do you think that would work .