Here comes the SPAM .....again!

[Avengers7]

Isn't there anything that can be done about all this SPAM when there is an event on? Some of it is disgusting!

[Queen_Sindel]

The only way I can think of to stop this would be to not allow new registrations during the event.

 

At the moment I am the only mod around, so that means unfortunately the forum is not as well watched as it usually is. As you have noticed, normally we catch spam much more fast.

 

I try to be around more often this weekend, but I can't do the work normally 4 or 5 moderators do alone in the same amount of time. Among other things to deal with I have a boyfriend that hasn't seen me in 2.5 weeks because I was on a girls only vacation.

 

I've been cleaning up the past 15 minutes, so hopefully I have caught everything now. I think I caught every p*rn post that was hidden in an existing topic, but better safe than sorry. If I missed something, please let me know and I will immediately get rid of it.

[Scruffy]

I think everyone understands only so much can be done so good for you

Stopping new posters over events sounds good suggestion though

[TommyT]

The only way I can think of to stop this would be to not allow new registrations during the event.

 

At the moment I am the only mod around, so that means unfortunately the forum is not as well watched as it usually is. As you have noticed, normally we catch spam much more fast.

Looking at the front page, there are over 20 moderators listed across the various sub-forums. Now i don't know the mechanics of how the board works, specifically if the "report to moderators" posts go into one central "bucket" or one "bucket" per sub-forum, but couldn't you ask all those who only moderate one forum if they wouldn't mind just checking the relevant report bucket(s) and deleting spam as appropriate? Obviously they would need to have their privileges extended to more than their existing sub-forum.

[TerraHawk]

The only way I can think of to stop this would be to not allow new registrations during the event.

 

I can't remember how registration works here, but I'd thought extra safegaurds can be done. Having to type a code in, or email confermation before posting - do we have these here?

 

Or having to post 10 times before being able to start a new topic - seen that before.

 

I'm a member of about 10 forums, but rarely see any spam on the others.

[Queen_Sindel]

Looking at the front page, there are over 20 moderators listed across the various sub-forums. Now i don't know the mechanics of how the board works, specifically if the "report to moderators" posts go into one central "bucket" or one "bucket" per sub-forum, but couldn't you ask all those who only moderate one forum if they wouldn't mind just checking the relevant report bucket(s) and deleting spam as appropriate? Obviously they would need to have their privileges extended to more than their existing sub-forum.

 

Honestly speaking I have no idea how the "report moderators" function exactly works.

We are receiving e-mails, but this feature has been working only for a couple of weeks.

 

Most of the sub-forum moderators have had their sub-forums assigned during a "looking for moderators" campaign a while back, and I am really not sure if they'd even want to take care of more.

I haven't had event forum moderating privileges for more than a couple of months myself.

 

I can't remember how registration works here, but I'd thought extra safegaurds can be done. Having to type a code in, or email confermation before posting - do we have these here?

 

Or having to post 10 times before being able to start a new topic - seen that before.

 

I'm a member of about 10 forums, but rarely see any spam on the others.

 

There is a confirmation e-mail. I really have no idea how the spam bots work around that.

It's incredibly ironic that sometimes real users don't get that mail, but spam bots do and get to post.

 

The code thing doesn't work with this version of the forum.

 

We've been discussing several things, including the 10 posts idea.

I know there needs to be a solution eventually, but it always got put on the backburner in favor of more important things. It's most badly during the events, and even then someone usually is around.

 

Those multi-topic spammers like the one with 27 posts that I just got rid of have only been appearing lately, and this one was the most extreme so far.

[showmasters]

The amount of spam does seem to have increased recently, and I've got a horrible feeling it's because someone has added us to a spam forum listing us as a good place to post.

 

We already have a number of checks in place which already cut down a great deal of spammers. New members have to go through an e-mail verification process which has considerably cut down on the spambots. However this new batch are going through the registration process manually and seem to be physically posting these threads themselves rather than it being automated. They are also posting spam in other people's threads which means it would be fruitless to restrict their starting a new topic until they have a higher post count. And lets face it, it's better to have them starting their own topics which can be ignored rather than stumbling across them in one of your own threads.

 

At the moment we have the alert set so that when anyone reports a post, an e-mail is sent to all the moderators in that section alerting them to the post. And overall because of this we can catch and delete spam within 10 minutes (although it's sometimes longer at night as there are fewer of us at our computers). Also when I have some spare time I go through the spammers user info and cross check IP addresses, etc which often brings up several more registered names which are then all deleted and the addresses added to the ban filter.

 

Stopping registrations over the weekend isn't really an option unfortunately. Firstly because the spammers often have several usernames already registered which they can use at a later date, and secondly because it is during an event when many people want to join the forum to share news and reviews, ask advice, etc.

 

I am looking into ways of cutting down the amount of spam, but at the moment the most helpful thing is other members reporting the posts as soon as they come across them so we can delete them asap.

 

Andrea

[Psychosis]

On my vBulletin we installed something that has stopped every spammer in its tracks (we've had 1100+ refused in the last month and a half). I'd get a point in the right direction for you but alas I fear Invision doesn't have the same functionality...