Spam

[astroron]

We seem to be getting hammered by a spammer with different names,or maybe it's more than one person:question:
Cheers:thumbsup:

[sheeny]

Yes, we are getting a bit of a workout.

Ron, rather than start a new thread like this, could you please just use the little red X button at the top RHS of the post to report it? That way we don't clutter the forum unnecessarily, an us moderators get notified and can go straight to the problem.

Thanks mate.

Al.

[mithrandir]

Al, the way it works at present multiple people might report the same posting. Since you can't report multiple posts quickly (one every couple of minutes IIRC) this is a waste of everyone's time.
It would help if once someone had made a report there was some indicator put on the message that it had been reported. If the mods decided the post was OK the indicator would be cleared.

[sheeny]

Thanks Andrew. Your suggestion is worthy of consideration IMO, so I have reported it;) (little red X) so its drawn to Mike's (and moderators) attention, so we can consider it and maybe make such a change.

The reporting process may be less than ideal for the reporter - your suggestion may help - but the reporting process is the best way to go for us moderators since it groups all the reports for the same post together so we can deal with them efficiently (and it also tracks what we do about it, etc). Bypass the report post function, and we (the moderators) could quite quickly be overwhelmed and lose track of what's been done and what hasn't.

That's why we prefer you to use the report post button.:)

Now FYI the efficiency is only in the process. Some reported posts are straight forward and we can deal with them in a couple of minutes, but some require a lot of work, perhaps to read an entire long thread to determine context, or to fully investigate say whether a poster is genuine and not a scammer or spammer. Multiply this by the number of reporters and the number of moderators, and it can quickly get out of control. So the reporting process is important - please don't bypass it.

Al.

[astroron]

Al, I have reported it in the little Red X, but was just bringing it to peoples attention as ther same spam is being posted under a few different names.
Cheers:thumbsup:

[iceman]

It's a different spammer each time. There's obviously a network of them at the moment, mostly coming in from India.

[04Stefan07]

It sounds like it is too easy to create an account on this forum.

Guys, as a suggestion could you implement some sort of verification/acceptance process?

A user creates a new account and enters certain details and a request is emailed to the administrators then you approve the account based on the information?

Just a though (since coming from an IT background as well...)

[OzStarGazer]

Oh, I thought it was the same spammer who got banned and re-registered under a different name.
To add to Stefan's suggestion... Some boards moderate the first couple of posts of new users to verify they are not spammers (in other words new users cannot immediately post, their first posts must be approved), but of course this increases the work of moderators... :(

[04Stefan07]

Agreed.
That's one of the responsibilities of an Administrator that must be dealt with. Being an Administrator myself I know I have many, many responsibilities which contributes to the extra workload however it's well worth it to make the community safer place :).

Not only that but I also love my job :D.

[astroron]

Thought so Mike,They must be a PITA to you.:mad2:
Keep up the good work.:thumbsup:
Cheers:thumbsup:

[MrB]

When I report spam I usually also leave a post with 'Reported' for this reason. I have sometimes not left anything as I often wonder if people see this is a type of bragging 'I reported it first!' kind of thing, but it is purely just to try and reduce the chance a post gets reported 10000 times ;)

[RB]

Guys what we ask is to please just Report the Spam post using the Red X and as Simon (MrB) said just post a reply that it's been reported (one reply is enough).

What we ask is that you refrain from posting any other type of reply/acknowledgement to the spammer/spam thread because it encourages the spammers on and lets them know that their threads are being read.

There is a lot going on behind the scenes and we do catch a lot of spammers before they get to post.
It's just that sometimes they bombard the forum like they're doing atm.

If we all just ignore them the thread gets buried and lost and we will delete it as soon as we can.

With your help and cooperation we can stay on top of them.

RB

:)

[Astro_Bot]

The moderation idea is a good one - I've used it - but on a large or busy forum the moderation queue can get pretty big. But I think IIS is small enough that it'd work.

So, at the risk of teaching you to suck eggs ...

I noticed you're using vB 3.8.x. I don't know if you're planning on an upgrade to the 4.2 line. vB 5.x is out now, anyway, but it allows you to install vB 4.2 as an option.

Do you use the Spam-O-Matic vB plug-in, or similar? Spam-O-Matic (http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=248042) was developed for vB 4.x, but there is a back-port (http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=248470) (albeit unsupported) available for vB 3.8.

It's rare for a spammer to target only one forum - they usually target dozens or hundreds - and it's likely that the IP has already been reported somewhere. Spam-O-Matic blocks reported IP addresses and allows you to report new spammer IPs to the Stop Forum Spam (http://www.stopforumspam.com/) database.

You can also search that database manually on IP, username and e-mail address when a user first registers - handy for spotting then before they even get to post spam. Or you can automate checking at registration through an associated plug-in, vbStopForumSpam (http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=230921), though it's not actively developed anymore. There's a version (http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=176481) for vB 3.8.

I (along with my fellow admins on another forum - I'm no longer active there) used a bunch of other look-up sites to check suspect registrations (before they'd spammed) - I'll hunt around and see if I can find/remember them - they may still be of some use.

Another suggestion: The image verification during registration is a bit old - you could try other options - there are a few available in vB 3.8 and I vaguely recall other plug-ins - though if these spammers are humans (as they may well be $1-per-day types in India, as you suggest) that'll just slow them down a bit.

HTH.

[RB]

Astro_Bot I use StopForumSpam all the time. :thumbsup:
As for the rest of your suggestions I'll leave that up to Mike.

For now everyone please just Report and don't engage any other dialog with them.

:)

[mithrandir]

I really think the time has come for new members to be moderated for a few days and/or a few posts. That might mean you need more moderators but if you can get the volunteers I think go for it.

[RB]

Thanks for your cooperation everyone.
It's been a big help with everyone just reporting and refraining from replying to the spammers.

Just posting "Reported" in the thread is sufficient.

Thanks again for helping us with the spam attacks.

RB
:thumbsup:

[Nikolas]

As a moderator in another forum we discourage anyone to answer spam in the thread as it gets their hit count up which allows the gogglebots to count on their links. Best to report it and not say a thing in the thread.

[astroron]

Really:question:
Thats what everyone is doing here,just putting reported.
No one is answering the spam.:)
We have a little button at the top right of the thread,you click on that,type SPAM,then go back and type a post "Reported"
End of story.
Read the post above yours # 16
Cheers:thumbsup:

[MrB]

That's his point, apparently even a post with 'Reported' helps them with the googlebots.
I won't pretend to understand how tho.

[Nikolas]

when you answer a thread even with the word "reported" you bump it up the new posts link hence it gets more "exposure" the googlebots capture the links in the post and then we get hit with more spam as their links get free exposure via our backbone. Every hit gets something for the spammers. Completely ignoring the spam and just reporting it via the red dot is plenty. the spam post gets pushed onto the back and doesn't get exposure. Ever wondered why some google ads on this and other forums seem random yet others pop up if certain words or links are mentioned a few times?

[MrB]

Never :lol:
I never see the ads here.
The only Google ads I see are when I'm using Google search.

[astroron]

We are only following Mike's and the moderators instructions"request"
They must know what they are doing to ask us to post "reported"
It maybe easer than having lots of people send a message saying spam via the Red Dot.
That's what I read into their request.
Cheers:thumbsup:

[RB]

Exactly, thank you Ron.

:thumbsup:

[mozzie]

I as others have stated reported as the mod's wishes and hopefully this spam crap will die down...😤 it really seems to have benn the last several months...
Do the mod's get most of the spam before we see it or only after reported/red corner button??..anyway you mod's do a great job!

[iceman]

It was bad for a month or two but has died down a lot now. I blocked the whole yahoo.in domain which reduced it significantly.

If it's only a handful a week it's not a big deal.

[Octane]

Nikolas,

Thank you for the explanation. I had an inkling that replying to the posts would further their reach.

I will refrain from replying to spam posts and only report them, instead.

Sneaky little devils!

H

[Nikolas]

I understand you are replying to the mod's request but as an experienced mod of 10 years on a forum with 25000 plus members I also know what is being said and what is being done.
The advice I'm giving is also for the moderators.
It's quite simple, report the spam but do NOT reply at all in any way shape or form as it bumps it up the list and allows the googlebots to target your site.
I'm not trying to undermine the job the mods are doing here I'm attempting to help.

[omegacrux]

So maybe the answer is post 'reported' in this thread
Just an idea

David

[RB]

We understand Nicolas and ideally yes we prefer people just ignore and report.

The problem though is there's always someone with a dumb comment to make that stuffs things up.

By posting "Reported" it lets everyone know it's done and also means we don't get a gazzillion reports on the same spam post.

I think that's a reasonable compromise.

:)

[Shano592]

If it is reported, can't the moderators move in and remove any links from the spammers' posts, thereby rendering any googlebot action as moot*?

*Aside from the Google caches, of course.

[Nikolas]

Your forum your rules mate
:)

[Shano592]

Perhaps some form of Captcha for the user's first 10-20 posts, instead of moderation? It would at least separate the bots from the hoomans.

I'm just spitballing here ... I have no idea of what is available in the backend.

[OzStarGazer]

I don't see any ads either. I use AdBlock Plus. :)