Spammers

[JKL2000]

Just wondering if anything's being done about the recent spate of spamming on PE (someone joining then posting links to movies). Seems hard to deal with if they just keep creating new accounts. Maybe stop people from joining for a while?

[Duncan Glenday]

We have changed the challenge question for members who join. Didn't help.

This spammer comes in via different E-Mail addresses, different IP addresses, and different naming conventions every time - so it is not possible ti filter them out.

We kill the threads as they arise, and we ban the "members".

[Steve F.]

sure is a lot of work on their end. Must be a personal grudge against the site.

It can't possibly be financially worthwhile for them to target the people of this site with their spam, with having to go through all of that, Duncan....

Interesting. Thanks for the inside scoop.

[Jerjo]

Well, the movie spammer still isn't as obnoxious as the "snakeoilaudio" idjit. That guy that tried to spam us Buddhist platitudes was kind of entertaining.

[WeatherWiseCDC]

I've seen this happen on a few other forums I frequently visit. After a while, it stops. The threads need to be taken down on a daily basis, though, as the spammers will otherwise keep filling the forum with spam threads (and sometimes posts).

Message boards generally end up being damaged if this problem is not contained; members end up being driven away if the situation is not treated. I've seen one forum die because of the spam. Usually it happens, for whatever reason, when the forum's activity level decreases; a few spammers will start to attack the forum. It's important to stay on top of this issue.

[Yodelgoat]

Is that why my posts still say zero?

[Chain]

Can you ban their MAC Address?

[Duncan Glenday]

Can you ban their MAC Address?

Not built into the system.

Though there may be a way to develop a way using customized code.

Researching...

[Chain]

I knew you would be on the ball Duncan :)

[Jerjo]

And speak of the devil, look who crept back through the floorboards

http://www.progressiveears.org/forum/showthread.php/7490-amazing-prog-info

[JIF]

It's it a hacking job? On Facebook, seems like everyone that I know is getting hacked.

[WeatherWiseCDC]

One way to limit the problem would be to place thread-creation restrictions on new members. From what I can tell, most of these spammers want to promote illegal websites and/or lure users to malware-infested websites. New members should be required to make 30 posts before they can have thread-making privileges. I don't know how that would work with this forum, though, since most of our post counts seem to be defaulted to zero.

You could also change the challenge question to something more difficult (although you guys have tried to change it up, perhaps you could ask for something specific like the rpm of an LP record).

Another measure the forum could take would be to require the administrators to approve new members manually. This would slow the process of joining and would prevent an ambush. If the email address or any of the details look suspicious, you can always deny them registration.

If things become severe, you could always remove hyperlinking privileges -- it becomes much more difficult for the spammers to successfully lure readers if "watch _____ for free" is not hyperlinked. Temporary filtering of "http://", "www." and ".com" would be the last resort during a time of heightened activity from spammers.

If there is a way to disable hyperlinking privileges and filter various link prefixes and suffixes from only new members (members who have fewer than 50 posts, for example), that would be even better. That could be permanently set in place.

Putting all of these measures in place would make it much more difficult for spammers to attack the forum.

You could leave a sticky thread at the top of each section to let everyone know these measures have been activated. We could all operate fairly normally even with these measures in place.


It's it a hacking job? On Facebook, seems like everyone that I know is getting hacked.

It doesn't appear to be. This is simply a spam attack.

Edit: It has just occurred to me that the "Progressive Ears Site Matters" section can be seen by non-members. That places us at a great disadvantage; most forums have this section accessible/shown only to members+moderators+administrators. You may want to provide only members+mods+admin access to this section. Non-members (lurkers) shouldn't be able to see this section.

[Scott Bails]

Duncan - does it help or hinder to actually respond to the threads? I report them when I see them, but does it affect your job at all if people post in the threads?

[Jerjo]

Man, they're really active today. :(

[Duncan Glenday]

One way to limit the problem would be to place thread-creation restrictions on new members. From what I can tell, most of these spammers want to promote illegal websites and/or lure users to malware-infested websites. New members should be required to make 30 posts before they can have thread-making privileges. I don't know how that would work with this forum, though, since most of our post counts seem to be defaulted to zero.

You could also change the challenge question to something more difficult (although you guys have tried to change it up, perhaps you could ask for something specific like the rpm of an LP record).

Another measure the forum could take would be to require the administrators to approve new members manually. This would slow the process of joining and would prevent an ambush. If the email address or any of the details look suspicious, you can always deny them registration.

If things become severe, you could always remove hyperlinking privileges -- it becomes much more difficult for the spammers to successfully lure readers if "watch _____ for free" is not hyperlinked. Temporary filtering of "http://", "www." and ".com" would be the last resort during a time of heightened activity from spammers.

If there is a way to disable hyperlinking privileges and filter various link prefixes and suffixes from only new members (members who have fewer than 50 posts, for example), that would be even better. That could be permanently set in place.

Putting all of these measures in place would make it much more difficult for spammers to attack the forum.

You could leave a sticky thread at the top of each section to let everyone know these measures have been activated. We could all operate fairly normally even with these measures in place.



It doesn't appear to be. This is simply a spam attack.

Edit: It has just occurred to me that the "Progressive Ears Site Matters" section can be seen by non-members. That places us at a great disadvantage; most forums have this section accessible/shown only to members+moderators+administrators. You may want to provide only members+mods+admin access to this section. Non-members (lurkers) shouldn't be able to see this section.

Some very good suggestions here - thanks. Some can't be easily done on the system, but some can.

We have deliberately avoided those restrictions in the past, but perhaps we should introduce them for a while, until the problem goes away.


Duncan - does it help or hinder to actually respond to the threads? I report them when I see them, but does it affect your job at all if people post in the threads?

Scott,

It makes no difference. We just nuke the thread. I cannot imagine for a minute that the spammer himself actually re-visits the thread to see what you guys are saying about him, though.