Fighting Spam..Thoughts?

[DevynCJohnson]

@Rob needs to remove the spam. The spam cleaner that I use cannot do a "bulk-remove" for all of these users that mostly share the same IP (211.174.115.76).

 

[DevynCJohnson]

This is Korean (https://translate.google.com/#auto/en/천안건마-아찔한밤(아밤ABAM11닷넷)-밤문화업소찾기)

천안건마-아찔한밤(아밤ABAM11닷넷)-밤문화업소찾기 = Find nightlife establishments - Cheonan geonma - dazzling night (ahbam ABAM11 Net)

IP Addresses (many others are being used)
211.174.115.76
220.230.53.117

 

[ryanvade]

I have been bulk banning accounts. But it does not remove the posts.

Work is being done to fix this.

 

[rstanley]

I have been bulk banning accounts. But it does not remove the posts.

Work is being done to fix this.

Thanks for all the hard work. Any word from @Rob ?

 

[unixfish]

I reported 6 posts today; this site seems to be getting overrun by spammers. They are all the same keyword BS - nonsense with a product name (no links, thank goodness) that is used to boost search engine hits.

Of the forums I frequent, this is the only one that seems to be plagued with spam. A few others get an occasional message only. In a way it is a complement that spammers feel this site is relevant enough to spam on - or at least the site name is relevant enough to be keyword searched for spam hits. I would say the members get tired of it, and I can say with a high degree of certainty the admins are as well. Being a back end server guy, I have no idea how to address this, but it makes me sometimes think twice about visiting.

Example - I reported 6 posts today; I open each spam post in a new tab. (I feel the need to report every spam post I see - my issue, I know, but it should help everyone.) However, since there is a 30 second wait between posts, I have to click the "Report" button, type "Spam", click submit, and close the window. This means I have to go to another site for 26 or 27 seconds before reporting the next post. After reporting two or three, which is normal, I lose interest in reading further.

I'm really not sure what to do - I don't see this other places, but it is not fair to push on the admins to do more, as I think they are not compensated / well compensated for administering this site.

We seem to be in a quandary here.

 

[DevynCJohnson]

I reported 6 posts today; this site seems to be getting overrun by spammers. They are all the same keyword BS - nonsense with a product name (no links, thank goodness) that is used to boost search engine hits.

Of the forums I frequent, this is the only one that seems to be plagued with spam. A few others get an occasional message only. In a way it is a complement that spammers feel this site is relevant enough to spam on - or at least the site name is relevant enough to be keyword searched for spam hits. I would say the members get tired of it, and I can say with a high degree of certainty the admins are as well. Being a back end server guy, I have no idea how to address this, but it makes me sometimes think twice about visiting.

Example - I reported 6 posts today; I open each spam post in a new tab. (I feel the need to report every spam post I see - my issue, I know, but it should help everyone.) However, since there is a 30 second wait between posts, I have to click the "Report" button, type "Spam", click submit, and close the window. This means I have to go to another site for 26 or 27 seconds before reporting the next post. After reporting two or three, which is normal, I lose interest in reading further.

I'm really not sure what to do - I don't see this other places, but it is not fair to push on the admins to do more, as I think they are not compensated / well compensated for administering this site.

We seem to be in a quandary here.

I try to check to see the list of reported spam as often as I can. I think @ryanvade and I are the only ones that have moderator privileges. Unfortunately, I cannot grant the same privilege to other users.

 

[unixfish]

Yeah, I'm not asking for privs here - I just wish there were some magic bullet to address the spam issues. Anything that would probably work (captcha?) takes effort and money.

I look at those posts and realize they are pointlesss as themselves; they seem to serve as a search hit generator. And yet, we have to wade through this stuff.

Just venting.

 

[Larry]

Have you guys considered Mollom? I can't post links, so go to Google and type "Mollom"

I run several websites, and I receive no spam registrations and no spam posts since I started using them. In most cases, people won't even have to perform a captcha test.

I'm not sure if this is something that integrates with your forum / website software, but a developer could probably get it working if it's something you'd be interested in.

 

[clockshell]

Hm... you could also put in a hack to give Users warnings. You can give warnings on the purpose of breaking the forum rules, including spamming.

3 Warnings = ban, 6 Warnings = account gets deleted...

Just an example. Maybe I got it wrong and you meant spam bots, I am afraid my English skills suck atm *rolleyes*

 

[unixfish]

Hm... you could also put in a hack to give Users warnings. You can give warnings on the purpose of breaking the forum rules, including spamming.

3 Warnings = ban, 6 Warnings = account gets deleted...

That idea is sound, but... Many of these spammers are only making one post - and probably only plan on making one post. They have an internet hit generating post they put on multiple we sites so if someone googles something, many hits come up.

I agree a user warning system may be warranted anyhow, but this type of spam is more of a "hit and run" exercise than clogging up the site effort.

 

[clockshell]

Hm... maybe we could make the report function more strict for reports from a acknoledged group which is already established in the community lead to deletion/ban. Therefore the work doesn't only lie on the shoulders of the moderators/administrators?!

 

[[email protected]]

A very actual concern, that of spam. The suggestions and solutions posted here are very useful to someone like me who still has not even downloaded a linux program successfully. WILSF, what I am learning so far, is that this topic will continue to be a part of the forum discussion. This is healthy. The information you are providing contribute to form awareness of the areas of discussion and give me the opportunity to explore a sliver of the ongoing development of ideas, freedom of speech and information exchange, as well as the effectiveness of communication and cooperation of the projects. Thanks for this.

 

[unixfish]

All has been quiet for quite some time - or maybe I am just not seeing it in my morning cruise.

If something was done, then congratulations! Job well done! We won't ask what so to not tip off the wrong crowd.

 

[ryanvade]

 

[ChristiW]

Well, whatever you guys did, I haven't seen a lick of spam since I have been here.

I despise captcha (or however you spell it) as I don't have the greatest eyesight and I have to keep refreshing for a new one that I can actually understand. I do not mind the ones that are, say math related or type the color of the rectangle. Is it this site that has the 2 are by land and 2 are by sea? That is one I have seen lately and this site and another linux (the mint forum) site are the only forums that I have joined in the past year.

 

[DevynCJohnson]

I think the contributions from @arochester made a large impact on the spam.

 

[rstanley]

I think the contributions from @arochester made a large impact on the spam.

Can I ask what those contributions were?

 

[ChristiW]

@rstanley - It might be this post earlier in the thread? (I am not positive, but that is the only post of his in this thread. )

 

[ryanvade]

Can I ask what those contributions were?

@arochester was modded. He is in a different time zone so he catches stuff before we get on here and we catch stuff before he gets on.

 

[DevynCJohnson]

Can I ask what those contributions were?

ryanvade is right. Also, arochester seems to be on the site more than me.