Damn Spam posts!

From what you say, we still need to report individual threads with spam posts, to ensure the exclamation mark appears, but don't then need to report multiple spam posts from the same spammer in the same thread, is that right?

Pretty good summary in my opinion.

I know when I see a spam report with 5 or more posts for the offender, I go to a page that lists all his posts with like a line or two for each. If a couple of them are spammy, I go right for the "spam hammer" and let the chips fall where they may. If he was legit, 2 or 3 spam posts back to back, IMHO reveals his true nature, and "he's gone..." All posts, all history, as much as the tools I have will let me.

BTW keep the spam suggestions coming. There is a discussion going in the mod forum, and I think Justin and mrVass are going to look into adding better spam protection with the next round of server upgrades, so hopefully the best ideas will surface and be implemented.
 
Why not post the solution up here? As I mentioned in another open thread, we have a discussion going in the mod forum about this subject. I think Justin and mrVass will be implementing the best (that is achievable) solution(s) with the next scheduled server upgrade...

So recommend away...
 
My wife's computer (which I have been using) has been having some problems lately. I get to see the mouse pointer move around, shut down the computer for updates, good stuff. It feels like these last few days there are more people using my computer and for a greater length of time than I have. Not good. She seems to want the antivirus/spyware/malware to be a Chinese brand. It is her computer, and the protection she has certainly doesn't seem to be adequate at the moment. I always used AVG, Avira, some of the freebies without too much trouble. Any suggestions?
 
lol, someone's got a remote access program connecting to your computer. You need to take your computer to someone, stat.
 
bigmoose said:
Why not post the solution up here? As I mentioned in another open thread, we have a discussion going in the mod forum about this subject. I think Justin and mrVass will be implementing the best (that is achievable) solution(s) with the next scheduled server upgrade...

So recommend away...
sorry big moose, i'd rather share it only as a personal message with a moderator, away from the public. but i won't send it out as a PersonalMessage unless requested, because Personal Messaging without permission is tacky.
Any moderator. i'll send it to you, or MrVass, whoever has the handle on this issue. and it will be shared if it has merit.
please understand. I'm no spammer. i just feel if there's a way to help without letting every person on here know what that is, then maybe you moderators can get an upper hand. i'm not being tricky. you moderators can decide whether it has merit. that's all i'm suggesting here.

so if one of you will just permit me to, over the ES email/message, then maybe it will help. I would expect if it helps you all will be happy.
This is why ES has moderators, to have the inside view on everything, to have a combined view.
BTW this is all happening thanks to MY wife's computer, so let me help, and then I'll be on my merry way.
 
Feel free to IM me, and I'll post it in the mod forum for all the mods to see and assess if that is OK with you.

We just got "hit" again with a bot that did about 25 posts before I could kill it... it appears they have figured a way around our current spammer fence!
 
bigmoose said:
Feel free to IM me, and I'll post it in the mod forum for all the mods to see and assess if that is OK with you.

We just got "hit" again with a bot that did about 25 posts before I could kill it... it appears they have figured a way around our current spammer fence!
couldn't find the IM button. I pasted it to a PM to you. It's in your box by now. Thanks for everything I learned from you bigmoose.
 
Thanks to you Harox! I got your reply. I'll be thinking it through and will share it with the other mods and the administrators in the mod forum.

Thanks again for your thoughts and idea!
 
Sancho's Horse said:
My wife's computer (which I have been using) has been having some problems lately. I get to see the mouse pointer move around, shut down the computer for updates, good stuff. It feels like these last few days there are more people using my computer and for a greater length of time than I have. Not good. She seems to want the antivirus/spyware/malware to be a Chinese brand. It is her computer, and the protection she has certainly doesn't seem to be adequate at the moment. I always used AVG, Avira, some of the freebies without too much trouble. Any suggestions?

This free product is often recommended:

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Free
http://www.malwarebytes.org/products/malwarebytes_free/

Oh, apparently it's available in Chinese language too so maybe your wife will like it better.
 
I posted this in another thread in response to a comment about the spam:
amberwolf said:
Yes, in the 24 hours prior to today, well over a hundred spammers registered, in bunches. A number of them posted dozens of spams in just minutes before being nuked, and some just spammed in their profiles, and got nuked before they could post other spam.

Today there were only 9 more so far Im aware of, after Justin chnaged some of the signup stuff to make it a little harder.

Apparently there's a huge wave of new spammers out there, most likely spambots infecting computers as a virus, given reports I have had from friends with lots of new computer problems in the last few days, and the large variation in IP addresses (making it impossible to just nuke a range and stop the problem).

Other forums are having the same or worse problems, an upsurge of ten to a hundred times the usual. :(


There's quite a few possible ways to make it harder for spammers to even register, and we're thinking up more, but so far none of the new ones have been implemented, until they can be coded up and tested on a spare server/copy of the boards, to make sure they don't break the real one first. :)



Any new ways anyone has of trying to control spam are all welcome; we might ahve already thougth about it but maybe we didnt'. Justin just thought of one today that hadn't occured to me, and I have come up with several long pages of possible methods, based on my experiences trying to stem the tide so far, in my time as spam-control-moderator. :lol:

I dunno how effective any will be, but we'll find out as we try them. :)


I hope we do come up with some good ways that keep working, cuz I could definitely use the time I normally have to spend hunting down spammers, verifying every single new member signup to see if their profile is spammy, or their IP or other info matches a known spammer in one of the many databases of such. I guess it uses up an hour a night on bad nigths, maybe half that on good ones, and I don't even wanna think about how much time it was last night (or the other night...i'm tired enough to be a little confused on that one).

And I am not the only one controlling spam, using up time to do it; so there's way too many man-hours wasted on that sort of thing. :(

I wish it was cost-effective to pursue spammers via legal routes, becuase there are countries that have laws against this sort of thing, and processes to take care of it, but nobody has the money to spend on doing it, especialy since "there's always more where that came from". :roll:


If we could just make advertising itself illegal, then all the search engines wouldnt' have ads, or ad placement on pages, or any of hte things that make most of these keyword and link spammers have a reason for existence. :lol:
 
I think the pay a £1/$1 fee via paypal to join is a very good idea as long as it can be spliced into the current joining process.
I only actively participate in half a dozen forums so £1 each won't kill me.

It's a trivial sum and it would be a very interesting test to see how many spammers paid to join up.
It could be the answer for all discussion boards :wink:
 
Keep the spam reports coming, we are trying to keep up with them.

Thanks.
 
Thanks for update guys! Will do whatever possible to help...
 
I think it's also easier for mods to remove if we don't reply to spam posts. So as tempting as it is to reply to Marina the lonely housewife or the gibberish translated stuff, try restrain yourself!

Thanks and keep up the great work guys.
 
Yup, just report them. This spam storm is not hard to tell from legit newbies. The ban hammer takes out the topic too, but it's still best not to reply, just hit the report button.
 
Keep the reports coming. We have a ton of bogus new members, mostly joined yesterday. The really obvious ones purged last night before they posted any spam, but others needed to be left till they post and reveal themselves as spammers.

Thanks for helping, much easier to do the weeding when you point them out for us. I don't have to open every post I don't recognise the name of the member.
 
Glad to be of help, will do my friend...
 
Here is your mod team in action this morning. One of the closet spammers from yesterday popped up, a member flagged it, and three of us hammered him simultaneously... likely within the same second... lucky we didn't mess up the data base!
banhammering.jpg
 
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