Shame the soccer arrests didn't get they guy who spams here

[westernrvparkow]

What can that spam idiot who keeps posting links to soccer and rugby sites possibly be getting besides carpal tunnel syndrome? Surely, no one clicks on the links. Sure wish the webmaster would someone fire off a couple of million spam messages back at them instead of just constantly deleting their posts. And can't the webmaster just block the IP address from the forum? Surely there can't be that many different creeps posting the same thing from all around the world to this relatively insignificant (in the grand scheme of things) forum.

[monkey44]

SCVJeff wrote:

OutdoorPhotographer wrote:
I think if the forum software limited new members to posting a link until they hit 25 posts, or whatever number is reasonable, that it would stop the spammers without inconveniencing mods or preventing new members from posting questions the day they register.

Even 5 would probably deter these guys. The looming question is what can the forum software really do, or can someone write something like a MIB that can invoke certain rules during the sign-up process?

yes, software can limit posting until a certain number of days after sign-up.

We're members of a photo site that does exactly that - read post only in portions of the site, no one can post images until 90 days and 500 posts.

[SCVJeff]

OutdoorPhotographer wrote:
I think if the forum software limited new members to posting a link until they hit 25 posts, or whatever number is reasonable, that it would stop the spammers without inconveniencing mods or preventing new members from posting questions the day they register.

Even 5 would probably deter these guys. The looming question is what can the forum software really do, or can someone write something like a MIB that can invoke certain rules during the sign-up process?

[OutdoorPhotogra]

I think if the forum software limited new members to posting a link until they hit 25 posts, or whatever number is reasonable, that it would stop the spammers without inconveniencing mods or preventing new members from posting questions the day they register.

[peaches_cream]

1492 wrote:
We have a good idea where its coming from. Personally, I've automated the process of search and destroy as I have limited time these days.

But, we think we've caught the spammer on surveillance video, posted on YouTube here.

Deleted SOS

[mlts22]

For the websites I run, I block the IPs at the router. Not just the usual suspect IP blocks, but TOR nodes, since anonymous IPs are nice, but the exit nodes are used oftentimes for various forms of attack. Blocking at the router means that the bad guys don't even get to the web server to mess with it.

I might go fancier and redirect all blocked IPs to a bogus webserver which "tarpits" requests (basically pretends to serve pages up, but really slowly before dropping the connection... similar to a number of voice mail systems which put you on hold for an hour, only to hang up on you), but the blocking via the network is good for now.

I've encountered a number of methods to help with unknown accounts that are not too intrusive:

1: Are there any other members who know/will sponsor the person.
2: Is the new member willing to pony up a few bucks? One gaming site I am on asks for $5 via PayPal/BitCoin for a new account, not that they need the cash, but it stops spammers and Internet trolls cold.
3: The member gets allowed to post one item in the first 24 hours, and is limited until they post about 10-12 times, and they haven't been flagged/reported as a troll or spammer.
4: Any accounts made using "free" email places get tossed unless someone asks for an exception beforehand.

These methods may or may not help out, but the biggest thing I've found that helps is blocking Chinese and African IPs at the router. Yes, they might hack from a botnet in the US, but at least the attacks are lessened.

[1492]

We have a good idea where its coming from. Personally, I've automated the process of search and destroy as I have limited time these days.

But, we think we've caught the spammer on surveillance video, posted on YouTube here.

[2oldman]

Goostoff wrote:
Every once in a while we will see a bust from some odd country in Africa that you wonder how they even have electricity.

Or internet service.

I just watched American Sniper, and got me to wondering.. how do the cell towers survive all that destruction and bombing? Because the enemy appears to be using cell phones all the time.

[Goostoff]

As a webmaster myself I can tell you that this is a real problem. We solved it by setting up recaptcha to get rid of the bots, and then they were still coming so I just switched it to where every new member has to be approved by me personally. I just do a simple IP check . If it isn't somewhere in United States I just delete them. Luckily we are a small local group limited to a tri-state area in the Midwest and nobody else has any business being a part of out site.

Most of these spammers come from China, India, Ukraine, and Russia. Every once in a while we will see a bust from some odd country in Africa that you wonder how they even have electricity.

[BurbMan]

Jack_Diane_Freedom wrote:
What is a "shigrin"

I think he meant "chagrin".

[OutdoorPhotogra]

Seems like every Saturday morning - which would perhaps point to human over bot.

[fj12ryder]

Wow, I thought I was on here a lot and fairly early in the day. But I have yet to see any evidence of what seems to be an overwhelming problem. Maybe I'm just in the wrong forums.

[OutdoorPhotogra]

SCVJeff wrote:

OutdoorPhotographer wrote:

SCVJeff wrote:
What needs to happen to the shigrin of anyone new and needing an immediate answer, is to simply cache the new members post until it can be cleared by a Mod. That means it takes twice the time to post.
1- to sign up
2- to come back and do damage

Can't hurt..
Btw, this is not a Bot, otherwise we would really have a problem

How do you know it's not a bot? Curious? Seems a waste of time to pay someone to manually post this junk.

Problem is approving posts is labor intensive for mods.

how do you know it is?
Someone, something needs to sign up, then select a category to post, then post. It's not as simple as an email or Yahoo blast.

Since none of us know that business model (at least not me), you can't say it's a waste of time. Don't forget that a LOT of this stuff comes out of Russa and Africa where $.05 will buy dinner.

So what's worse: 'x' number of Mods here approving new members (I never said all posts), or spending the time to delete the spam posts, especially when we get the occasional blast of them ? Right now these spammers get exposure and I guarantee someone here looks at them before they are deleted, and that's all it takes to realize there are eyeballs here to be had.

Approving new members is common on lots of forums for this reason

First, I was low key using "curious." I specifically did that to not be accusatory but to see why you thought it was a human spammer. You have a good point about cheap labor in Russia, China, etc. But, recent Russian cyber attacks were a distributed attack where they can use infected computers of unaware bystanders to launch denial of service attacks.

Yes, bots are capable for registering and posting spam. This may be humans but could be bots. Am I an expert no, but do I study cyber attacks as part of my job, yes so I'm not shooting in the dark about bots. Maybe I misread your post and took emotion that wasn't there. One of the problems with forums. My apologies if I did and either way, just trying to look for solutions.

So, on to another solution:

With the number of new members we have, it is more work to approve new members than delete the spam. That said, this article describes ways to defeat both bot and human spammers and has a good idea. The forum could require approval before posting links. That would allow new members to post same day which is good for the community but defeat spammers.

Depedending on the software limitations of the forum, one easy way to limit links is to require 100 posts (or 50, or whatever is reasonable) before a new member can post a link.

9 Ways to Eliminate Spam from your Community Forum

[Jack_Diane_Free]

Got it thanks. Thought it was a term I was not familiar with.

[2oldman]

Jack_Diane_Freedom wrote:
What is a "shigrin"

chagrin. Now you can look it up.