Yet another Spam prevention idea
- Thread starter kfc469
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Shumway
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Yeah those spambot's are a real pain to get rid of,It took forever to get rid of them attacking an old forum i used to go to.
The General
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Haha, if it were like that, then Ryan would have been banned soooo long before he actually did. Same with talldude123. Hey, speaking of talldude123, he'll be back tomorrow, won't he? 
But yeah, the spam is out of control:
One other thing I wonder, is why do we keep the emptied spam threads? Why not just delete them? What purpose does it serve to leave threads where a spammer gets banned and what not?
My idea:
Perhaps if there was a way to "rate" posts or threads as good or bad, and based on the number of goods or bads, it would get hidden or unhidden, that would be excellent for both spam, and n00bs.
But yeah, the spam is out of control:
One other thing I wonder, is why do we keep the emptied spam threads? Why not just delete them? What purpose does it serve to leave threads where a spammer gets banned and what not?
My idea:
Perhaps if there was a way to "rate" posts or threads as good or bad, and based on the number of goods or bads, it would get hidden or unhidden, that would be excellent for both spam, and n00bs.
Dave
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I know that I sound like a broken record, but this version of vB does not support that idea of bad thread ratings that would keep a person from posting. I don't even think the newest version has that, but it's something that we keep trying to deal with in better ways. So your suggestions are appreciated.
Some might say that nothing will get done around here, but I say that alot of members don't know what's going on that they don't see. And you can start a forum and say you don't have that problem, but when that forum has several thousand members, then you'll see those problems. I've been involved with several forums, some small, some large, and the small ones are easy to take care of since the spammers are looking for thousands to see their spam, not a hundred.
Anyway, we're trying to make things better. Your suggestions and constructive criticisms are noted and may help in the future.
The thread rating idea is another good one, and so is reputation that we've talked about in the past. I'm hoping that we'll be able to implement those in the future.
We keep alot of the threads (though closed) so that when an ISP contacts me about those that are spamming, I still have the proof. There are no soft-deletes here, so when we delete it, it's gone. Technically it's only gone when the database is backed up.
There have been several ISPs that have been contacted about members that have been banned, especially multiple times. We have the burden of proof, so we keep their PMs and posts and send it to the ISP with a harassment charge. Even at that, it takes time for them to act upon the problem.
Banning IPs is another option that we do when the IP is static. Banning a dynamic IP, or a range, keeps alot of people from being able to join. I get several emails a day that are about this issue: new members trying to join and it tells them they are already banned. And you wouldn't believe the number of spam emails that the admin account gets!
We've also blocked some emails so that they won't be considered valid if someone tries to join with that email (the @stupid.com type stuff). I can't name those here, but some are not accepted because the spammers use some of these to join.
So, we are trying and IMO, we are doing a better job than ever. But the system can always be better, and that's what we're striving for.
I hope that helps with understanding that we are trying to make this place better.
Dave
Some might say that nothing will get done around here, but I say that alot of members don't know what's going on that they don't see. And you can start a forum and say you don't have that problem, but when that forum has several thousand members, then you'll see those problems. I've been involved with several forums, some small, some large, and the small ones are easy to take care of since the spammers are looking for thousands to see their spam, not a hundred.
Anyway, we're trying to make things better. Your suggestions and constructive criticisms are noted and may help in the future.
The thread rating idea is another good one, and so is reputation that we've talked about in the past. I'm hoping that we'll be able to implement those in the future.
We keep alot of the threads (though closed) so that when an ISP contacts me about those that are spamming, I still have the proof. There are no soft-deletes here, so when we delete it, it's gone. Technically it's only gone when the database is backed up.
There have been several ISPs that have been contacted about members that have been banned, especially multiple times. We have the burden of proof, so we keep their PMs and posts and send it to the ISP with a harassment charge. Even at that, it takes time for them to act upon the problem.
Banning IPs is another option that we do when the IP is static. Banning a dynamic IP, or a range, keeps alot of people from being able to join. I get several emails a day that are about this issue: new members trying to join and it tells them they are already banned. And you wouldn't believe the number of spam emails that the admin account gets!
We've also blocked some emails so that they won't be considered valid if someone tries to join with that email (the @stupid.com type stuff). I can't name those here, but some are not accepted because the spammers use some of these to join.
So, we are trying and IMO, we are doing a better job than ever. But the system can always be better, and that's what we're striving for.
I hope that helps with understanding that we are trying to make this place better.
Dave
I'm a phpbb forum admin and I had too many problems deleting garbage posted by spammers. So, I went here and write spam in the search text box. Found some hacks that could prevent a spammer bot to login, but the best is one that asks one of random five questions that only a human can reply.
So, the bot spammers disapeared from my forum.
You can try a solution like that.
So, the bot spammers disapeared from my forum.
You can try a solution like that.
Thanks, Nickolas, but we're running an old creaking version of vB. But maybe DMo (the admin) can find a hack or two for that.
Hmmm... Hey, Dave! Have you looked here:
http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showmods.php
Hmmm... Hey, Dave! Have you looked here:
http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showmods.php
The General
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Yeah, when you register here, there isn't even a little image garbled text to decipher, you just type in your username and password you want and thats it. There should at least be an image thing, but the 5 questions thing sounds even better!
HAVOC
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Man, i'm not looking forward to this at ToVFORUMS. We are using PHPBB so we can implement some of the things mentioned. Plus, we have an uber leet hacker at our helm. So, that could make things better.
Nubius
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Larry needs to put aside some of the google ads and stupid spam links in the paragraphs money and upgrade vB.
If vB was upgraded, it seems like it'd sure open a lot of doors for you guys in terms of having options to do something about this place be it spammers, spam-bots, and the look of TF.
Things would be easier to get done with the upgraded templates and you'd overall just have more options.
Seems like you're just fighting a pointless and never ending battle trying to ban them at your current state.
Getting vB updated and getting things like the image or 5 questions would probably help you out greatly.
If vB was upgraded, it seems like it'd sure open a lot of doors for you guys in terms of having options to do something about this place be it spammers, spam-bots, and the look of TF.
Things would be easier to get done with the upgraded templates and you'd overall just have more options.
Seems like you're just fighting a pointless and never ending battle trying to ban them at your current state.
Getting vB updated and getting things like the image or 5 questions would probably help you out greatly.
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