Infiltrator Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 Just out of curiosity, how come with the old forum skin we never used to get this much spam, now with this new skin, we are getting a fuck load of spams, of all kinds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Deleted_Account Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 I know! Way to much spam tonight I just saw a post where a spambot got spammed in a reply lol that shows how bad it is! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Netshroud Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 I've given up on the report button, there are so many of them now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Cooper Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 The site could probably do with a couple more moderators in different time zones, just to erase the spam. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Infiltrator Posted January 18, 2011 Author Share Posted January 18, 2011 (edited) The site could probably do with a couple more moderators in different time zones, just to erase the spam. Not a bad idea, I think Darren should consider advertising some moderators position. Or perhaps promote some of us. Edited January 18, 2011 by Infiltrator Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparda Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 Ye, lots of spam. Fortunately the new forum makes it so much easier to remove spam (can mass remove a users posts). No idea why so much of it is in Russian, I mean, how many people are likely to click links on an English speaking forum if the post is in Russian? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Infiltrator Posted January 18, 2011 Author Share Posted January 18, 2011 Ye, lots of spam. Fortunately the new forum makes it so much easier to remove spam (can mass remove a users posts). No idea why so much of it is in Russian, I mean, how many people are likely to click links on an English speaking forum if the post is in Russian? Apparently I clicked on one of the links and Google Chrome reported that the link was a forgery. Nothing major happened, but it could've been worse, a Trojan Horse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digip Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 I hate to say it, but we need to implement some sort of policy change. Maybe a captcha system for posts(sucks for the rest of us but might be worth it) and maybe even some ip subnet filtering for specific blocks of addresses known to be from spammers. Maybe use a service like http://www.projecthoneypot.org/services_overview.php to get a block list from. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Cooper Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 I hate to say it, but we need to implement some sort of policy change. Maybe a captcha system for posts(sucks for the rest of us but might be worth it) and maybe even some ip subnet filtering for specific blocks of addresses known to be from spammers. Maybe use a service like http://www.projecthoneypot.org/services_overview.php to get a block list from. We already have captchas on registration and as the spammers are registering I don't see how a captcha on posts would improve things. In my experience the harder it is to post the less real people post while the number of spam posts still increases (I am sure their AI can do captchas better than me now). Blocking IP ranges of known spammers can have a real impact on the spam numbers. On the last forum I was a moderator of we blocked a large chunk of China's IP range (not because the Chinese are spammers, just that was where we saw the largest quantity of spam coming from). The effect was amazing, our moderation times went from a 10-15 minute clean up each morning to a 2 minute clean up. The main reason that most sites don't like to block IP ranges is that they feel that it would be blocking legit members of their forum. I would hope that most of our members would be able to get round and their IP being blocked one way or another. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparda Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 I've already made a couple of small changes. One of the changes I wanted to make was preventing the posting of links before a few posts have been made, unfortunately this functionality is not built in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digip Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 I've already made a couple of small changes. One of the changes I wanted to make was preventing the posting of links before a few posts have been made, unfortunately this functionality is not built in. Were you able to manually implement that, or no? You would probably have to rewrite the post function to look up the users post count, and if less then # of your choice, then don't allow the href in the post. I'm surprised there isn't a plugin or addon that can do this already. Seems like a common practice on many forums. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
555 Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 Maybe it is the new forum template that is the problem, I had this one template I downloaded that someone else coded and kept getting these viagra, cialis spams on my forums, or maybe it is the new forum system that caused it, but there is probuly some code or keyphrase in the code somewhere that is bringing the bots to here. I could be wrong.. most were all from russia or areas around there. It is really annoying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Infiltrator Posted January 18, 2011 Author Share Posted January 18, 2011 I wonder if this template has been developed by some Russian Mafia. That could explain the reason why we receive so much spam from Russia. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ForcedLogix Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 (edited) As a moderator over at another forum (who happens to run the same forum software), I can firmly say that this is some sort of wide-spread thing. I've reported a few messages here, only to have to turn around to delete the exact same messages over there. This problem, to my knowledge, as been reported to the IP.Board people. However, I have yet to hear anything new about a solution/fix. However, you can rest assured that it is not the forum skin that is causing the problem. If any moderators, or administrators want anymore information, I'll provide what I can. ~ForcedLogix Edited January 30, 2011 by ForcedLogix Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparda Posted January 19, 2011 Share Posted January 19, 2011 As a moderator over at world-garage.com (who happens to run the same forum software), I can firmly say that this is some sort of wide-spread thing. I've reported a few messages here, only to have to turn around to delete the exact same messages over at WG. This problem, to my knowledge, as been reported to the IP.Board people. However, I have yet to hear anything new about a solution/fix. However, you can rest assured that it is not the forum skin that is causing the problem. If any moderators, or administrators want anymore information, I'll provide what I can. ~ForcedLogix In that case I'm turning on moderator approval for new users (I apologies to the new users, but it's just ridiculous). I hope other believe this to be a justifiable approach to the problem (please tell me what you think). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ForcedLogix Posted January 19, 2011 Share Posted January 19, 2011 In that case I'm turning on moderator approval for new users (I apologies to the new users, but it's just ridiculous). I hope other believe this to be a justifiable approach to the problem (please tell me what you think). That's not a bad idea, however, it would be wise to post a guide/announcement stating how permanent the situation is. Speaking of that, do new(er) users always get put on post moderation? Just wondering ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Cooper Posted January 19, 2011 Share Posted January 19, 2011 In that case I'm turning on moderator approval for new users (I apologies to the new users, but it's just ridiculous). I hope other believe this to be a justifiable approach to the problem (please tell me what you think). It depends on what counts for a new user. If it is something like "less than 10 posts" then it seems reasonable to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Infiltrator Posted January 19, 2011 Author Share Posted January 19, 2011 (edited) It depends on what counts for a new user. If it is something like "less than 10 posts" then it seems reasonable to me. +1 to that. Edited January 19, 2011 by Infiltrator Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Netshroud Posted January 19, 2011 Share Posted January 19, 2011 Shameless self-promotion much? :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparda Posted January 19, 2011 Share Posted January 19, 2011 Strangely, there has been no spam over this evening :| Guess I'll turn off moderator approval and see if it comes back lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Infiltrator Posted January 19, 2011 Author Share Posted January 19, 2011 Strangely, there has been no spam over this evening :| Guess I'll turn off moderator approval and see if it comes back lol. I think turning on moderator approval, must have made a difference. I don't see any spam at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Cooper Posted January 19, 2011 Share Posted January 19, 2011 I think turning on moderator approval, must have made a difference. I don't see any spam at all. Sometimes spammers don't spam sites within certain times. Usually is is an attempt to avoid posting spam when moderators are about, so it will be visible for longer - i.e. till a moderator next visits the site. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparda Posted January 19, 2011 Share Posted January 19, 2011 ok, I think I got it figured out. Mod approval back on :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
555 Posted January 19, 2011 Share Posted January 19, 2011 The way I fixed it is by banning about 20 IP's, have not gotten another spammer in the last month or so. Thats with no Recaptcha system or new user approvals. Allthough I am sure Hak5 forums see more traffic then mine. If you want to be really safe just ban all the IP's from Russia, China and Nigeria lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparda Posted January 19, 2011 Share Posted January 19, 2011 Well, hak5.org gets indexed by Google really fast, so it's a target for spammers because of that and despite the nofollow options been added to all user posted links. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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