Spam Posts?

Post by **auntys_eyes** » Sat Feb 24, 2007 12:20 pm

What's with the spam posts that have started to appear?? Are these people (supposedly located in the USA) actually going out of their way to register on WARSUG, just so they can post spam!!! or is this s*!t being randomly computer generated?

Anyway, good to see that the powers that be are removing them from the forums.

Post by **yorky** » Sat Feb 24, 2007 12:24 pm

They are generally bots that register with the site and then spam, or overseas people signing up and spamming. Difficult to stop them unfortunately (kind of like those overseas calls you get all the time wanting you to change your provider etc).

JG-103 · Post by **JG-103** » Sat Feb 24, 2007 1:42 pm

i find it amusing how they take the time to post it in the right section

Post by **yorky** » Sat Feb 24, 2007 1:44 pm

nah I've seen them posted in almost every section here.

Post by **Bonez** » Sat Feb 24, 2007 8:22 pm

I think the only way for it to be fixed would be to make it so that when you sign up, an email is sent to the site admin to approve the membership.

This seems to stop most spam, as I used to face the same problem on a Yahoo group that i'm an owner of.

What are your thoughts Gavin? I know you're out there somewhere

Post by **Zebedee** » Sat Feb 24, 2007 9:29 pm

Bonez wrote:I think the only way for it to be fixed would be to make it so that when you sign up, an email is sent to the site admin to approve the membership.

This seems to stop most spam, as I used to face the same problem on a Yahoo group that i'm an owner of.

What are your thoughts Gavin? I know you're out there somewhere

Well, an email is sent back to the person activating the account, mostly to check that an account isn't being registered in someone else's name...

The idea of having an admin approve all new registrations has merit, but would end up being another source of complaints ... "I had to wait two days before my account was approved. You guys suck!"

Compared to some forums I've seen, we get off fairly lightly. However if you happen to notice an obvious spam thread, just drop Gavin or myself a private message and we'll remove the thread and cancel the registration of the spammer. For now that's probably the easiest way to deal with things...

Cheers,

Post by **auntys_eyes** » Sat Feb 24, 2007 9:45 pm

That's good advice Zebedee, i'm glad i bought the subject up. If the users of this forum follow your advice we should be able to keep a lid on the spam.

Post by **vk6hgr** » Sat Feb 24, 2007 9:51 pm

Bonez wrote: What are your thoughts Gavin? I know you're out there somewhere

Wha? Who? Me?

To register and post on this forum means that a spammer has to actually sign up with a valid email address and either manually or automatically respond to the "click on this URL to activate your membership" URL. As Zeb said, it's practically impossible to differentiate between bots and people when the bots do all the right things.

The number of accounts owned by bots that try and sign up with fake email addresses (and don't appear on the membership list because their account is disabled until they confirm) is about half the number of active members - and growing.

I'd like nothing more than to find all the spammers in the world and string them up by their thumbs, but sadly that's not going to happen

Chicky · Post by **Chicky** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 1:32 pm

I'm sure Gav and Zeb think the only time I talk to them on MSN is to notify them of spam!

Donga · Post by **Donga** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 9:55 pm

Chicky wrote:I'm sure Gav and Zeb think the only time I talk to them on MSN is to notify them of spam!

I am sure thats probably the only time I speak to Gav is when there is spam. Sorry Zeb I would talk to you as well but don't have you in my msn.

Post by **Zebedee** » Mon Feb 26, 2007 7:32 pm

Donga wrote:
Chicky wrote:I'm sure Gav and Zeb think the only time I talk to them on MSN is to notify them of spam!
I am sure thats probably the only time I speak to Gav is when there is spam. Sorry Zeb I would talk to you as well but don't have you in my msn.

Nobody loves me <sniff!>

hehe.

Donga · Post by **Donga** » Mon Feb 26, 2007 8:10 pm

We all love you Zeb.