Spambots

droopsnoot

Robin9 wrote: »

When we click the SPAM button are we reporting that individual post or the Spammer ?

The individual post. If I see it's a foreign-character-spammer, I tend to use "report" and remove the text from "this post" and replace it with "this user". No idea if it makes any difference.

foxtrotoscar_2

At least 10 spam posts by molviww in the last half hour or so.

Gingernutty

At 14:33 this afternoon, the Gaming Board is completely spammed for the first 4 pages - I guess the spammers have worked out which boards are rarely visited so that the spam stays up for longer.

Mandelbrot

droopsnoot wrote: »

The spam posts are removed reasonably quickly - possibly not as quickly as some might like, but relatively quickly. I would suggest that any site stats used for marketing or other "proper" purposes would be calculated after the removal of spam posts.

Not all spam is removed. Just those that get noticed and reported.
I have come across the occasional spam post that is years old.

But posts/threads are only one aspect of 'site stats'.

The usernames used by spammers would still seem to be included in the total 'Members' (i.e. username) stats on the front page ...

Robin9

droopsnoot wrote: »

The individual post. If I see it's a foreign-character-spammer, I tend to use "report" and remove the text from "this post" and replace it with "this user". No idea if it makes any difference.

When I used report I had an email from MSE Towers threatening to suspend me.

This discussion all seems to have got very personal - I don't think anyone has a crusade against MSE.

The whole subject of SPAM does seem to have highlighted a lack of direction and some confused messages from MSE Towers - can't do this because its not legal etc.

Whe Martin stepped in the SPAM suddenly stopped - I suspect a human was put into the new member loop - but the intervention was then relaxed and we have numerous SPAMs again - the only long lasting success seems to be the Korean ones.

Martin promised us updates on progress but it's all very quiet.

fermi

Robin9 wrote: »

When I used report I had an email from MSE Towers threatening to suspend me.

That is out of order. 1st level forum team are contracted in as far as I can gather. I think you should complain about that to andrea or megan or zorica @moneysavingexpert.com

Mandelbrot

Robin9 wrote: »

When I used report I had an email from MSE Towers threatening to suspend me.

fermi wrote: »

That is out of order. 1st level forum team are contracted in as far as I can gather. I think you should complain about that to andrea or megan or zorica @moneysavingexpert.com

I was also given a 'warning' by 'ForumTeam 5', presumably for comments about the way to deal with Spam (they weren't very specific and said they wouldn't enter into discussions).

They seem to think we are commenting about the Spam because we have nothing better to do. :think:
We want to see it gone, and some of us have handled such issues in other situations so know something about the matter.

When Martin stepped in the SPAM suddenly stopped - I suspect a human was put into the new member loop - but the intervention was then relaxed and we have numerous SPAMs again - the only long lasting success seems to be the Korean ones.

From what 'knock-on' effects I have seen, it seems more likely (to me) that it was the software that was tweaked.

There surely can't be any human directly involved (now anyway) as they would surely have noticed the 71 spam threads started this morning (all within 80 minutes) on the 'Gaming' board by one particular (brand new) username. (They are still there, incidentally, along with the 10 threads started by a different username.)

Robin9

fermi wrote: »

That is out of order. 1st level forum team are contracted in as far as I can gather. I think you should complain about that to andrea or megan or zorica @moneysavingexpert.com

This what they sent to me :-

Hi Robin9. We have sent several requests to you recently requesting that, in the future, can you please use the spam button to report spam and not send in reports to the Forum team where it is becoming a resource issue for us?

We really appreciate how helpful our users are but it's easier for us to distinguish spam from abuse that way and we don't want to take further action against your account.

fermi

As said, out of order.

Shovel_Lad

redfox wrote: »

there's currently 2 on the rampage on Credit Card and Gaming boards respectively. I've reported them but there needs to be someone at MSE right now to act on that report.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/member.php?u=2411046

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/member.php?u=2411042

The second one still has 71 posts and hasn't been PPR'd :doh: