So much spam recently... more BG's please??

Quasar

I think at present we are all coping well. As soon as a spammer appears, there's always one of us posting immediately afterwards declaring that it's spam, thus warning other users to ignore the thread.

Only last night Chameleon stalked a spammer and posted "spam" on each thread. It seems we can all help by being vigilant and looking out for one another.

Phoenixx73

The only problem with IP banning is that I know there are a fair few users on here who log on from their local library. Now say one persistant spammer uses one of these libraries, Spam, gets banned, re-registers with an alt, spams some more, gets banned, re-registers and so on and so on.

Now the problem with blocking the IP is that in taking out that one spammer, you also switch off the acces to this site of every other computer on the librarys network aswell. The same would be tre for schools, colleges and hals of residence.

An IP ban is rarely ever the best solution and must only be used when there is seriously no other alternative.

squeaky

tine wrote: »

Are more BGs the solution? well honestly i am not sure... maybe boardwide permissions to remove spam for the BGs once one has been spotted would be of more use...

This ought to be possible. It's easy enough for us now with the new software to see all the posts by a spammer once one of us sees it - and the number of times I've seen a spammer hit several boards but can only remove the spam from my own... you know - while all the other BG's are [STRIKE]loafing [/STRIKE]er... living real lives

frivolous_fay

I think it would be good if the system picked up posts that had multiple $ signs in them... or the word lasik, :rolleyes: particularly if it's a link underneath.

Wouldn't have to delete them... just add them to the queue to be checked by board staff.

Poppycat

I reported this spammer diamondm 2 days ago and 3 emails to abuse and no one has removed there posts. He is promoting his own site and referral/affilate links on here

Nothing seems to get done these days. I losing faith in reported posts now

weegie.geek

I do like the idea of not being able to post links unless you complete a catchpa.
Catchpas are far from uncircumventable, but they're a start.
Is there a catchpa when signing up to the forums in the first place? I forget.

One thing I WOULD like to see is a change from the reporting posts button being a mailto:.

It's useless for people who aren't using a mail client. Sure, they could copy and paste into their webmail, but that's more of an inconvenience than just putting up with spam.

Merlot

I would suggest that the sign up process should be more detailed , name/address etc, age, school attended, what you had for dinner, you get the point. Its too quick and easy to register just now, so MSE is leaving itself open to lots of spammers - just my thoughts. I'll get me coat!

weegie.geek

Merlot wrote: »

I would suggest that the sign up process should be more detailed , name/address etc, age, school attended, what you had for dinner, you get the point. Its too quick and easy to register just now, so MSE is leaving itself open to lots of spammers - just my thoughts. I'll get me coat!

Spammers sign up using automated apps, so all that'd happen is they'd set the app to fill in those bits of the form too.

Also, a lot of people don't like to give these kind of details. IMO, MSE shouldn't ask for any more details than are necessary and relevant to the content of the forum.

Former_MSE_Forum_Manager

weegie.geek wrote: »

Spammers sign up using automated apps, so all that'd happen is they'd set the app to fill in those bits of the form too.

Also, a lot of people don't like to give these kind of details. IMO, MSE shouldn't ask for any more details than are necessary and relevant to the content of the forum.

This is true, and also we have a lot of people come here who are new not only to the site, but often to the internet and specifically to forums. We can't risk alienating these people. We are looking at ways to combat this more effectively though but please be patient, as with everything its one thing on a long list of jobs we want to address (did everyone see the signature announement today by the way)?

Poppcat, my apologies this wasn't dealt with quicker. I have now personally killed the account.

a11waysindebt

I was chasing one around the board early this morning.So annoying.

(did everyone see the signature announement today by the way)?

I'm not being lazy here,but can someone please forward a link.