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What's going on with all the spam??

SportivemanSportiveman Posts: 157
edited December 2017 in Discuss the website with the team
Hi
What's going on with all the spam in last few days Iv never seen so much on this forum.

Posts

  • Thick MikeThick Mike Posts: 337
    We are awash with drugs!
  • fat daddyfat daddy Posts: 2,605
    its what happens to forums that have a single moderator ..... if they just handed out a couple of mod roles to frequent users that can be trusted just to kill spam .. then we could kill the spam before it took over
  • sprinter2012sprinter2012 Posts: 88
    User "viccidic" has posted nearly 300 messages related to online drug sales since it joined yesterday, clearly a spambot but it baffles me that it can make 300 posts in 2 days without being banned/blocked!

    Pretty shoddy moderation by any standards!
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  • jgsijgsi Posts: 5,062
    Has a phpBB update been missed?
  • cooldadcooldad Posts: 32,599
    What far daddy said. One moderator = chaos.
    I don't do smileys.

    There is no secret ingredient - Kung Fu Panda

    London Calling on Facebook

    Parktools
  • exlaserexlaser Posts: 261
    Can the moderator please get his/her act together please, re spam
    Van Nicholas Ventus
    Rose Xeon RS
  • fat daddyfat daddy Posts: 2,605
    It isn't fecking hard is it ... block bot, delete threads

    The forum is pretty unusable ATM
  • redveeredvee Posts: 11,922
    A moderator could simply do an IP and email ban and that would be the end of this latest spam, that's assuming the moderator does view the forum more than once a day. After the spam from Saturday you'd assume all the reports would be dealt with properly with the above mentioned actions.
    Think I've found a few topics I want to look at that aren't trying to sell drugs.
    I've added a signature to prove it is still possible.
  • imposter2.0imposter2.0 Posts: 12,015
    The answer is simple enough - just put all new users (with less than 5 posts, for example) into a moderation queue. That way, a moderator gets to review approve all posts from new users before they appear on the forum. It will also mean that any identifiable spam posts get deleted/banned before they go live on the forums.
  • fat daddyfat daddy Posts: 2,605
    Imposter wrote:
    The answer is simple enough - just put all new users (with less than 5 posts, for example) into a moderation queue. That way, a moderator gets to review approve all posts from new users before they appear on the forum.


    That would work well "if" we had moderators that viewed the forum frequently ... but if it takes this long to get rid of a spam bot, its going to drive away any new forum members if they post on Saturday and it doesn't appear until Tuesday - assuming the post does actually get moderated ... now if we had the above and a couple of extra moderators ... ones with no life so hang out on the internet a bit more .. then that would rock
  • imposter2.0imposter2.0 Posts: 12,015
    fat daddy wrote:
    Imposter wrote:
    The answer is simple enough - just put all new users (with less than 5 posts, for example) into a moderation queue. That way, a moderator gets to review approve all posts from new users before they appear on the forum.


    That would work well "if" we had moderators that viewed the forum frequently ... but if it takes this long to get rid of a spam bot, its going to drive away any new forum members if they post on Saturday and it doesn't appear until Tuesday - assuming the post does actually get moderated ... now if we had the above and a couple of extra moderators ... ones with no life so hang out on the internet a bit more .. then that would rock

    Agreed - in order to be effective, it still requires someone to moderate ;)

    There is an explanation on here somewhere about why Immediate Media is terrified of appointing non-salaried staff as moderators. Unfortunately their logic is absurd, but it is their logic nevertheless.
  • BikeRadarAdminBikeRadarAdmin Posts: 909
    Apologies for the delay. All now sorted hopefully.

    Whilst I agree with a lot of the options above, most are not possible, which I've explained before. I would consider the new user option (first five posts), but that argument could be outweighed by the benefits of letting new users post and immediately engage in discussion.
    BikeRadar Communities Manager
  • imposter2.0imposter2.0 Posts: 12,015
    joshjevans wrote:
    I would consider the new user option (first five posts), but that argument could be outweighed by the benefits of letting new users post and immediately engage in discussion.

    Two things Josh..

    Firstly, that's a small price to pay for keeping the forum spam-free - especially if this is made clear to new users while they are signing up. Potentially, it may encourage new users to post more often, in order to get their 'five posts' out the way as quick as possible.

    Secondly, such an option requires regular and efficient moderation. As pointed out earlier, nobody is going to post more than once if they have to wait three days for their first post to appear.
  • cooldadcooldad Posts: 32,599
    As poor Josh is on his own, I think his head might explode if he has to do more stuff.
    I don't do smileys.

    There is no secret ingredient - Kung Fu Panda

    London Calling on Facebook

    Parktools
  • imposter2.0imposter2.0 Posts: 12,015
    Imposter wrote:
    The answer is simple enough - just put all new users (with less than 5 posts, for example) into a moderation queue. That way, a moderator gets to review approve all posts from new users before they appear on the forum. It will also mean that any identifiable spam posts get deleted/banned before they go live on the forums.

    Seriously - why don't you just do this? Nothing bad will happen. The good thing that will happen is that spammers (the bots at least, like the one that is crapping on the forum currently) will get stopped. Why would you not want to do that??
  • mugensimugensi Posts: 559
    Why not appoint a few more moderators. I'm an admin on another phpBB forum and there is nothing complicated in moderating these type forums.
  • lettingthedaysgobylettingthedaysgoby Posts: 1,732
    The answer lies in updating to much better board software. Something like XenForo which makes this system look archaic.
  • redveeredvee Posts: 11,922
    They did have a spam moderator but then frittered away the money for his wages.
    I've added a signature to prove it is still possible.
  • robert88robert88 Posts: 2,696
    What is this:

    "WHO IS ONLINE
    Users browsing this forum: Bing [Bot], Moonbiker, Robert88 and 4 guests"

    Do we have robot bike riders now?
  • cooldadcooldad Posts: 32,599
    Bots crawl the internet and find info for the search engines. They are quite harmless, and are not Terminator types. Don't worry.
    I don't do smileys.

    There is no secret ingredient - Kung Fu Panda

    London Calling on Facebook

    Parktools
  • exlaserexlaser Posts: 261
    More spam again. ☹️☹️☹️☹️☹️
    Van Nicholas Ventus
    Rose Xeon RS
  • navrig2navrig2 Posts: 1,809
    Looks like the bots have got the measure of BR security and can create new accounts with ease.

    Time to use some of that advertising revenue and beef up the routine for creating an account.
  • lettingthedaysgobylettingthedaysgoby Posts: 1,732
    Navrig2 wrote:
    Looks like the bots have got the measure of BR security and can create new accounts with ease.

    Time to use some of that advertising revenue and beef up the routine for creating an account.
    Or, better still, buy a license for some proper board software and update this place.
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