Spammers

[IdentityUnknown]

Is there a way to block people using words like admin or user names of actual admins in usernames for new accounts? What about disabling signatures? That might not be ideal but it would force them to significantly rewrite the bot code, which there’s a good chance they aren’t actually capable of doing or, at least, it would take time and effort (and possibly money) that they won’t want to invest.

[Trundle]

Feels like it's now worse than ever.

4 different spamming accounts currently registered at the same time.

[dublinjohn]

Maybe turn off new membership for now, until can figure out how to block these spammers

If its a human, which I think it is, we need to approve posts before they appear for people under a set number of posts and restrict signatures for another number of posts and as I've seen on another forum, disallow repeating the same message (consecutive posts by poster).


This will mean more work for the mods, so perhaps the boss should pick a few members he trusts to assist the mods with this.

I didn't always like every story posted, but, for a long time its been a nice place to visit

[PhilMarlowe]

I am sure that some of us will volunteer to help with that moderation.

/Phil

[IdentityUnknown]

Another possible approach for mitigating the spam is to limit the number of posts per account per hour. Most actual users almost never post more than a dozen times in an hour. The spammers post 50, 75, even 100 times in an hour. Of course, all of my suggestions assume that the link they are spamming is the point. If the point is just to hurt this forum, then none of this would actually stop it. It would still mitigate it though, making it easier to clean up.

[dublinjohn]

I am sure that some of us will volunteer to help with that moderation.

/Phil

I have, earlier in this thread, but the boss has to trust the people involved

[DrWhoFanJ]

If there is a need for more volunteers, I’m available the vast majority of the time and usually check the site at least once every few hours. This problem really does not solving ASAP, though, because it’s making using the site as a whole far too much of a chore sometimes.

[IdentityUnknown]

Another wave of spam happening right now. Another spam account impersonating an actual moderator. Gotta be a way to stop them doing that.

[IdentityUnknown]

All the spam messages are blank. Is there an option to forbid blank posts, minimum character count requirement or something? That’s something else that would necessitate reprogramming the spam bots but shouldn’t be much of an issue to actual users.

[TeenFan]

The spammers post 50, 75, even 100 times in an hour. If the point is just to hurt this forum, then none of this would actually stop it. It would still mitigate it though, making it easier to clean up.

This attack seems more personal, like wanting to hurt the site or those who run it. Choosing new usernames based on Moderators is a clue to
that motivation. This person isn't only doing what can be done easily and conveniently.

But things are happening at other sites as well. MyVidster was almost completely shut down. The owner mentioned "constant attacks" as a reason
for giving up. The site just switched over to requiring membership for everyone now just to view videos.

It would not be out of the realm of what's possible for an undercover government agent to "Mess" with certain sites just to harass them into
closing down. What types of links has Admin/Darky/SpamBot put on their posts. I never clicked on any of them, so have no clue where it takes
anyone.