Can we stop these worthless spam posts?

[Gloey]

This is getting ridiculous! We all know about the "free" 500 gift cards and the other worthless stuff. Lets leave this section for worthwhile things.

[bayhaysay]

I agree, I've reported a few of them this morning.

[joonshin]

sad to say, spam is in our lives forever =(

[scrabbler]

If only all those who spam would use their talents for good instead of annoyance....

[Gurnee Al]

Some are actually quite funny including the one a day or 2 ago regarding the cheap electronics from Nigeria.

[lennon2004]

I've seen a lot more spam in other places. I don't think it's that bad here. We report it, it's taken care of.

[able]

in did notice a bunch this a m ...never saw that kind here before...though i would think the OP is juyst trying to help and didnt know they were all spam..however i did notice there are a couple diff OP of them..yet all started this am

[Marcster]

Don't complain about too much SPAM here -- check this out:

http://www.smileyarena.com/forum/index.php?showforum=2

 

240 messages of SPAM!

http://s23.photobucket.com/albums/b399/Marcster2005/Smileypad/Rude/th71pseh.gif

[sanam]

all those spammy posts have been deleted . they are not here anymore. so no need to worry !!! i wonder if the OP got banned for it !!!

[teebee]

yeah I noticed they were deleted now too. I just don't get why people do this. For the people that start virus', I just don't get it, I would love to be able to send it back to the one that started and mess their computer up.

[scrabbler]

Just have to say tho...Marcster...your sig pic is killing me!

[Marcster]

Just have to say tho...Marcster...your sig pic is killing me!

I aim to please! http://s23.photobucket.com/albums/b399/Marcster2005/Smileypad/Banners/th7e4cc966.gif

[Scott]

Don't complain about too much SPAM here -- check this out:

http://www.smileyarena.com/forum/index.php?showforum=2

 

240 messages of SPAM!

http://s23.photobucket.com/albums/b399/Marcster2005/Smileypad/Rude/th71pseh.gif

Ah... the price that one pays to collect smilies...

 

[RossMAN]

We have taken several measures to reduce the amount of spam but they're persistent! As joonshin stated, spam is here to stay. In the near future we will add some permanent and seasonal Moderators so we can act quickly when the spammers attack.

[Marcster]

Ah... the price that one pays to collect smilies...

 

Well, the regular http://www.smileyarena.com site is fine.

 

They just added a forum recently... And they have no mods as far as I can tell.

[happyrat]

The best way to combat spam is to ignore it. Don't open it, and most of all don't respond to it. If everyone did this, then spammers would not waste their time.

[RossMAN]

The best way to combat spam is to ignore it. Don't open it, and most of all don't respond to it. If everyone did this, then spammers would not waste their time.

That is true for spam e-mail but this thread is discussing forum spam.

 

All forms of spam including the mystery meat are

[mmm40]

mystery meat? What is that?

[RossMAN]

mystery meat? What is that?

Spam

[mmm40]

Spam

LOL That's good. Now I got it.

[joonshin]

you know some forums have an initiation.

 

where you have to post a certain amount of posts before you are allowed to freely roam around in the forums. that way if a spammer comes in to GD, he can't really go around spamming around

[happyrat]

you know some forums have an initiation.

 

where you have to post a certain amount of posts before you are allowed to freely roam around in the forums. that way if a spammer comes in to GD, he can't really go around spamming around

Gottadeal does to an extent ie the lounge, and the fact you can't post links until a certain number of posts. That and the fact you can report a post and get it deleted almost immediately. The only other thing I see that could be done is to check for word sequences used in know spam messages and delete them automaticly. Of course that might delete some valid post as well.

[RossMAN]

Gottadeal does to an extent ie the lounge, and the fact you can't post links until a certain number of posts.

Correct and that applies to the entire forum not only the lounge.

 

These spammers sure are persistent, the other day I banned at least 20 of them

[kranky]

I don't know if they are as persistent as they are automated. I admin a small forum and I get at least 2 new registrations every day that are obviously done by programs. It's a giant PITA. They don't even create posts - they just register so their spam website will show up in their profile.

[Marcster]

On another forum that I joined, new members have to be approved by a Mod before they can even finalize their registration. Would that be a possibility (at least from now till mid-October (when BF registrations should start churning up).

[Scott]

On another forum that I joined, new members have to be approved by a Mod before they can even finalize their registration. Would that be a possibility (at least from now till mid-October (when BF registrations should start churning up).

But how would you know if it is a legitimate user or a spammer?

 

It is hard to tell. Since this is a buisness site, you want it to be as easy as possible to register.

 

A good set of moderators can be just as effective.

[Aaron]

But how would you know if it is a legitimate user or a spammer?

 

It is hard to tell. Since this is a buisness site, you want it to be as easy as possible to register.

 

A good set of moderators can be just as effective.

True.

[Marcster]

But how would you know if it is a legitimate user or a spammer?

 

It is hard to tell. Since this is a buisness site, you want it to be as easy as possible to register.

 

A good set of moderators can be just as effective.

But as Kranky said:

"...I admin a small forum and I get at least 2 new registrations every day that are obviously done by programs. It's a giant PITA. They don't even create posts - they just register so their spam website will show up in their profile."

 

We could at least avoid those... If registration was a little more difficult, i.e. prospective member sets up their account (id, password, etc.), then was approved by a Mod, then the member could finalize their membership, it would be less attractive to Spammers.

[kranky]

But how would you know if it is a legitimate user or a spammer?

 

It is hard to tell. Since this is a business site, you want it to be as easy as possible to register.

 

A good set of moderators can be just as effective.

In my case, it's obvious they are spammers. They all put a website in the profile that is clearly some commercial site, never post any messages, and register a username that 95% of the time is gibberish.

 

Maybe 5% of the time I have to check out the link in their profile to see if it's spam - the rest of the time you can tell right from the URL (e.g. "fleb.online-poker.de")

[Scott]

But as Kranky said:

"...I admin a small forum and I get at least 2 new registrations every day that are obviously done by programs. It's a giant PITA. They don't even create posts - they just register so their spam website will show up in their profile."

 

We could at least avoid those... If registration was a little more difficult, i.e. prospective member sets up their account (id, password, etc.), then was approved by a Mod, then the member could finalize their membership, it would be less attractive to Spammers.

It is also less attractive to people that want a membership. What happens when someone tries to sign up late at night and no Mods are online?

 

As for the obvious spam sites in the profile, you can get scripts that will look for that I'm sure. I'm not exactly sure what is available for VB, but...