Spam & New User Registrations

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nathan
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Spam & New User Registrations

Post by nathan »

Hey everybody, I wanted to write a quick update on the spam situation.

Basically, it's crazy. We've got a captcha, but we're still getting tons of spam signups every day. Right now I have made it a requirement that Admins approve all signups, but this is tricky for a couple of reasons:

1) It can be difficult to see who is spam and who isn't when none of the new signups have posted and

2) There are tons and tons of signups, so MattKingUSA and I are receiving loads of email notifications and out pile of accounts to sort through is steadily growing.

Right now we are researching various other ways to deal with spam, but it's slow going. If you have a great idea that would be simple and quick to implement, don't hesitate to let me or MattKingUSA know via PM or in this thread.

If you are a new user who's account hasn't been activated yet, please bear with us. We can't wait to have you as part of our community, but it may be a week or two before we can this totally under control.

Thanks as always for being a friendly and helpful community...

Keep posting,
Nathan
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Re: Spam & New User Registrations

Post by etienne »

Good luck! I love the forum and would love to help, but unfortunately can't be as dedicated as you to reading emails and everything - I've got my studies to worry about... Any other way I can help, perhaps, let me know!
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Re: Spam & New User Registrations

Post by nathan »

Will do, thanks Etienne!

We are now using some custom profile fields during the registration process to see if that doesn't help stop some of those bots!
nelsonjohnson

Re: Spam & New User Registrations

Post by nelsonjohnson »

They are Some custom configuration files used during the registration process to see if you do not help stop these robots!
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Re: Spam & New User Registrations

Post by GraysonPeddie »

Well, at least I'm doing my part in notifying the moderators of spam with the same signature:

user1's signature: For more headphones tips you can come to monster beats teams logo headphones monster beats solo cheap beats by dre

user2's signature: For more headphones tips you can come tomonster beats teams logo headphonesmonster beats solocheap beats by dre

I'm using user1 and user2 as an example, as I don't like finger pointing spammers. It must be just one guy with two user accounts and just one sig per username. :)

Is there anything I can help in addition to notifying moderators? I do visit the forum frequently, even though there's very low traffic.
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Re: Spam & New User Registrations

Post by nathan »

Reporting the offending posts is the right thing to do! Thanks for taking an active interest in the community!
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Re: Spam & New User Registrations

Post by GraysonPeddie »

No problem. There's still a 3:12am spam in my thread. I've reported the spam so quickly last night (about 3:59 AM).

I do visit the forums frequently despite the low traffic. :)

Update: It seems the spam has already been taken care of. Thanks.

Update 2: Hmm... It seems the URL is not parsed.
Last edited by nathan on Sat Mar 03, 2012 5:01 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Edited BBCode so the URL worked.
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Re: Spam & New User Registrations

Post by raboof »

GraysonPeddie wrote:No problem. There's still a 3:12am spam in my thread. I've reported the spam so quickly last night (about 3:59 AM).

Update 2: Hmm... It seems the URL is not parsed.
Seems to work here - make sure you didn't check 'Disable BBCode'?
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Re: Spam & New User Registrations

Post by GraysonPeddie »

There are two options, both of them unckecked:

[ ] Do not automatically parse URLs
[ ] Notify me when a reply is posted

[*] Checked, [ ] Unchecked

Both of them are unchecked before I post my message.

Let me try again:

[quote]No problem. There's still a 3:12am spam in my [url=http://www.linuxmusicians.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=7795]thread[/url]. I've reported the spam so quickly last night (about 3:59 AM).
[/quote]

(Previewing...)

The quote tag is not working, either. Let me check my User Control Panel.

Update: Here you go:

Enable BBCode by default:
[*] Yes [ ] No

Enable smilies by default:
[*] Yes [ ] No

Attach my signature by default:
[*] Yes [ ] No

Notify me upon replies by default:
[ ] Yes [*] No

Still, it's not working.

Update 2: No change upon disabling/enabling BBCode in User Control Panel.
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Re: Spam & New User Registrations

Post by nathan »

Did you double check that "Disable BBCode" wasn't checked immediately below the text entry box when posting?
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Re: Spam & New User Registrations

Post by GraysonPeddie »

This is what I have:

Image

Well, you'll have to copy/paste the URL into the address bar: http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/21 ... ption.jpg/

Update: Oh, the URL does work without the URL tag.

Could you check the administrator control panel is the BBCode for this forum is disabled? The other forums are working, like the one here:

http://www.linuxmusicians.com/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=7820

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/85 ... rking.jpg/
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Re: Spam & New User Registrations

Post by nathan »

Interesting. On the Admin side BBCode is on...
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Re: Spam & New User Registrations

Post by nathan »

Okay, looks there were some permissions issues, should be fixed now.
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Re: Spam & New User Registrations

Post by luster »

On another site I use, the following was proven to work against spam:
I just effected a change in how new members sign up to the site. All new members will now go into a group called “New Members.” Those who’ve been around for a while are simply “Members.” Twice each day, I clear out and delete the roster of New Members who have not posted anything. I assume they are spammers. There are undoubtedly some legitimate lurkers in there, but there is nothing stopping them from signing up again if they want to post something. Those deleted are not “banned;” it’s just their current membership that is deleted. (I still ban certain domains from posting, but most spammers use gmail or hotmail, and restricting those domains would be suicide for the site.)

I’ve been doing this clearing of the roster for quite some time. It’s not ideal, but given the hundreds of spammers who join the site each day (most never actually post a message), it’s the only way I can control them. The change allows me to do it more efficiently and without risk of accidentally deleting a legitimate member who has been around a while.

If a “New Member” posts a non-spam message, I will change their status to “Member.”
I hope this may be of value.

I will provide a link to the site if I am PM'd with a request for it by an admin.

The site was heavily spammed by similar bots to what I am seeing here on linuxmusicians.
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Re: Spam & New User Registrations

Post by erlkönig »

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