SPAM problems. Please read

Post by **MelvinsArmy** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 10:12 am

We've been having some real troubles with Spam lately. I don't know about Hoopty, but I've been deleting at least two spam posts a day for drugs, porn, stuff in Russian, whatever.

This is starting to suck. It's become so regular that I don't really look forward to checking out the forum any more, just because I know I'll be deleting and banning before I can do anything else. Since I've never been a mod before, I'm reaching out to board members for suggestions on how to take care of this, or at least slow it down. All suggestions are welcome. Do we need to approve membership here? Is there anything else that can be done?

Please note, if YOU are spamming, you will be banned, as will your IP address and email address. No if's and's or but's, just plain banned.

Post by **Eau Rouge** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 10:28 am

Part of the problem is the software used here on the boards. It's FREE and open source, so it generally will have a few more issues with it, because people working on it don't get paid. I used it for a little while in testing on a forum of mine, and it was a massive pain to administrate, IMO. It wasn't very feature-laden and really lacked much power in the back-end management. I felt that it was worth every penny I paid for it.

Part of the problem is the posts made are 'bots and not real people registering on the board. They are randomly registering, posting a few times and then moving on. The best thing to do is not banning of their accounts or e-mail addresses, but banning of the root IP address of the posting source. Again, I don't think phpBB had the capabilities of banning specific IP entry, at least when I was testing it.

The other part of the problem is that in order to keep these posts and registrations to a minimum (I haven't ever seen any forum or software get rid of it completely), you have to REALLY restrict the honest members who are trying to become part of the community.

The ONLY way to completely eliminate registrations like this is to manually restrict new registrations to only those approved by moderators. With a small forum, it's not too bad, but as the site grows, it can get tiring and tedious, for something that shouldn't have to be done in the first place.

It's an unfortunate state of the internet that we are in, and it's part and parcel of managing a discussion forum. I do it myself on three different forums, but in our case, the software manages to keep it down to a minimum (maybe one a week total, between all three sites).

doug

Post by **b0x** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 1:08 pm

I dont know if this version of phpbb supports it, but what about adding a security code that you have to enter when you register. It would at least keep the bots away. Ive even seen blogs before that force you enter enter a code just to post a comment.

Post by **superfly** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 11:34 pm

How about a few skill testing questions on the registration form LOL you know some RC10 trivia...I'll start us off :

1) When assembling a 6 gear tranny you should always

a) use the stealth diff lube
b) use bushings for better performance
c) make sure your pivots are seated correctly
d) lube the diff rings on both sides

Post by **justinspeed79** » Wed Apr 25, 2007 12:58 am

We had this problem on the GT forum, the admin just started approving new members on a daily basis. He had to go through and once a day and approve anyone who signed up. It's a little bit of work, but probably less than sorting through spammers.

Post by **Tadracket** » Wed Apr 25, 2007 2:12 pm

superfly wrote:How about a few skill testing questions on the registration form LOL you know some RC10 trivia...I'll start us off :

1) When assembling a 6 gear tranny you should always

a) use the stealth diff lube
b) use bushings for better performance
c) make sure your pivots are seated correctly
d) lube the diff rings on both sides

Well, I will be seeing you guys

Post by **Synergy** » Wed Apr 25, 2007 3:33 pm

Tadracket wrote:
Well, I will be seeing you guys

I will be comming with you then Tadracket

Joking aside is it possible to give selected members limited admin ability to enable them to maybe send obvious spammers and their posts to an offline or hidden quarantine area to be deleted/checked by the admin team when they have time, this might spread the load a bit?. Forgive me but as I have limited (by limited I mean no) programming experience I tend to look for manual solutions.

Post by **badhoopty** » Wed Apr 25, 2007 3:53 pm

i think we need a couple more mods and/or limit forum membership to those who are approved. i think melvin and i are spread a little too thin sometimes when we both get busy.

i for one, am tired of getting 10 or so precious minutes in the day to read posts about rc10s, only to have to spend those 10 minutes deleting stuff... it sucks.

anyway, i just pulled an all nighter getting presentation boards done for THE bigwig at pm, and i'm gonna crash for a few.

btw, i'm really sorry about the spammers. please dont let it discourage you from posting and stuff, this is by FAR my favorite place to be online.

Post by **Tadracket** » Wed Apr 25, 2007 4:29 pm

I ignore the spammers. I guess I have gotten use to the hundred or so emails I get a day wanting to enlarge my penis. I say, a tool unused is a useless tool, why upgrade

But seriously folks, take my wife please. Is this thing on.

No really, how ever you guys chose to handle the situation, let me know if you need any help. I think a short essay with every new member would be good. It would drive off spammers and tell the admins a little something about the new members that want to join. More work for you guys but I am sure there are several people here that would help filter new users.

Post by **MelvinsArmy** » Wed Apr 25, 2007 4:58 pm

I was thinking we could use another mod too. We have been pretty busy. I try to check in whenever I have a minute, but like Hoopty, it starts to become a drag when I have to constantly delete and ban. Any volunteers or suggestions for mod work?

I also think it might be a good idea to approve membership.

What do you guys think?

Post by **RichieRich** » Wed Apr 25, 2007 5:37 pm

I'd love to help BUT frankly I think my time is already spread too thin. How much time do you think it would take a day? Seems like we're all professionals here with family and those responsibilities take up the majority of time.

Maybe a mod is need solely for approving membership, then, theoretically, it should wipe out the spam problem.

Post by **Tadracket** » Thu Apr 26, 2007 7:57 am

Well, I would be lying if I said I did not have the time so I volunteer. If chosen, I ask for advise though because I have never modded a board before. I am pretty good on a pc though, so my learning curve is more like a slight arc

Sorry to toot my own horn there.

Post by **RC10Talk** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 4:00 am

Some of you members are from ClodTalk.com, you may remember we had a big issue with SPAM a while back. We tried everything, banning IP's, banning all Russian domains, I installed a question on the sign up page 'Are you human' and you had to answer yes to have it accepted. None of that worked.

We even changed the sign up address to use non generic keys in it so that it wasn't like everyone else's. That didn't work either.

The sign up page already has a visual code you must type in, maybe the programs can read them now.....

I ended up doing the approval thing. When you sign up, you are given instructions to email a certain email address with a little bio about your self. I don't really read it, but I know it came from a person. I compare the addresses and then approve if they match. It is kind of a pain! But it does work.

This is the main problem with free open source software....

Post by **Eau Rouge** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 7:29 am

Or...

A $5 donation from each active member would buy a year's license of vBulletin or some other more stable, robust forum software.

Or, I could "donate" a copy of the most current version of the software.

We have some alternatives, for sure. If you want to see how a really dialed-in version of VB works, stop by http://www.dirtoval.com or http://www.apexspeed.com. We probably don't see one or two of those "Nokia phone" posts every 2 or 3 weeks, if that. All small forums go through this growing pain of dealing with software that is restrictive and full of security holes.

If we want to take the next step, I have some options available, that would cost little to nothing to really advance to the next level. Server space, forum software, etc...

d

Post by **badhoopty** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 3:58 pm

i'm absolutely clueless on messageboard stuff...

even though it will be a little time consuming for the peeps who approve new members, i think its the only realistic thing we can do to keep the spam down at this time without revamping everything. later on, if somebody wants to take the name and content and blow it out i'm cool with that, but like i said, its beyond my knowledge on how to do it.

i'm pretty tired of always seeing spam, and it embarrases me when i dont get to them soon enough and alot of members have to tolerate whatever it is until its removed.

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