To All CD ADMINS's
 

Hi, is there any way we can cut down on the number of users posting spam for movies and such. In all my years on the forums I have never seen so many spammers until now.

Feel free to close this if u want I just wanted to put this out there.

Cant wait to see what this years FRC game will bring us. I did not have a chance to volunteer this past year.

Ben White

Re: To All CD ADMINS's
 

It's easier said than done.

Re: To All CD ADMINS's
 

Why is this the case? I can't figure out why someone goes through the trouble of posting something that is going to cause a slight nuisance, be largely ignored, and then fairly quickly removed.:confused:

Re: To All CD ADMINS's
 

i sorta enjoy seeing the spammers waste they time and try to come up with new subject lines. Also there is always the hunt to be the first to report and that fun!

Re: To All CD ADMINS's
 

Question: if a new spammer posts multiple threads and one of the threads has already been reported, is it worth it to report the other threads as well? Just thinking that the mods probably don't need several reports about the same spammer...

Re: To All CD ADMINS's
 

1. Why they do it.

Search results. Search engines score search results. If you can place multiple links to your site on a well-scored site like Chief Delphi, that raises the score of your own website. That's why a lot of these posts are just dozens of links to the same site. Repeat this thousands or tens of thousands of times and you can boost your site and get the hits you want. Usually to download malware of some sort.

2. Should we report it?

Yes. Every time. Because there is a que of reported items that let mods click through quickly and remove each one. Otherwise they have to guess or stumble across the posts themselves.

Re: To All CD ADMINS's
 

Fortunately this isn't the case anymore. In fact, Google punishes sites that are linked to like this now.

Re: To All CD ADMINS's
 

IMO, the simple thing to do would be to just require moderator approval of the first 3-5 posts of any new member like many other forums do. It would mean people wouldn't have to report spambots anymore and their posts would never show up to the general public.

Re: To All CD ADMINS's
 

9 / 25 are spam. Are moderators just too busy right now (I'm sure there'd be more volunteers if that's the case)? I've never seen Delphi like this before. I'm curious what has changed (if something has).

I know that Brandon has enabled some spam blocking, but clearly it isn't working well enough for a clean experience.

Re: To All CD ADMINS's
 

The last two nights were completely awful in terms of spam posts. I'm used to seeing a bit more in the offseason, since during the season there are so many new topics made it crowds out the spam users posting, but the screenshot joel posted just shows how ridiculous the spam attack last night was. I feel like the spammers are starting to hit harder. It really is time for an upgrade to the spam prevention system.

Re: To All CD ADMINS's
 

This site has a database of spammers. They also have some plugins, that can guard against spam! It is useful to block users from signing up, preventing spam users, in the first place!
http://stopforumspam.com/contributions

Re: To All CD ADMINS's
 

Indeed, I absolutely love reporting it. I like to get creative with it. ASCII art, memes, ect. Usually Doge 'Wow much spam so report wow'.

Man, I have to much time on my hands.

Re: To All CD ADMINS's
 

I really dislike this idea. If a person new to FIRST has a question this is the easiest place to go to get it answered quickly and having to await approval for a post to go up creates a barrier to entry (whether it be 30 seconds that it takes for approval or 2 hours) If I see "Your post is awaiting approval from an administrator" after I make an account on that site I get pretty annoyed.

Re: To All CD ADMINS's
 

Exactly. Although it technically would solve the problem, it certainly creates a lot of harm. Our rookies often get turned off by the "wait 24 hours" rule anyways. Most of them make an account and never check it again because they completely forget after posting and waiting.

Re: To All CD ADMINS's
 

We're two revs behind on vBulletin. I'm no webmaster but I frequent some other vBulletin based sites with zero spam and I'm pretty sure they're version 4/5.

Re: To All CD ADMINS's
 

I'm assuming there are known "exploits" to get around this version's spam filters then?

Re: To All CD ADMINS's
 

Keep reporting the spam. The admins will delete it as soon as they can.

I would hate to see controls put on new users. Anyone should be able to post links and ask questions. Anyone that is smart enough read CD is smart enough to ignore the spam.

There is an upgrade in the works. We can deal with the spam until then.

Re: To All CD ADMINS's
 

What if, when 10 users who all had >100 posts marked something as spam, it would automatically disappear from chief delphi. Then, when a moderator would check for spam, they could choose to permanently delete these posts, or instead they could mark them as not spam, and they would return to normal.

Re: To All CD ADMINS's
 

I'll be installing a quick anti-spam mod today or tomorrow to try & keep spam under control until I can upgrade the forums. CD-Media is the last thing I need to account for before I can upgrade vBulletin. Bear with me.

Re: To All CD ADMINS's
 

Sweet!

Re: To All CD ADMINS's
 

Just put all users with 3 posts or less into a special group, who cannot add hyperlinks to their posts or signatures. Kinda defeats the spammer's goals.

Re: To All CD ADMINS's
 

It should be doing that already. Users should have to be registered for 60 days and have 3 posts before they're able to post anything with a link (post or signature). Apparently that's broke -- I'll have to look into it.

Edit: Apparently that link permission is only for signatures. I'm going to test the anti-spam module tonight or tomorrow night; we'll see if that takes care of a majority of the problem.

Re: To All CD ADMINS's
 

Could it be that they can't post links, but CAN edit links in? I've noticed a few of the spam posts with only a short piece of text, then later filled with the links.

Re: To All CD ADMINS's
 

That is correct.

Re: To All CD ADMINS's
 

Wow that is sneaky.

I wonder what the folks who post these get paid? Maybe we can find a new fundraising opportunity here? :rolleyes:

Re: To All CD ADMINS's
 

I did get to delete 3 posts caught by the filter today!

Re: To All CD ADMINS's
 

Not sure if Brandon made some changes to the system yet, but it appears as though no spam is coming in today.

Re: To All CD ADMINS's
 

And 2 show up within half an hour of that post.

Don't tempt fate :rolleyes:

Re: To All CD ADMINS's
 

Darn.

Well good news though. http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...hreadid=122335