Author Topic: Spam, spam, spammity spam  (Read 7711 times)

Danneaux

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Spam, spam, spammity spam
« on: August 27, 2015, 02:47:28 am »
Hi All!

We (the Thorn Cycling Forum) have just been slammed with spammers yesterday and today -- I'm banning and deleting them as fast as I can. This has been a concerted effort, and "clean" IPs were used that are not in our regular spam filter nor on the Internet's forum blacklists.

Unfortunately, today some really egregious and very graphic porn spam made it through and was visible for a time before I could delete it. My thanks to those sharp-eyed members who also caught and reported it to me, either as reported posts or via PM. My apologies for any delays in removal, but it takes a few moments as the user must first be banned to shut off the tap and prevent further spamming, then the posts must be deleted. Please know, I'm working as swiftly as possible to remove them and greatly appreciate your vigilance and notifications now and going forward.

Hopefully, the flood will soon slow to a trickle, as I have banned the miscreants's usernames, IPs, and emails. I can't do much more as it could affect other, legitimate registrants who use the same ISPs now or in the future. Our Fora is just one of many who were targeted in this latest effort to sell everything from fake handbags to porn. Ah, me.

Best,

Dan.

Thorn Cycling Forum Administrator

David Simpson

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Re: Spam, spam, spammity spam
« Reply #1 on: August 27, 2015, 03:51:53 am »
Dan,

Thank-you for your diligent work in monitoring and maintaining this forum for us.

My thanks to those sharp-eyed members who also caught and reported it to me, either as reported posts or via PM.

How can we regular forum users help you out? Should we PM you when we see these problem posts? No doubt you want to be aware of these problems as soon as possible, but is there a danger of you getting deluged with PMs? Should we click on the "Report to moderator" link on the post (I just noticed that link)? Any advice?

- Dave
« Last Edit: August 27, 2015, 04:13:27 am by davidjsimpson »

Danneaux

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Re: Spam, spam, spammity spam
« Reply #2 on: August 27, 2015, 06:24:41 am »
Quote
...is there a danger of you getting deluged with PMs?
Good point, Dave; *I* could get spammed by well-meaning members' reports if everyone becomes diligent.  ;D  When a PM is sent or a post is reported, I also get an email alert, so I can followup pretty quickly if I haven't seen it myself.

As it is, a small group of regulars do a good job of alerting me if there is a problem. Usually, any delay in removal is due to the 8-hour time offset between Eugene, OR and Thorn's server, when I might be asleep. I monitor the Forum about 18-20 hours a day (a typical waking day for me), so I generally see things as they happen. The problem comes if I happen to be out of cell range or otherwise occupied (aka "work", as my service here is unpaid).

If something persists for most of a day and certainly more than a day (you can check the time-stamp in the top-left corner of the post), please let me know by either reporting the post or by PM. When there is a deluge as on the last couple days, there is a possibility I might miss one of the spam-posts on my initial culling.

I won't go into details (I don't want to encourage a spammer who might read this), but this effort was a little different from most in that it was a coordinated effort and hit in large volume within a short time period. This is unusual, but we also have a new version of the Forum software and with it, a new version of our spam filter, which works a little differently than the old one. Time will tell if it is doing a good job for us or if we need to make a change.

Thanks for your very kind words, Dave.

All the best,

Dan.

Slammin Sammy

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Re: Spam, spam, spammity spam
« Reply #3 on: August 27, 2015, 05:12:49 pm »
Great work, Dan! I don't know what we would do without you, and I hope we never have to find out!  :-\

Andre Jute

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Re: Spam, spam, spammity spam
« Reply #4 on: August 27, 2015, 06:12:48 pm »
Great work, Dan!

+1

I don't know what we would do without you, and I hope we never have to find out!  :-\

Actually, I'm amazed there isn't more of this kind of unwanted nonsense. I operate a much larger group at
https://www.facebook.com/groups/160213917377540/
where we get 40+ membership requests every day, far too many to investigate individually, so it is easy for the baddies to slip in. Nor can I even glance at all the mail. So I depend on few, simple but powerful rules
https://www.facebook.com/groups/160213917377540/files/
and on the members to help me out, administered by a ruthless policy of one strike and you're out for good. What I find amazing is that weeks can go by without anything adverse happening, and then on one day two pornographers have to be banned.

I concluded the other day that my policy is starting to be noticed, and to pay dividends. On quite a few occasions now offending mails have been taken down before I came around to read the note from the member telling me of the transgression.

JimK

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Re: Spam, spam, spammity spam
« Reply #5 on: August 28, 2015, 01:53:44 am »
yes, many thanks, Dan! The forum would dissolve in a day without such diligent care and feeding!

Jim