spam suggestion
 

woke up to a bunch of silly spam on QB this morning. On another board where I mod, it is not allowed for new posters to post links in messages until they have posted at least 10 times. If they try it comes out like html code,
not a clickable link. Might be a good idea here.

Another one this morning with five spam posts in different areas. You have to wait between reports to actually report them.

This sounds like a good idea -- to not allow for new posters to post links in messages

Janey - Neat people never make the exciting discoveries I do.

I just reported that one

Some boards preview a new user's posts before they're put online.

The boards we run (not sewing/quilting related) put all new members' first 5 (or 10, depending on the board) posts through moderation first, and do not allow new members to send PMs except to moderators and admins or post photos or hyperlinks until they have "graduated" off moderation. We also use GeoIP and Torr node blocking. These are all very effective and require minimal moderator effort (particularly since the spam or spammer never actually makes it to the board).

I see they're back this morning. Sigh.

And again this morning!!

Seems like admins are much less present here lately.

I have been on this board for eleven years and this is the first time I have ever seen spam. Normally our moderators remove any topic not related to quilting. Don’t know what is happening unless the scammers are getting more creative.

((sigh)) ..... yes they are back. Seems like early morning is the opportune time to do this.

Stitchnripper - the admins do have to sleep lol - It will be gone soon I am sure.

It does seem more prevalent lately. In particular, the last couple of weeks where they post five at once and basically a repeat of previous.

Actually, it is the moderators that delete and ban, not the admins. When a post is reported by using the red triangle with the exclamation point inside, it goes to all the moderators.

Sure wish they could prevent them from registering in the first place.

Janey - Neat people never make the exciting discoveries I do.

I wasn’t complaining. I was just noticing.

Oh I so want to reply "Yes, Vanessa it does"!!!!!! but that would be enabling, right?

I'm surprised vbulletin doesn't have a way to stop or at least slow spambots. I noticed one spammer recently had posted the same on several sites and all but one was "powered by VBulletin" Granted the majority had been banned and deleted. It seems like there should be a way to prevent a lot of them from even registering, let alone posting.

Since it has been so long since I registered, I don't know if there is a captcha or something called a "honeypot" that catches some. I find it kind of frustrating to do a search within QB when I'm not signed that I have to do a captcha. Although, I usually like to do google searches for some things as it will take me to the page of long threads, rather than the result within QB, just gives the thread.

Janey - Neat people never make the exciting discoveries I do.

vBulletin can definitely be set to prevent links from new members, and the number of necessary posts can be set by the admins. I've seen anywhere from 5 to 50. It can also set moderator approval of new members. This keeps spammers from posting random messages to make their count. Things like "Hi, how are you?" and nothing else.

Some spammers will take lines or entire posts from the site to make it look relevant. I saw one once that made it clear that it was random. They'd copied one that was fairly recent and had quite memorable details, something that was highly unlikely to be duplicated by an actual new user. Something like "We were supposed to go on vacation to Disneyland [more details about why this choice and how the kids were all excited] and then my husband [details about husband doing handyman work] fell off the roof and broke both legs. And then my MIL said since he couldn't go anyway she should go in his place and I said not only no but heck no!"

Thank you, IceLeopard. for the insight, on this thread and https://www.quiltingboard.com/8463036-post12.html How absolutely frustrating it must be at times

Janey - Neat people never make the exciting discoveries I do.

For the last few months, there have been bot attacks on many forums. Those who implement smart things like sign-up challenge questions that change every so often, putting all new members on moderation for a certain number of posts, preventing signature lines (spammers like to use these) for a certain number of posts are the tools being used by smart forums to block this activity.

These spammers aren't people, per se, they are automated bots that are flooding forums with crap. Blocking each user is useless - preventing the bots from ever registering or posting is key. Right now, several forums I frequent are useless due to thousands of bot spam posts. Others haven't allowed a single one to leak through, because they implemented proper blocking.

Could be as simple as not allowing new posters to post working links.

You can tell it's bots, If it was a human with connected brain cells, they would be offering a new fancy sewing machine giveaway instead of a car!!

i really resent that remark. https://cdn.quiltingboard.com/images.../thumbdown.pnghttps://cdn.quiltingboard.com/images/smilies/mad.pnghttps://cdn.quiltingboard.com/images...es/redface.png
we are seriously outnumbered by the filthy rats who post the garbage.
also, not enough of you have bothered to read the FAQ or you'd know the most efficient ways to report things.

i am not ignoring you.
i have been watching this thread and making note of some of the suggestions.

did you see my next comment where I said I wasn’t complaining but noticing? It’s better if we are nice to each other. Am not a frequent poster lately so don’t always report especially when it looks like others have.

Back again this morning with multiple spam posts. I feel bad for the mods if the IT folks are not responding to the need for different procedures. Let's not forget that the mods are NOT the ones to make changes to the website, that would be administrators. But the mods are the public face and take the flak.

Good morning all! Remember how irritated many of us were when that box started popping up at the bottom of the screen and no matter how many times you clicked on that X it still came back again and again. We expect so much perfection from the QB. I decided to just ignore that box rather than let it irritate and stress me out. Just because it's there doesn't mean i have to click on it. It still pops up from time to time and I now just ignore it. I'd much rather pend my time going through all of the amazing posts and pictures that you all share. So I've just chosen to ignore these spammer scammers who try as they might to take people and I will continue to enjoy the good on this board. There have to be hundreds to thousands of posts on this site and I myself would much rather continue to enjoy the good.

FYI, if there is a challenge question asked when one signs up, change it (and the answer, obviously). Once a challenge question is figured out it goes into a spammer database so the bots can harvest it.

If there isn't a challenge question for registering, add one (and change it periodically; don't leave it stagnant)

Something that I have noticed that the topic ""McLaren 720s giveaway" keeps popping up by different "spambots" I have done some searches for said giveaway and found that a lot of them are powered by vbulletin (same as QB). Must be an easy target for said bots. Having done some research and it seems there are several ways to prevent them from even registering and also stop posts that some have gotten through the registering from being seen.
Then there are 'members' whose profile look like:I haven't noticed any like the above that actually post, but still.....

Janey - Neat people never make the exciting discoveries I do.

I'm seeing some from banned members. Need to delete all posts when banning a member. When I report one, I note, "Spam, multiple posts."

I noticed one the other day and just reported it. I have actually given all five links when I report the first one.

I know several of us report these and are getting tired of it, but imagine all the "reports" the mods have to go through. Especially since they volunteer and moderate in their spare time.

Thank you, mods for deleting and banning these spammers.

Janey - Neat people never make the exciting discoveries I do.

Back again today with "butt building tips"!! LOL - what made them think quilters are interested in building our butts!!

They don't know or care what a forum is about - it's all automated bots poking at and exploiting forum/website security vulnerabilities.

At least here we just see a couple breaches. One of the other forums I belong to basically had a QoS attack (quality of service) with hundreds of spam posts flooding every one of their boards so the entire forum was rendered unusable.

I was searching again this morning about "how to stop forum spam" and other things happened across a cached version of a page on https://www.woodworkforums.com and found some spam statistics by "Spam-O-Matic" that listed the following:Bold formatting by me, not original. However, when clicked on the page, I couldn't see the above. When I put "Spam-O-Matic"
into Google I found multiple similar results.

Evidently Spam-O-Matic is a plugin for vbulletin and QB doesn't have or use.

Janey - Neat people never make the exciting discoveries I do.
Not affiliated with off-site link(s)

On Craigslist, to get seller info one must "click on all the pictures with a -----(truck, car, plane, etc) in it." maybe this would work for signing up as new member?

Only if the underlying forum software has a module that does this and the admin/hosting service has implemented it. Features like that are highly dependent on the hosting package offerings. Such modules can often be additional cost subscription services, and if third party, the hosting company may not offer them.

i've been poking around in the settings behind the scenes.

any changes i make would have an adverse effect on legitimate users.

i haven't given up.
just posting an update to let you know i'm not ignoring the issue.

I hope no one is clicking any links in these posts. Who knows what could be introduced into your computer or phone...etc.
Last week I had my online game account suspended and canceled by Customer Service because someone tried to access my game account. One of the things to do was do a through virus scam on your computer, change password. I did all those as a precaution. It was resolved Sunday evening.
My suggestion to anyone who clicked or clicks any of those spammer post......Run your virus scan (the full through scan) not the quick one. Change your password here and keep a close eye on any sites your CC or Paypal use and of course your bank account.

Thanks so much.