On Spam

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Krulle
Posts: 1413
Joined: Wed May 20, 2015 9:14 am

On Spam

Post by Krulle »

I know this post will get deleted when OP gets deleted, rightly so, but as a remark:
the members-list sorted by newest members first (link) includes MANY www-links which go to pages which should not be linked on a "safe" webpage.
Some, like this guy have not added a homepage, but added a signature, and there is a spam-link.

Both way of linking is spam, and helps the spammer.

Can you "bulk-delete" forum members easily?
If yes, it might be an idea to remove members with a zero post count from time to time.
Vote for Outsider on TWC: Image
charred steppes, borders of territories: page 59,
jump-map of local stars: page 121, larger map in Loroi: page 118,
System view Leido Crossroads: page 123, after the battle page 195

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Arioch
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Posts: 4486
Joined: Sat Mar 05, 2011 4:19 am
Location: San Jose, CA
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Re: spam in signature/homepage on members listing

Post by Arioch »

Krulle wrote:If yes, it might be an idea to remove members with a zero post count from time to time.
I do periodically de-activate users with no posts, but deleting spam accounts is not ideal, as it allows a bot with the same IP to just create another account.

I would be surprised if there were very many people going through the members list clicking on homepage links.

Quazel
Posts: 37
Joined: Mon Mar 28, 2011 11:51 pm

Re: On Spam

Post by Quazel »

Thank you for not deleting me during my absence then. :)
KIKITIK-27-TIKHAK-TIKKUKIT 2020!

novius
Posts: 654
Joined: Tue May 26, 2015 10:33 am

Re: On Spam

Post by novius »

I might have another idea.

Put the spammer accounts on a specific set of permissions so that they have access to a 'dummy' forum section which they can read and post to but is separate from the rest.

Spambots are smart enough to post their junk and see if their posts got deleted or not, but if you jail them into their own sandbox they should be none the wiser.

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SVlad
Posts: 305
Joined: Thu Aug 27, 2015 5:43 pm
Location: Saint-Petersburg, Russia

Re: On Spam

Post by SVlad »

novius wrote:I might have another idea.
Put the spammer accounts on a specific set of permissions so that they have access to a 'dummy' forum section which they can read and post to but is separate from the rest.
Spambots are smart enough to post their junk and see if their posts got deleted or not, but if you jail them into their own sandbox they should be none the wiser.
Unfortunately, if spambot is smart enough to check it's posts, it is usually also smart enough to doublecheck it as anonymous. This approach works on closed-for-non-registered forums, but it's not a case.
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Krulle
Posts: 1413
Joined: Wed May 20, 2015 9:14 am

Re: On Spam

Post by Krulle »

Spambots create new accounts coming from new IP addresses.

None of the advertised elements here will function (all have been tried already).
The search engine bots see the links, register them, and thus "+1" the linked site.
Only the google [bot] and bing [bot] are smart enough right now to differentiate.
Deleted spam posts cause a massive negative rating to the propagated link (hence the importance of really deleting spam), and with bing[bot] and google[bot], they also notice whether a use has posted or not (and give negative points to the propagated link), but the Baidu [bot] does still give positive ratings for any link in user profiles (they are working on it). But a deleted 0 post user will decrease the ratings for links even faster.

Anyway, not really important... The up in rating is abyssimal regarding the total points they need to reach anyway.

I thought phpBB can lock IP ranges independent of "deactivated used". A deactivated, then deleted user should also keep the IP range blocked...
May be the older version here...
Vote for Outsider on TWC: Image
charred steppes, borders of territories: page 59,
jump-map of local stars: page 121, larger map in Loroi: page 118,
System view Leido Crossroads: page 123, after the battle page 195

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