The World Of Twilight

Heya all,
I'm not sure if anyone else has noticed but there are loads of spam messages on here about Nike shoes and Osama Bin LAden, and most probably loads more!
Is there anyway for the moderators of the forum to get rid of them? Have higher security or something?
I don't mind them too much, but I'd much rather be reading about Twilight than a pair of Nike shoe's and why they're apparently so epic.  :-\

Sorry about the moan, but thanks for reading!
Han.

     Hey I didnt call myself " GrimmTooth " for nothing , much agreed I just read the OBL post and well it's so far from reallity its stupid

although id rather not draw extra unwanted BS from the unenlightend !


     

Mike is killing loads of them as he sees them, but he isn't on 24/7.   I know he is looking at increasing the security to stop so many spamers getting through the joining process. 

No one wants the spam, best thing to do is not read or reply to anything which looks like spam, and Mike or other admins can clean them up when they see them.

     Were all new to somthing as hi tech as the Internet so im still learning Id just like to say love the poster  :D.

 

It is a pain in the ass and Mike deals with the spam and bots very quickly when he gets the chance. It tends to come in spikes so I guess at times theres quite a lot to get through. Maybe a couple more mods are warranted just to keep things pretty  ;D

One thing we can all do though is not post anything after a spam post as it makes them harder to spot.....oh and dont click any links please, no matter how much bigger they promise to make things   :P

I was having exactly this conversation with my web developer friend on Tuesday!

Given the number of registered users here, and the frequency of new registrations, I would think that something like a manual "approval" system would be the simplest way of completely eliminating bot-spam... In effect, new accounts registering need Mike or another Admin to 'approve' their registration before they can post. New folks wouldn't have to wait for more than a day in most cases I imagine, as Mike seems to online almost every day.

Or maybe they are blocked from all but the intro board till approved.

Either way not a big problem as I just report them and move on.

HN

Yep, there are loads

Mika and I (and I assume anyone else with deleteyness skills) spend a lot of time nuking them if we see them but more importantly we also rely on the forum members pointing these messages out by reporting them

This sends an email to the mods who can act appropriately

So keep 'em peeled folks and holler when you see the buggers!

Bloddy spammers...
For a while I did manual approval, but that meant that I missed a few non-bots. I'd rather let the bots in than leave a genuine member hanging. It's a pain, but I'll do my best to keep them in check! Ill also see if I can do another level of security, but I'm not sure where to start...

Let me admin more than just my area?

Good plan. You and Klute are now admins, so it would be great if you could help with the spam hammer!

I report the threads as soon as i see them and leave it at that. They are generally gone by the time I get back :D

Well, you could add a hidden field to the registration procedure too...

Bots would see the field when they scrape the page info, and would fill it in. Humans wouldn't see it, and would never fill it in. It'd be a tidy way to separate the bots from the humans.

Well volunteered Alan!

I can put my feet up now ;)

Mu-ha-ha-ha!!!

Feel the PPPPPPOOOOOOOWWWWERRRRRRRRRR!!!

lol... don't just feel the powaaa, Brandlin... squish you some spammers (as it looks like there's yet another wave of them).  :D

Tell me all about the spam.  I have deleted well over 100+ spams just over the past 3 to 4 days.

I feel for the mods. If they are offline for even a short while the site gets flooded. Is there nothing to be done?

Yup, its gone mental again.   >:(

Im thinking of setting the rankings so members with no posts can only post in a "Welcome" section. That should at least keep the main forum clear and make it easier for us to nuke the bots.


EDIT
Seems thats more technical than I thought and best left for the experts lol.

Not sure if that would work as we'll still be getting the spam, even if it is only in one sopace. I just deleted another new user with about 10-12 posts...

I report all spam that I can find but man there can be alot of it

I know mate. I was trying to set it so it was hidden from legit users but it seems a tall order.

Just removed some very savoury images and links that would make even Frothers eyes water. Theres got to be something we can do about this ??

I have deleted so much spam over the past week, probably over 150+ already.  I can't delete the users though and I don't get post reports as I'm not a mod.  I usually keep the web site open in the back ground, and check every now and then.  I really hate when a spammer has like 20+ posts grrrrr.  The other day was the first time where I seen pornographic images, all 12 posts of them.

And this quote from Klute is the best help I can ask for:

Ive been thinking its bad enough just going by what Ive been sorting out myself  :o

I had a peek at the SMF forums and there are mods available to help with spam etc. Theres also a forum update out. Hopefully when the powers that be return we can get something done.