Problem Can we do something about the Spam?

[Softwerker]

I just opened the "new posts" section and this it was it looks like right now:

9 pages like that, from about 16 hours ago. It makes the "new post" section completely unusable. Is there anything that can be done with the forum software to stop it instead of waiting for the mods to delete the threats manually.

It will not stop, only get worse.

Thank you.

 

[GamerwithnoGame]

I don't know about stopping the spam, but my routine with this is to a) report at least one post from each spamming user as Spam, then b) click on the user, and click "Ignore" on their information. When I next refresh, all posts by them are gone from my visibility, and I've reported the user(s) so the Admins know where the problem is coming from.

 

[Softwerker]

Thats a temporary remedy, but doing it every day gets a bit tedious.

 

[triggerfinger12]

then b) click on the user, and click "Ignore" on their information. When I next refresh, all posts by them are gone from my vsibility

WAIT.

You can DO that!?!?!??!?!?!!??! SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!!!!!!!! (i know its free)

 

[GamerwithnoGame]

WAIT.

You can DO that!?!?!??!?!?!!??! SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!!!!!!!! (i know its free)

Yeah! You can absolutely ignore users, and their posts won't appear in your feed!

 

[triggerfinger12]

You know, after seeing that most of these spam posts, even though by different users, are basically the same makes me wonder if it's possible to ban an IP? Sure it's possible, but is it within the bounds of the software of the forum?

 

[Quetzi]

Fighting spam is a constant battle, whatever countermeasures we use they very quickly get around them, that is their job after all. Today is a particularly bad day, with over 270 messages in the moderation queue (those are the ones you don't see)

 

[Pyure]

I was sick all day yesterday; normally I destroy that junk at around 8:30AM (EST).

 

[GamerwithnoGame]

Fighting spam is a constant battle, whatever countermeasures we use they very quickly get around them, that is their job after all. Today is a particularly bad day, with over 270 messages in the moderation queue (those are the ones you don't see)

I'm pretty sure I can speak for more than just myself when I say that we all appreciate the hard work the forum team put into trying to stamp this stuff out and keep it to a minimum - I know you guys have got a tough task at the best of times!

 

[Pyure]

Ehh. For my part, its fun

Except every once in a while I get a gray-area item that I have to defer to a VIP. :\

 

[Zarkov]

They're at it again it seems. What type of programmatic control is available for the forum? Would it be possible to detect several (e.g. two or more) posts made by the same new user within x minutes, and then put all those messages in a moderator only quarantine automatically?

 

[sgbros1]

Would it be possible to detect several (e.g. two or more) posts made by the same new user within x minutes, and then put all those messages in a moderator only quarantine automatically?

Considering it's XenForum, I doubt so

 

[Quetzi]

They are 'at it' constantly, just the vast majority of it never hits the public boards. I've identified a plugin that could help with this new wave of bots but the process of getting it approved and added will take some time.

 

[triggerfinger12]

I have noticed that I've been getting captchas so obviously you guys have been doing something already!!!!

 

[Quetzi]

Sadly the CAPTCHAs are pretty ineffective

 

[Hambeau]

Just a thought I pulled out of... somewhere while reading the thread , but would it be possible to put posts tagged as "problems" into a buffer where they could be parsed to be "New" issues and allowed into the forum(s), "Known" issues and appropriately replied to, or Spam and dealt with accordingly?

I mean, the current spambots seem to be taking the guesswork out of things by pre-defining themselves as Problems and all

 

[Pyure]

Just a thought I pulled out of... somewhere while reading the thread , but would it be possible to put posts tagged as "problems" into a buffer where they could be parsed to be "New" issues and allowed into the forum(s), "Known" issues and appropriately replied to, or Spam and dealt with accordingly?

I mean, the current spambots seem to be taking the guesswork out of things by pre-defining themselves as Problems and all

That would mean every bug ticket would need a manual moderator step (with all the delays that entails). And we get an awful lot of bug tickets.

 

[sgbros1]

I mean, the current spambots seem to be taking the guesswork out of things by pre-defining themselves as Problems and all

Not all of them do.

Only sometimes do the health(?)-related spam tag themselves with Problem, a lot of the time they don't tag anything at all.

And the spam with the Chinese characters never do. Also we can't filter out non-English characters, we've tried (I'm pretty sure)

 

[Quetzi]

A lot of the chinese spam posts are being caught now because I added half a dozen or so characters into the spam filter, it doesn't seem to pick them all up though. Filtering on tags is a non starter. I appreciate that you would all like to help keep the forum spam free, but we're literally already using everything we have at our disposal right now. I'm still waiting on my addon request to be fulfilled, that will help matters a lot.

 

[Hambeau]

We're all sidewalk supervisors on this bus...