Death to Spammers, Phishers etc.

[mdmf007]

Spammers -
Spammers have been dropping a lot of crap on the eplaya lately - drop links here so we can remove their posts.

later all

[Toolmaker]

I 2nd the emotion.. new users should not be allowed to post without someone at least taking a look at the post first. The mod is out there if interested.

[diane o'thirst]

Not to be a wet blanket, but I don't know how much good that would do.

Spammers are usually first-time and ONE-TIME posters...they register under a hotmail account, get in, do their mischief and log off permanently to leave the rest of us to deal with their shit.

Having an "introductory probation" would be good for catching trolls and stalkers but wouldn't touch spammers.

[helitack]

Yep, next thing you know people will use BM images for commercial or advertising purposes.

[mdmf007]

that was my thinking, it wouild keep everyone else from having to deal with it. If i could log on and review a few posts (would only take seconds to see if its an ad for viagra or porn) I think the rest of the comunity would appreciate it.

We are only talking about a couple of dozen such spammers a month as is.

later

[AntiM]

I get to a lot of the spam early, often I'm one of the first viewers, but not always. I've already done five this morning, and I expect to knock off another few this evening when I get back on board.

They are one-timers, which is why replying to them simply puts my panties in a wad, not theirs.

I have no idea how a probabtionary posting limit would work, that has to be kicked higher up than me.

And I do appreciate the reports of spam in the other thread, very helpful, thanks.

[Toolmaker]

Well the mod I was thinkin of for phpBBS would not allow any post to make it to the board unless OK'd by someone with the priviliges. I think it gets put into a forum only mods and admins can see, after approval it goes to the forum originally posted to. An easier option would be to have ALL new account closed to posting until a mod or admin contacts person via email to confirm account. I think the number of attacks would drop significantly when they see its a waste of time to try. It would also stop people from trying to spread virii to the users. That seems to happen at least twice a month. Some of the SPAM ads have some nasty scripts in their web pages too.

[Toolmaker]

Yep, next thing you know people will use BM images for commercial or advertising purposes.

/me runs up to helitack and gives a great big kiss on the cheek and than a smack to the head with a trout!

SED made me do it.

[diane o'thirst]

Well the mod I was thinkin of for phpBBS would not allow any post to make it to the board unless OK'd by someone with the priviliges. I think it gets put into a forum only mods and admins can see, after approval it goes to the forum originally posted to. An easier option would be to have ALL new account closed to posting until a mod or admin contacts person via email to confirm account.

I don't like fora that has a mod look at every posting first. Plus on this board, I think it'd be a CLUSTERFUCK for the mods to approve *every* post before it goes out. They wouldn't even have bathroom breaks. There's an obscene amount of posters on this board.

The verification that it's a real person on the other end of the registration is a good idea. One way to handle that is like that scrambled numbers-and-letters box like what Yahoo!Groups and other forums have as part of the registration process. That'll stop a spambot cold in its tracks.

The IMDb board puts a stop-watch on posters; once you post, you can't post again for 2 minutes. This is a good idea; it makes sure that the posters take the time to read the thread completely and think about your response. It cuts back on blurted out one-liners, off-the-cuff/uninformed flames and repeated thoughts. Might stop a spambot, too, or at least slow it down enough for the mods to kill it before it gets too far.

I do agree that we need to think of something to do about it. Burning Man is big, and that means it attracts spammers and other antagonists like bees to honey. We're on their radar and the attacks will only keep coming, they'll never go away now.

[diane o'thirst]

I hope we have at least one heathen mod cruising the board because we have two spammers working the board, Abandoorman and Oosejo45. One joined on Dec. 20, the other on the 24th.

Just don't click on their links!

[AntiM]

Good morning! I'm at 'em.

[diane o'thirst]

New batch, three this time.

Fajo0, homequityh and rastafari.

[AntiM]

Deja vu all over again. I go at these same guys twice a day.

[diane o'thirst]

Thems spammers is gettin' crafty, thems is.
What say we track 'em down and pour sulphuric acid on their keyboards? [snarky smirk]

[capjbadger]

Bleah....

http://eplaya.burningman.com/viewtopic.php?t=16078

[capjbadger]

Spam...


Joined: 09 Jan 2007
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[capjbadger]

Same spam, different sock...

All about Andobun55

Joined: 09 Jan 2007
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Find all posts by Andobun55

[mdmf007]

even better is to not buy their shit, or look at their links. It seems like a lot of work to spam all day - take the incentive out and theyd go away - intheory.


lol that dont work though. later

[Toolmaker]

even better is to not buy their shit, or look at their links. It seems like a lot of work to spam all day - take the incentive out and theyd go away - intheory.


lol that dont work though. later

Unfortunately its not alot of work for these folks to spam boards. Automatted programs/scripts do all the hard work. When you have a board "wide open" this will always happen. Nobody seems to want to put any kind of collar on new signups. There are a few nice mods that will stop this crap too. One has you look at a picture with skewed letters and numbers and type in the "code" you see.. that works great stopping the scripts. But the best way is to have all new users on moderated status for at least the first 10 posts. Best thing is once you lock your board down from this type of crap alot of ppl don't bother to try and make 10 normal posts just to post one ad. Another thing going on is alot of users signing up and just having a website in their profile. They don't post but they get to keep their link/ad on this site and it helps them out alot with google.

[helitack]

Maybe the ORG should wipe the board clean, enable verification of users, start from scratch, make everyone re-up their membership, and PAY some people to remove the new spam or at the very least, give the volunteer moderators the authority to remove and ban pinheads. When I was a mod on two other boards, I had that authority, however, the members did not know who the moderators were, which simplified things very much.

[Archantael]

Instead of wiping the board clean which is what Spanky & Co. did with the original eplaya, why not "archive" this board and then start up a new one with ALL of Helitack's proven to be effective suggestions. I'd like to have ongoing read-only access to the old content and not have it just ripped away forever like it was the last time around.

[helitack]

AND make people get rid of all their socks, past and present...

[Archantael]

Your suggestion of restarting the board would effectively take care of the sock problem, would it not? I know...you couldn't resist the cheap shot and that's precisely what it was. Enjoy it...the transparency of it all does me no harm.

[helitack]

There is a big difference between cheap and free...

[Ugly Dougly]

Dang, now we're getting hit.

I'd remind one and all not to click a link unless you know were it's from, and for the love of all that is holy do not download and exe from an unknown source.

Also I have some bonds from the Republic of Congo that I need help unloading.... (jk)

[helitack]

.exe?

[Dork]

All a restart would do is remove existing messages and (potentially) accounts. If accounts really are removed it would open the door for someone with a grudge to hijack screen names. It wouldn't stop people from creating more accounts to spam or troll. It would remove a lot of decent information. Are old messages really causing a problem for anyone? The only example I can think of is when people were following an old link to the BM rideshare board which was no longer valid.

[BAS]

Well, the latest spambot seems to be Eeerpemarbur96, which is dropping spam all over the place. It seems to be dregging up some pretty old threads-- I wonder how it decides which threads to post to?


B.

[diane o'thirst]

It looks like they're getting smarter and trying to add some personalized banter before they start their spammy bullshit.

There's a couple cruising Open Discussion, one advertising steroids and one posting a page-long thing about the prescrip drug that's supposed to cure impotence.

[MikeVDS]

*puts on suit and tie*

Hey, if I'm gunna be im-po-tent, I'ma gunna look im-po-tent.