What to do with spam on our forums

YouTube · Post by **Platypus** » Sat May 05, 2007 5:31 pm

Killed some spam a minute ago. I didn't see the old spam forum on the move list so I just deleted it. That's what we do with spam, right? I haven't seen any in so long, I don't even remember.

Guest-Platy · Post by **Guest-Platy** » Sat May 05, 2007 5:44 pm

Wow, those spam bots haev to do a lot of work to post on our forum. Smart bots.

David

Post by **jaem** » Sun May 06, 2007 8:44 am

well... there is the Trolls 'r' Us forum - Dean, do we move it there so you know which members to kill before we delete it?

YouTube · Post by **Platypus** » Sat May 12, 2007 5:46 pm

I think that is the idea, yes. I couldn't remeember before but as soon as that forum lit up it seeemed familiar.

Post by **DeGobbi** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 7:30 pm

Wow . the spam is getting really bad . before it was links and stuff but now there are linking pictures right into the messages .

like if i was a parent i wouldn't let my kid go to this site cause of the content that is showing up . is there any way to limit this ?

Post by **Andrew** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 10:43 pm

Even on other sites they have some pretty serious stuff on them.Mocpages had some things on there not apprpriate for the public let alone kids.I think we just try and erase items as quick as possible so visitors don't catch it.

Post by **Gumby** » Tue Jun 05, 2007 3:27 pm

I can't remember how the registration process for our website works, but is it possible to set it such that after a new person registers, their account needs to be manually activated by one of us before s/he can actually post?

Post by **DeGobbi** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 8:17 pm

I think that might be the best way to go . or have a thing where you have to have your posts aproved until you are a approved poster . if that makes sense . lol

Post by **jaem** » Thu Jun 07, 2007 8:56 am

I've been deleting posts directly the last few times, because moving them to Trolls 'r' Us wasn't working. I'd uncheck "leave shadow topic", and it appears to be doing something of the sort anyways. (I've don't what happens when you leave it checked, but with it unchecked, it leaves the post there, copies it to Trolls 'r' Us, and inserts a "moved:" before the thread title - like the "poll:" and all that)
Maybe until Dean can fix that, we should move it (which will copy it) and then delete the original. That way Dean has his copy, and it's gone out of the forums.

I'll PM Dean in case he doesn't read this...

YouTube · Post by **Platypus** » Sat Jun 09, 2007 1:36 am

Dean is pretty busy these days so PMing him is a good idea.

These forums we are using is a pre made system. I don't know if it would allow the authentication thing.

Post by **03SilveradoLS** » Sun Jun 10, 2007 7:19 am

You need to moderate the posts from new registrants, just for the first one or two posts. This will eliminate these all these one post wonders. Moderating the registration process will just prevent new people from ever making posts and will then consequently hamper forum growth.

Post by **jaem** » Sun Jun 10, 2007 1:43 pm

The thing I'm wondering is why most of these spam posts already have at least 3 views by the time I delete them. I know there are a lot of people on the forum who aren't members, and thus can't moderate the forums, but is everyone who can do something about it doing it?

Post by **DeGobbi** » Sun Jun 10, 2007 6:06 pm

any reply from dean jeff ?

YouTube · Post by **Platypus** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 11:05 am

Good Question Jeff. I often find the same thing, that they have been viewed a few times when I delete them.

Post by **jaem** » Wed Jun 13, 2007 2:56 pm

Brickhead wrote:any reply from dean jeff ?

nope.

Also, shouldn't we be deleting them out of the Trolls 'r' Us forum quickly - by the looks of the "latest post author" line, all the posts are still in there. That kind of defeats the purpose of dealing with them, and it's not making our forums any more kid friendly if they're still accessible. Since Dean hasn't gotten back to me in at least a week, I'm going to take the liberty of clearing it out. As far as killing spam accounts goes, "alfjaskhjsdfkjaf" is kind of obvious anyways!

EDIT: There's a legit post in Trolls 'r' Us, but I didn't know which forum it came from, so I left it. Someone else might want to check that. Something about the Northern BC Club.

YouTube · Post by **Platypus** » Wed Jun 13, 2007 5:49 pm

I don't think the trolls forum is buplic. We can read it cause we are members.

the idea behing putting them in there was that someone could look at the accounts that had created them and delete those ass well.

If you are able to delete users, go for it. maybe just keep a record of the account names in case there are back ups somewhere that Dean will later have to go through and delete.

Post by **jaem** » Wed Jun 13, 2007 5:55 pm

well... it doesn't even appear when you're not logged in, but for all I know, (non-club) forum members may be able to get to it. My point, although partly a joke, was that most of the spam accounts have really obvious names, so it shouldn't be a problem for Dean. Maybe I shouldn't have, but seeing as we had about 20 spam posts that *may* have been accessible by other people, I figured it would be good to clear them out.

oh well...

YouTube · Post by **Platypus** » Wed Jun 13, 2007 6:04 pm

I moved the Northern BC thing to General.

All the trolls have disappeared...

Post by **DeGobbi** » Wed Jun 13, 2007 7:11 pm

Is dean alive ?

YouTube · Post by **Platypus** » Thu Jun 14, 2007 12:47 am

I think he was eaten by the 'work monster' but his ghost is now lurking on the forums. That's who clearred all the trolls out of their forum.

Post by **TFM** » Wed Jun 20, 2007 9:52 am

There is a new version of the phpBB software. It has super spam fighting abilities. But I'm way behind and need to figure out how to convert the database. Nothing is compatible with the new version so it needs all new templates and everything...

Yes, if you can MOVE the items to the Trolls R us dir then I can more easily kill them off. I'll confirm that the trolls area is still working right.

Post by **TFM** » Wed Jun 20, 2007 9:53 am

Yes, as long as your a member of the club and are in the members group you can see the Trolls R us area and can move files to it.

YouTube · Post by **Platypus** » Wed Jun 20, 2007 5:30 pm

Thanks Dean! I'm glad you haven't really disappeared.

Post by **Andrew** » Wed Jun 20, 2007 11:07 pm

Thanks Dean,for keeping the forums clean of some nasty spam,man that stuff tastes bad.

Andrew

Post by **DeGobbi** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 8:28 am

thanks Dean . what if they post a reply to a valid topic , ? move the whole topic to trolls , or just delete the post ?