stopping the spammers

[Tannin]

Doug, you probably know about this already, but just in case .... On one of the wikis I run, spam was a problem until I installed recaptcha - http://recaptcha.net/ - whick killed it stone dead. Free, good cause, very easy to use, recomended. If you want something to lock the bots out, this has worked for me. It even has a ready-made plug-in for Mediawiki, so I imagine getting it to work with vBulletin would be falling of a log easy.

[Handruin]

Thanks Tony. I was looking at the vbulletin website and I believe the latest version now includes the actual reCaptcha code that you mentioned. I'll look into getting this installed soon. I don't know where this most recent flood of spammers is coming from. We had been fine for a while until the past couple days.

[Tannin]

Yeah, we seem to get waves of spam, followed by periods of quiet that last quite a while. I get the same on the sites I run. It's just whenever someone happens to write and distribute a new batch of bots, I guess.

[ddrueding]

Aren't there settings to prevent a users first post from including links or images? I think that would fix a big chunk of it.

[Handruin]

I'll have to check, but I don't think the permissions are that granular. Just keep reporting them like you have been, it's been helping, so I thank you much.

[udaman]

I'll have to check, but I don't think the permissions are that granular. Just keep reporting them like you have been, it's been helping, so I thank you much.

Suggest you check with vB forums. I have seen another site @3.6.6? that probably is using another hack, after you reg, the 1st post most be approved by Admn, before it appears in a thread, you get an pop-up message that your post has been submitted for review by Admn.

Or you can use the one here, though the hacks seem to be buggy (didn't read all 15 pages):

Forbid Users from Posting Links or Images if They Have Fewer than 15 Posts
http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=96018


which I got to from here:
Restriction on newbie URL posting

http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=101346



Probably could PM the mod who posted the link and ask for any others known?

[[Edit]]

Patricia
Join Date: Feb 2008
Posts: 0

Re: Edit

---------------

Hi,
I'm new here, how's it going?

"Buddhism has the characteristics of what would be expected in a cosmic religion for the future: it transcends a personal God, avoids dogmas and theology; it covers both the natural & spiritual, and it is based on a religious sense aspiring from the experience of all things as a meaningful unity" - Albert Einstein

---
Patricia


Mmmmmmmmmmm! SPAM!!! I love the smell of SPAM in the morning. Well, not as much as the smell of napalm in the morning. But, otherwise, thanks for the free SPAM, Patricia!

[DrunkenBastard]

We got a significant surge of "Russian Spam" in the last couple of days. Produced quite a burden on our anti-spam services/servers.

[LunarMist]

Perhaps I'm being paranoid, but lately there are many new members with suspicious names. ;)

[Handruin]

Yes, and I go through them every few days to delete. None of them can post until I validate them, and none of them have contacted me to ask for permissions, so I'm not worried about it.

[LunarMist]

The names are sillier yet. The kids have nothing else to do? :)

[udaman]

The names are sillier yet. The kids have nothing else to do? :)

Otay!

U mean the spam bots... like.... "Edit", "Splash" "wavemaker" "discfarm"...etc, there was a rash of postings in rapid succession by those recently :D

[Handruin]

They don't seem to give up.

[LunarMist]

There is a new member added seemingly every time I log it in.

[Handruin]

They don't give up at all. I have all new registration moderated. I should just disable new registration.

[ddrueding]

They don't give up at all. I have all new registration moderated. I should just disable new registration.

Not entirely sure about that. Although it seems likely that we will get new members, or that those members will be a good match to our interactions, we could at least hold out some hope...

[LunarMist]

We'll become extinct like Shakers eventually.

[LunarMist]

168 guests are online.:o

[udaman]

168 guests are online.:o

Webcrawlers/spiders mostly I would guess. Still, up to 226 members recently, the spammers are relentless :(.

Google’s CAPTCHA busted in recent spammer tactics (http://securitylabs.websense.com/content/Blogs/2919.aspx#)

[ddrueding]

The spammers are relentless, but considering they can no longer post, we are safe from the storm. Imagine if every new user just make one post per forum...ick.

[LunarMist]

Have any legitimate prospective members been found recently or are they automatically rejected?

[ddrueding]

Have any legitimate prospective members been found recently or are they automatically rejected?

I got a PM from someone looking to be activated a little bit ago. I passed it onto Handruin for approval.

[Handruin]

I give them a while (several weeks) before deleting them. There are a few like the one mentioned above that I do active when the PM me.

[LunarMist]

Hey, why do they continue? Now some ED treatment scammers... :P)

[Handruin]

I purged that one. vbulletin 3.7 is now out with more spam-related functionality like reCAPTCHA. I'll upgrade and hopefully it'll reduce the number of spam accounts we get.

[hacksaw]

Hey, I'm real, and I'm not a spammer!

I'm getting flooded with spammy email lately though. It's gone through the roof in the past couple of days.

[ddrueding]

All my SPAM filters are staying at ~95% SPAM.

And hacksaw,

Welcome to StorageForum!

[LunarMist]

What spam filters?

[ddrueding]

I use NoSpamToday (http://www.nospamtoday.com/)with all my clients that require an exchange server. I set up pretty strict rules, and they mark ~95% of the mail coming into any given domain as SPAM.

[LunarMist]

Oh, I thought it was your personals.

[ddrueding]

I use Google to host the mail for my domain, so I have no idea how much SPAM comes in. I actually get about one a month, Google's SPAM filter is the best in the world IMHO.

[timwhit]

I would agree with that.

[LunarMist]

It appears that the spammers have returned to SF. Are they are creating accounts manually or is there a bot exploit?

[Handruin]

Could be automated now. Most were manual because of the way the signup process makes you answer simple random questions. Perhaps they've figured out the questions and answers now, so I'll just change the questions.

[Bozo]

On some sites, you must copy some letters and/or numbers into a box. These letters/numbers are hard to read and change with each register.
Would that help here?

[Handruin]

On some sites, you must copy some letters and/or numbers into a box. These letters/numbers are hard to read and change with each register.
Would that help here?

It used to help (CAPCHA) and we used to use it, but was easily broke a while ago. I stopped using it and have tried other things to stop automated systems from getting through so easily.

[Handruin]

I've been using this stop forum spam (http://www.stopforumspam.com/) website to reference the e-mail addresses that have been coming in. It's a handy tool and they offer an API with it. I'd like to integrate it with the forum to check the registering e-mail address before allowing them an account.

[Handruin]

The spam has been immense lately for some unknown reason. I've deleted at least 75 new registrations and a multitude of spam posts that many of you have reported to me.

I've disabled new registration for the time being until I can figure out a better solution.

[jtr1962]

This (http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showpost.php?p=2702602&postcount=3) might be of help. Spamming was a problem on CPF until the new policy was put into effect. Specifically, here's what was done:

In an effort to reduce spam in the forums by new members who only register in order to post spam, restrictions have been imposed on all new registrations.

1) The first 2 (two) posts that a new member makes (regardless of registration date) are put into a moderation queue before being posted in the open forums. A CPF moderator or administrator then reviews the post and the user account for validity and suitability. If the post is nothing but spam, the account is immediately banned and the post never sees the light of day in the forums. If the post is not spam, it is approved and shows up where it was intended to be posted. After 2 posts have been approved by a member of the CPF staff, the 3rd post will not need moderation and the user account is "promoted" to full posting privileges.

2) Until a new user account has been approved and vetted in the above manner, the account has NO private message privileges. Again, this is due to new users registering for spamming purposes only. They use the PM system without ever making a post in the forums. As with above, once the new member has posted 2 posts and the account has been approved and vetted, full board privileges are instated.

[Handruin]

That is a possibility, but we lack the high volume readership that they have in order to manage the moderation. Have they mentioned any specific modifications to vbulletin for spam management? I didn't see any specifics in the post you linked to, but if you could find out, I could try implementing them here.

[ddrueding]

How many members apply per day? Perhaps we could require that new members request via e-mail? I could handle some of that load.

[Handruin]

The latest onslaught of spam accounts was about 40 a day. I could try the request via e-mail, but they have to confirm by e-mail any ways. How would the request by e-mail be fulfilled, or rather, what would the requirements be in the e-mail request?

[Stereodude]

Looks like we've got a fresh crop of spammers today. :mad:

[Handruin]

I upgraded the forum last night and implemented a fixed version of reCAPTCHA tool...it doesn't seem to work very well. The one that keeps spamming is coming from the same domain, but now the tool for blocking email registrations isn't working <sigh>. Before last night I've had the new forum registrations option disabled because we were getting some bad spam with porn attachments.

[rebecca12]

;106312']Mmmmmmmmmmm! SPAM!!! I love the smell of SPAM in the morning. Well, not as much as the smell of napalm in the morning. But, otherwise, thanks for the free SPAM, Patricia!


:rofl: :rotfl: :bglaugh:
- lol.. food? viand? spam? hahha.. :bglaugh:

[LunarMist]

I don't know about that last member to sign up today. :scratch: Joker or spammer?

[MaxBurn]

It was entertaining, I'll say that. I didn't follow the link to find out.

[Stereodude]

Great, now we have spammers posting pornographic images with their SPAM.

Can't we implement something where embedded links and images are restricted to users with at least 10 posts or something? I've seen that on other forums before.

[timwhit]

Maybe we could add a couple moderators to delete the spam a bit quicker. I will volunteer for this.

[Stereodude]

Maybe we could add a couple moderators to delete the spam a bit quicker. I will volunteer for this.I'll also second the idea that we need a few more spam deleters.

[Handruin]

That would be a nice feature. Do you have any example forums you visit that you could send me a link to? I want to see what software they are using so I can try and track down a feature like you suggested.

I'll get the moderator thing going again. I know we discussed it before and I didn't implement it.

[Stereodude]

I believe AVSforum.com blocks embedded links until you have a certain # of posts.

[Handruin]

Thanks for the example. I've been searching a bit and it turns out there is a way to do this native with vbulletin and I didn't know about it. I need to create two user groups. one will not have the ability to post or link images and then promote users into a group that can post images after they have posted n number of times.

reference (http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=206500&highlight=images+post+count)

[MaxBurn]

This board blocks posts in certain parts until you have like 15 posts. After that you can post in the for sale section.

http://www.rolexforums.com/

Glad you are looking into this, I think a couple tweaks will make your life easier.

[Stereodude]

Judging from this morning's spam I guess no changes have been made yet.

[Handruin]

No, not yet.

[timwhit]

These spammers are getting pretty annoying.

[Stereodude]

Why do something about the problem when you can ignore it instead and hope it goes away? :p

[LunarMist]

They know about Canada?

[Handruin]

They go away. I'm still in Canada, yes, so some got through during my time away from the inter tubes.

[LunarMist]

Good for you. I've been to the far corners of the earth, but never Canada.

[Stereodude]

I've been to Canada a few times. It's only about 30 minutes away.

[LunarMist]

That's a lot closer than my last vacation - 37 hours including stopovers.

[LunarMist]

I think we need more moderators. :(

[Stereodude]

Maybe this will be the catalyst we need to get the problem finally fixed.

[Stereodude]

Oh good, there's more of them... :cursin:

[timwhit]

Doug, please make someone a mod.

[MaxBurn]

Does a captcha plugin cost money to add on to the forum?

[LunarMist]

I'm not sure that is the answer. Spammers can manually create accounts, too.

[Stereodude]

Preventing users with less than 5-10 posts from inserting links and images combined with a few other people with mod privileges would basically solve the problem I think.

[ddrueding]

Preventing users with less than 5-10 posts from inserting links and images combined with a few other people with mod privileges would basically solve the problem I think.

Agreed. 5 would probably be enough, we get the occasional "Hi" post before the spam, but 5 should be good. Just 1 or 2 people with mod privileges would be enough, just give them the ability to delete new-ish accounts and all their posts.

[Mercutio]

Handy, there are pictures of dicks in every forum today.
While I am not a prude and do not particularly mind dicks, I would appreciate it if the moderation system somehow turned them in to boobs, because like every right-thinking person, boobs are what I would rather look at.

[udaman]

Handy, there are pictures of dicks in every forum today.
While I am not a prude and do not particularly mind dicks, I would appreciate it if the moderation system somehow turned them in to boobs, because like every right-thinking person, boobs are what I would rather look at.

F**k Merc, if yer going to use d**K everywhere then please, for the sake of this October's breast cancer awareness month, learn what to call breasts...like those things with nips on your chest that can kill U if you get a tumor there< ya really, men get breast cancer and die from it too.

Otherwise call them what they are, equal to d**ks in common usage, like our Canadian-French fur trappers who must have been on Madonna like/Gaultier cone bustiere hallucinating *pointy* warped mindset...when they named our National Park in Wyoming, Grand Teton NP...<French slang for Big Tits NP :salut::salut::salut:

Boobs = guys (&Pelosi :p ) in Washington running the country...as in 'don't have a brain'.

I think we only need to make Merc & dd mods for deleting spam accts, as they are both on SF nearly 24/7 :D

[MaxBurn]

OK I give, it would be nice to just have a couple mods with spam deletion duties only.

[Stereodude]

I did my part and reported every one of the posts.

Of course if nothing is done the problem will get worse once the spammers notice how poorly protected this forum is. :thumbright:

[jtr1962]

Did anyone look at the RSS feed? It's a combination of nonsense text plus vulgar images. Where's Doug lately? Some of these spam threads have been here for over a day.

We really need to give a few long-time members privileges to remove spam and/or delete accounts which post spam.

[Stereodude]

Handy went on vacation to Canada. Apparently the spammers have figured this out and are having a field day while he's gone.

[LunarMist]

I don't understand the foreign characters. What is the purpose - to make money somehow?

[Handruin]

Does a captcha plugin cost money to add on to the forum?

ReCAPTCHA is already implemented. It helped reduce the amount we use to get by a large amount.

[Handruin]

Preventing users with less than 5-10 posts from inserting links and images combined with a few other people with mod privileges would basically solve the problem I think.

Yes, this is the answer. I will start with adding mods until I can get the delayed image posting ability added.

[Handruin]

Doug, please make someone a mod.

I will do this. I'll resurrect the old thread which discussed the potential mods.

[Handruin]

Handy, there are pictures of dicks in every forum today.
While I am not a prude and do not particularly mind dicks, I would appreciate it if the moderation system somehow turned them in to boobs, because like every right-thinking person, boobs are what I would rather look at.

I like this idea, I'll see if I can make it happen.

[Handruin]

I did my part and reported every one of the posts.

Of course if nothing is done the problem will get worse once the spammers notice how poorly protected this forum is. :thumbright:

Thanks for reporting them all. I think I found them all. I had multiple pages and pages of email to sift through because of all the reported spam. I'm home now, so it's easier to manage.

[Handruin]

Handy went on vacation to Canada. Apparently the spammers have figured this out and are having a field day while he's gone.

Maybe because I mentioned it in another thread. I didn't think they were that smart, so maybe it was someone here who doesn't like the forum.

[LunarMist]

Yay! Doug is back. :)

[LunarMist]

Thanks for reporting them all. I think I found them all. I had multiple pages and pages of email to sift through because of all the reported spam. I'm home now, so it's easier to manage.

Unless usajoe is one of them, the recent spammers seem to be gone.

[Handruin]

That account is 4 days old and hasn't ever posted. That account also does not get flagged from my normal means of checking if their account has any relation to spam, so I left it alone to see what happens.

[LunarMist]

Maybe because I mentioned it in another thread. I didn't think they were that smart, so maybe it was someone here who doesn't like the forum.

Someone in or from the Philippines? It seems unlikely, but what do I know?

[timwhit]

Someone in or from the Philippines? It seems unlikely, but what do I know?

Paugie is from the Philippines and he's not a spammer.

[LunarMist]

Of course not. I did not mean to imply anything like that. I was basing that on the links.

[Stereodude]

So, uh we've had two more spammers overnight. Can we get the new measures in place ASAP?

[Handruin]

I already contacted a few people last night asking if they would help to moderate. They responded last night and I will enable them shortly to have the ability to help with spammers.

[Bozo]

Great!!! :-D

[LunarMist]

I hope it works out.

[LunarMist]

Handy, there are pictures of dicks in every forum today.
While I am not a prude and do not particularly mind dicks, I would appreciate it if the moderation system somehow turned them in to boobs, because like every right-thinking person, boobs are what I would rather look at.

:lol: I think you are joking - a little.

[Handruin]

One more update on the quest to reduce spam. I've enabled a plugin which communicates with a website I've been using for a while (manually) named stopforumspam (http://www.stopforumspam.com/). This is a repository of user names, email addresses, and IP addresses of spammers that people report after they've registered into their forums.

The plugin I added checks all three of those components when someone new registers into storageforum.net. If they are on that list, they are denied registration here.

If one gets through who is not on the list, I can add them to the list for others to benefit from. It won't be 100% solution, but it will help. It has been manually helping me to remove spammers before they post for a long time now. Now it'll be automated.

[ddrueding]

Sweet. Thanks Handruin!

[Howell]

Very handy!

[Handruin]

Since yesterday, this is what the log shows as having blocked spam users trying to register here using the new plugin. There is one in the list that wasn't blocked, but my assumption is that they didn't make it in because of the reCAPTCHA script.

The variety of blocking coming from ip, vs, email, vs username is interesting.



Gettingbackatsluts 2009-11-04 13:16:28 diantowe72@gmail.com 212.235.107.80 Result on field username - Gettingbackatsluts - Spammer and rejected by policy
buy cialis no prescription 2009-11-04 12:59:06 hotuy58ytn@gmail.com 94.142.134.131 Result on field ip - 94.142.134.131 - Spammer and rejected by policy
Moneymakers 2009-11-04 12:49:38 dear846@gmail.com 120.4.69.16 Result on field username - Moneymakers - Spammer and rejected by policy
usapaymain 2009-11-04 12:39:24 usapaydayhelp@gmail.com 79.116.136.97 Result on field username - usapaymain - Spammer and rejected by policy
DuanceSumma 2009-11-04 12:07:23 elestyhully@gmail.com 89.252.5.79 Result on field email - elestyhully@gmail.com - Spammer and rejected by policy
GRFred 2009-11-04 11:38:55 grfred@gawab.com 94.70.55.37 Allowed registration
FluehesultBet 2009-11-04 10:02:25 joehooper2@gmail.com 212.95.54.169 Result on field ip - 212.95.54.169 - Spammer and rejected by policy
Entuan Zerge sanao 2009-11-04 09:55:49 zaber1@mail.ru 91.214.45.97 Result on field username - Entuan Zerge sanao - Spammer and rejected by policy
spiceight 2009-11-04 09:02:31 osdkfodsakfos@mail.ru 203.81.81.36 Result on field ip - 203.81.81.36 - Spammer and rejected by policy
voyance 2009-11-04 08:47:21 admin@rondeetvoyante.com 123.125.156.138 Result on field username - voyance - Spammer and rejected by policy
Drearcemymn 2009-11-04 07:38:00 poiunmagen@yandex.ru 94.76.213.75 Result on field ip - 94.76.213.75 - Spammer and rejected by policy
Cerniymagl 2009-11-04 07:01:13 cherniymag@hotmail.ru 189.41.103.12 Result on field username - Cerniymagl - Spammer and rejected by policy
Eduardo_Li 2009-11-04 06:51:27 hareymischoe@gmx.com 76.73.89.154 Result on field ip - 76.73.89.154 - Spammer and rejected by policy
JackBrownHetGyeyiwhf 2009-11-04 06:48:32 loenaquhynyk@gmail.com 188.92.77.96 Result on field username - JackBrownHetGyeyiwhf - Spammer and rejected by policy
xxxusagirlsexxxtt 2009-11-04 06:33:52 jaja17@italyhun.com 87.98.218.195 Result on field username - xxxusagirlsexxxtt - Spammer and rejected by policy
SAunelianit 2009-11-04 06:08:31 Insisinlyvize@2008realsites.net 194.8.75.50 Result on field ip - 194.8.75.50 - Spammer and rejected by policy
Rinabrierse 2009-11-04 03:44:14 xmodernfurniture@newsy.babia-gora.pl 125.45.13.89 Result on field ip - 125.45.13.89 - Spammer and rejected by policy
watchmovieson 2009-11-04 03:38:47 worte2@mail.ru 213.164.121.213 Result on field username - watchmovieson - Spammer and rejected by policy
metEmbeks 2009-11-04 03:04:11 noryk20013@mail.ru 94.19.68.204 Result on field ip - 94.19.68.204 - Spammer and rejected by policy
queemeabata 2009-11-04 02:41:21 xtnpyszlzpycvrbogtmnxh0@gmail.com 195.2.240.203 Result on field ip - 195.2.240.203 - Spammer and rejected by policy
Anamizill 2009-11-04 01:34:20 naomigaines6@gmail.com 212.95.54.169 Result on field ip - 212.95.54.169 - Spammer and rejected by policy
ASragfiegreegam 2009-11-04 01:13:22 inhincoutfign@2008ratedsites.net 194.8.75.145 Result on field ip - 194.8.75.145 - Spammer and rejected by policy
axodlethath 2009-11-03 22:59:57 depositnet@gmail.com 89.149.241.118 Result on field ip - 89.149.241.118 - Spammer and rejected by policy
SAunelianit 2009-11-03 22:42:02 Insisinlyvize@2008realsites.net 194.8.75.50 Result on field ip - 194.8.75.50 - Spammer and rejected by policy
vcantrole 2009-11-03 22:20:59 vcantrole@mail.ru 94.76.87.154 Result on field username - vcantrole - Spammer and rejected by policy
Gettingbackatsluts 2009-11-03 21:53:08 diantowe72@gmail.com 212.235.107.80 Result on field ip - 212.235.107.80 - Spammer and rejected by policy

[Stereodude]

Careful... Merc might have you allow Gettingbackatsluts. :p

[ddrueding]

Looks like a very useful tool indeed ;)

[MaxBurn]

Wow, very cool utility. I had no idea this little forum here collected so many spam attempts.

[LunarMist]

Doug, I'm getting PM spam from a new member, RazzorrMan. Please kill the account.


Hello, friend. There are viruses' activities from your computer in last few days. Strongly recommend you to check your computer. You can find a report about your computer's security and solve every problem with it here: XXXXXXXXX
Thank you. Forum member.

[Handruin]

Killed.

[Stereodude]

But what should I do about the viruses' activities? ;-)

[LunarMist]

There are none.

[Stereodude]

There are none.I know that. :bleh:

[LunarMist]

Another spammer is on the loose.

[Handruin]

I deleted it, thanks for letting me know.

[LunarMist]

Damn, there was another one this morning. :(

[ddrueding]

My first visit isn't until 1600GMT most days, but I'm usually on until 0600GMT, which seems to be the "late shift" for most of our regulars.

[LunarMist]

IIRC it was around 0800 GMT or a little later.

[Handruin]

The horse porn one? LiamC notified me via PM. I took care of it when I got up in the morning. If I'm missing another one let me know.

[Mercutio]

I thought it was hilarious that "horse porn" had like 10 page views. You know, if you guys are THAT hard up I can send you all a little 2.5" drive full of regular naked women. The kind without horses.

Unless you wanted to see the horse part. In which case I can't help you.

[LunarMist]

Isn't it possibly the Google or something like it? I would not click a dangerous link on such a post. There might be a malware.

[MaxBurn]

I viewed the post but I didn't click the links they posted, I was all like no effin way. Anyway still doing a good job keeping the spam down, thanks.

[Stereodude]

I thought it was hilarious that "horse porn" had like 10 page views. You know, if you guys are THAT hard up I can send you all a little 2.5" drive full of regular naked women. The kind without horses.Well, I had to click on it in order to report it. :???:

[Handruin]

If you want to report something but don't want to click in it because it's suspect to be bad, just copy the URL and send me a PM and I'll take care of it. I didn't even look in the thread, I just selected the check box next to it and deleted it.

[MaxBurn]

One thought; could we allow editing in just the for sale section? I just reported a handful of posts because I am getting a lot more spam than usual lately and found my email across many forums via google. Every other forum I just edited the old post. It's pretty handy to be able to edit for sale posts as things sell too.

[Handruin]

If we allow for editing, then there's the risk that the seller can change the information that was advertised and the accountability is thrown off. Has that ever been an issue in other forums?

[Stereodude]

If we allow for editing, then there's the risk that the seller can change the information that was advertised and the accountability is thrown off. Has that ever been an issue in other forums?Do you really think that's a problem with the relatively close knit group of people we have here, and the few things that are even listed FS here?

[timwhit]

Do you really think that's a problem with the relatively close knit group of people we have here, and the few things that are even listed FS here?

I can't imagine it would be a problem. If it becomes a problem then the rule can be changed.

[LunarMist]

In other forums the previous versions of edited messages are typically available through a link so that the interested viewer san see what changes were made. It is a fair compromise.

[LunarMist]

It seems like there are a bunch of new ones signing up lately.

[Handruin]

Yep, I don't know what happened, but I suspect someone started up a new spam server or something. 95% of the accounts that have joined get deleted. The Poland (.pl) TLD is about to get a complete block with regards to email address signups.

[LunarMist]

You must be doing something or they are not posting. Anyway there is no nasty spam yet. :)

[Handruin]

Most of them sign up and put URLs linking to their crap websites in their profile and never do anything else. The other ones post threads that get put automatically into a moderated state that requires manual approval when they have URLs in their post. Most spammers do this, and they won't get through until after they have a certain number of posts that have been approved before letting posts with URLs in them. The crap still happens, you just see less of it now.

[ddrueding]

Thanks Doug for keeping us ignorantly blissful. ;)

[Handruin]

I'm looking through the log file which records the attempts of account registration and I can't believe how many attempts to create accounts are rejected.

Between:
2011-02-13 16:21:55 & 2011-02-14 11:26:44 there are 200 attempts to register accounts from spammers. The plug-in I'm using rejects them based on look-ups from multiple sources. Of the 200, 3-4 accounts got registered and one made a post that was automatically moderated due to the content. The other accounts register and put spam links in their profile.

They are persistent fucks.

Also, since I've implemented this, there are 17,197 total log entries (each log entry is an attempt to register an account). I started using this on 2010-11-07 09:08:16...

[Mercutio]

... and we thank you for it.

[ddrueding]

Indeed. You are on the front lines of the SPAM war ;)

[Handruin]

I wasn't posting in hopes for thanks (but thank you for saying them), I'm just overwhelmed sometimes with dealing with those dickheads. We're a small forum...how do other larger forums handle this crap?

[time]

Jeebus, that's enough to make anyone paranoid.

Doug, thanks for your efforts. Just remember, we're all firmly 20 feet behind you. ;)

[sechs]

I'm just overwhelmed sometimes with dealing with those dickheads. The problem is, we're not dealing with dickheads. We're dealing with their computers. And, in reality, it seems, our computers are dealing with them, not us.

It's an arms race for a proxy war.

[LunarMist]

The newest member is a toilet. :(

[Handruin]

I don't get it?

[Bozo]

I don't get it?

Neither do I. ???

[Handruin]

Oh I get it now. Dunny (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunny) is a slang word for toilet in Australia. They've yet to do anything spam-related so you had me confused with your comment in this thread which is related to spammers.

[Stereodude]

Maybe Lunar is a Precog. ;)

[Handruin]

It is a fairly safe bet even without being a Precog. :-) 99% of the new registrations end up being douche-bag spammers.

[LunarMist]

Maybe Lunar is a Precog. ;)

What is that - a gear in the tranny of an Audi? Do you mean am I prescient?

[LunarMist]

It is a fairly safe bet even without being a Precog. :-) 99% of the new registrations end up being douche-bag spammers.

I guess this may be the wrong thread, but it is an odd username. :)

[Stereodude]

What is that - a gear in the tranny of an Audi? Do you mean am I prescient?No, I wrote exactly what I intended to.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=precog

[LunarMist]

That is complete nonsense, sci-fi stuff.:spiderman:

[sechs]

What is that - a gear in the tranny of an Audi?Sounds like Merc's pr0n territory.

[LunarMist]

Well, it is gone now.