stopping the spammers

I'm glad you clarified it was a PM vs email. If it was spam through email this would be a much different issue to deal with.
 
You may have to disable new accounts or take other measures, since they don't stop. :(
 
Thanks for taking care of the spammer accounts. Their posts aren't getting moderated in the way I'd expect and I have an idea why that is which means I need to make a few code changes.
 
LunarMist said:
Yeah, now it's here too. Maybe it is time to disable new accounts if that is possible.
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That's not really necessary. The forum just needs to be set so that no posts from a new, just-registered user will be visible until a moderator blesses them until they pass something like 5 approved posts (and have it actually work).
 
Stereodude said:
That's not really necessary. The forum just needs to be set so that no posts from a new, just-registered user will be visible until a moderator blesses them until they pass something like 5 approved posts (and have it actually work).
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I don't know how the software works, but maybe we need an Exorcist. :D
 
Stereodude said:
That's not really necessary. The forum just needs to be set so that no posts from a new, just-registered user will be visible until a moderator blesses them until they pass something like 5 approved posts (and have it actually work).
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It already is set to do this but more specifically with new accounts that make a post containing a URL. Those get automatically moderated until they have a certain amount of non-moderated posts making their account a normal account. There is an issue with how the code processes the URL in their post and only looks for HTTP vs using HTTPS URLs. This is what I need to fix and I'll try to get it done today.
 
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I've gone in and fixed the code which previously only looked for URLs that started with "http" inside of a given post. Now the code checks for all iterations and variations of url formats within a post. Posts containing urls from new user registrations will all be automatically moderated so that you will not see them.
 
That was the point of the recent change. I can't completely stop random nonsense posts when they have no links in them.
 
For whatever it's worth there was more than a dozen recently in the mobile section that were auto-moderated so you didn't see them.
 
That's true, you would see them as a moderator but normal members don't see them.
 
Handruin said:
That was the point of the recent change. I can't completely stop random nonsense posts when they have no links in them.
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I wonder if they're trying a few random posts without links first, and then if they're not "weeded out", they start posting with links.
 
Newtun said:
I wonder if they're trying a few random posts without links first, and then if they're not "weeded out", they start posting with links.
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Yup that's definitely a strategy that happens but they have to have a bunch of successful posts before they are allowed to post URLs. It's annoying but these bots/scripts are the remaining 1% that doesn't get caught by all the other mechanisms in place to catch them.
 
Handruin said:
Yup that's definitely a strategy that happens but they have to have a bunch of successful posts before they are allowed to post URLs. It's annoying but these bots/scripts are the remaining 1% that doesn't get caught by all the other mechanisms in place to catch them.
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It is working well. The miscreants keep posting, but no links are present. :)
 
A bunch of spammers signed up recently. Now they use spaces and other characters to avoid the links.
Is there a surplus of iPhones in Malaysia?
 
Well, you're doing a tremendous job. I think I saw one yesterday, avoided it, and it's gone today.
 
Thanks! If you see them, please click the report button (triangle icon under the name/avatar) and I'll get notified to take care of it sooner.
 
Somehow the spammers got through today and spammed all over the Computer forum with links to Chinese stuff.
 
I sure hope it wasn't the oxygen concentrator. Who in their right mind would buy any Class III device from a spammer? :eek:
 
I'll look into setting up more rules to stop spammers from being able to post. Things work differently in this new forum and I need some time work figure it out. The spam filter is actually stopping a lot more that you aren't seeing but some still gets through.
 
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