Spam

Crystal · Post by **Crystal** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 2:02 am

I have noticed that spam is becoming a little more frequent on the forums; luckily it is still pretty rare (I have deleted a few messages, and moderator Tammie may be deleting them as well).

Unfortunately there are not too many more measures I can take to prevent spam--I already require users to register via e-mail and to type in a code at the time of registration to prove that they are people and not "spam bots." Occasionally spammers slip through even these processes, however.

The only last thing this software will allow me to do is force all registrations to be approved by me personally. This would eliminate spam because I would not allow spammers to register, but it would also be frustrating for new members trying to register because they would have to wait for me to get around to approving them. I of course would try to stay on top of this (most days I check my e-mail at least 5-10 times), but there would be days that I would be unable to get around to it (travel, etc.).

So, in short, I'm wondering what you guys would prefer. The options are to keep things the way they are (which means spam will occasionally occur and hopefully be caught quickly) or to force registration to be approved by the administrator. If things are kept as they are now, they can always be changed in the future if the spam becomes worse.

Feel free to let me know what you think via the poll and/or comments.

tammieb · Post by **tammieb** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 3:35 pm

I've noticed a slight increase in spam, so far, nothing we can't handle I think. ;)

kenny · Post by **kenny** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 5:26 pm

hi tammie
i honestly do not see any spam at all for some reason

ken

tammieb · Post by **tammieb** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 6:29 pm

That's cause either Crystal or I delete it before you get a chance to read it.

Believe me, you are not missing anything of importance.

kenny · Post by **kenny** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 7:34 pm

hi tammie
i have no wish to see any spam at all ,i have however nearly clicked on to some of the dodgy links that have gotten through some of them are awful

ken

tammieb · Post by **tammieb** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 8:40 pm

Most of the spam posts are nothing but a link to another website selling prescription drugs.

Occasionally, the entire post is in a foreign language, but you can tell what they are regardless.

EmilyHurd · Post by **EmilyHurd** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 10:59 pm

I have seen one for prescription drugs on here actually... but other than that I haven't seen much spam either

Post by **Hilary** » Thu Mar 29, 2007 1:23 am

I've seen a couple of posts get through, but generally they're gone next time I look (good work, Tammie and Crystal!). I think it's more important to give access to new members who wanted to register because they had a question than to limit the few and short-lived spam postings. My 2 cents.

tammieb · Post by **tammieb** » Sun Apr 01, 2007 2:01 pm

Whoa!

Crystal, you must have jinxed the forum cause we are now being spammed like never before.

Thalia · Post by **Thalia** » Sun Apr 01, 2007 2:06 pm

lol I've seen quite a bit of spam, BUT I also obsessively compulsively check this and my hermitcrab forum a million times a day if I'm at work

If you do make it so you have to approve people you could always have maybe the health forum open to anyone so that people with emergencies could still post before they get approved. thats what they do at the hermit forum

Crystal · Post by **Crystal** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 1:02 am

Well, poop. Do you think it's bad enough to force approval, Tammie?:/

Crystal · Post by **Crystal** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 3:45 am

I did not realize how many bogus accounts were made for the purposes of spam--these registered "users" had links to devious websites in their profiles. They were never used to post, just sit in the members list. I just spent over two hours deleting over 400 of them (one at a time, by hand, since there was no "batch delete" or "member prune" option--if there had been, it would have only taken a few minutes). Not fun! I don't want spam posts and I don't want profiles with links to sites selling drugs, etc. in the memberslist.

I tested it out, and requiring admin approval does NOT prohibit an "unapproved" account's profile from appearing in the memberslist (dumb!), so there is actually little point in requiring admin approval. The more I use this forum software (from an admin perspective), the less I like it. It's nice for users and we have built up quite a community, though, so I don't plan to switch to anything different at this time. However, I may need to take the forum offline temporarily if I find a mod I can add to the software to help combat spam. Hopefully I'll find some kind of fix soon.

Sorry for the inconvenience of the spam :(

Crystal · Post by **Crystal** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 2:18 pm

I found and installed a great MOD to help combat spam. Hopefully we'll be seeing a lot less of it now! Let me know if any of you come across any spam in the future though (in case I miss it) so I can take further action.

:)

tammieb · Post by **tammieb** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 2:42 pm

Seems to be working so far.

StevePax · Post by **StevePax** » Fri Apr 06, 2007 2:35 pm

If I haven't been seeing the spam, it must mean that I'm not on here enough. I'd better do something about that.

FINCHforum

Spam

What to do about spam?

Spam

Dang.