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Is spam on the forum increasing?
It seems to me that the number of spam posts to the forum has been slowly increasing over recent months. But perhaps my perception is not correct.
Has anyone else noticed this, and if so, is it related to the forum software being a bit out-of-date?
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Re: Is spam on the forum increasing?
I used to run a PunBB v1.2 forum like this one. I upgraded to the latest version and the spam problem didn’t go away. I’m manually approving new users now, which works but is a pain. Even the authors of PunBB state on their own forum that they are refusing Yahoo email addresses, which illustrates how frustrating this can be. Software solutions like “answer this quiz question” aren’t reliable against human spammers.
Anyway, I noticed the spam problem too…
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Re: Is spam on the forum increasing?
Sadly, PunBB didn’t listen to the tell-tale signs of impending bot activity and let bot/human registrations/spam get out of hand.
I thought that upgrading to FluxBB would slow this down, but in actuality as soon as I upgraded one of my forums, activity increased. Bot and/or human registrations by the hundreds on a daily basis. I had to implement draconian rules, but it didn’t deter them, it was like a game to them.
I don’t fault FluxBB, I think they are trying their best to address the situation. But it’s been too many years with no measures in place at PunBB and now, it’s a free-for-all. The only way this can be reversed is for the core of FluxBB to implement counter-measures, over time, default installs will repel the *ssholes and they’ll eventually remove our forums from their scripts.
Shame though, I really like the simplicity of Pun/Flux, but the times they are a-changing.
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#4 2010-11-20 17:08:59
- els
- Moderator
- From: The Netherlands
- Registered: 2004-06-06
- Posts: 7,458
Re: Is spam on the forum increasing?
Looking at the number of fake registrations compared to the amount of actually posted spam, I’d say it could have been worse. And I remember it has been worse in the past!
At the moment my impression is that we are succeeding rather well in removing spam posts quickly, thanks to observant users reporting the posts and equally observant moderators removing them :)
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Re: Is spam on the forum increasing?
Els wrote:
Looking at the number of fake registrations compared to the amount of actually posted spam, I’d say it could have been worse.
I’m a bit afraid to even imagine how many there are!
Definitely the moderators are doing an excellent job deleting the spam. I totally agree there! :)
My question was not meant in anyway to reflect on anyone’s performance. Just seemed like there had been an increase, and was wondering if there was something we needed to do on the software end to help. Our moderators’ time is important – I don’t want you to have to spend any more of it on spam than necessary.
htgtv
I thought that upgrading to FluxBB would slow this down, but in actuality as soon as I upgraded one of my forums, activity increased.
But it’s been too many years with no measures in place at PunBB
Given the nascent move to upgrade the forum software, perhaps there needs to be a renewed discussion of options?
Last edited by maverick (2010-11-22 17:23:10)
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Re: Is spam on the forum increasing?
Gocom wrote:
Shall I ;-)
- ~20 000 total users
- ~14 000 users with zero posts
- ~3 400 user with 1-5 posts
Those 14,000 users with zero posts are mostly human spammers. They sign up, confirm their email and leave their profile alone for a few weeks. Then they come back when nobody is looking and add a website and/or a link in their signature to what they’re selling.
I had close to 60,000 users on hcgtv.net, I cleaned up zero posts users and those that hadn’t confirmed their emails, I’m down to 36 members. It might look good to have 1,000’s of users, but I’m not going to be policing user lists.
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#8 2010-11-22 21:42:48
- els
- Moderator
- From: The Netherlands
- Registered: 2004-06-06
- Posts: 7,458
Re: Is spam on the forum increasing?
hcgtv wrote:
Those 14,000 users with zero posts are mostly human spammers. They sign up, confirm their email and leave their profile alone for a few weeks. Then they come back when nobody is looking and add a website and/or a link in their signature to what they’re selling.
Not all 14,000 of them ;) We only have a couple of spam posts a day.
We get rid of them on a regular basis. So if they sit there for a short while with their zero posts, who cares?
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Re: Is spam on the forum increasing?
Els wrote:
Not all 14,000 of them ;) We only have a couple of spam posts a day.
Els, I was just pointing out what other forums are experiencing with the amount of registrations lately. Some forums have cron jobs to remove a user if they enter a web site link after the fact, it’s gotten that bad.
Spam posts are easy to catch, it’s those posts where somebody looks innocent enough pays a complement in a thread, with a signature that has no link. Sometime later, they come back and update their signature, at that point it’s almost impossible to catch.
Looking at the user list, do you think !!!cocaFucturf is a valid user?
We debated forum software a year ago, and I’m not about to enter into the same discussion, but a forum should be a place where the moderators are left to do their job, which is to moderate. Make sure the conversation stays civil, move posts if they happen to be in the wrong area or split a post if the conversation veers from what the thread was about.
Keeping on eye on fraudulent registrations and fighting spam should be the job of the software, not the moderators.
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#10 2010-11-23 07:37:16
- els
- Moderator
- From: The Netherlands
- Registered: 2004-06-06
- Posts: 7,458
Re: Is spam on the forum increasing?
hcgtv wrote:
Keeping on eye on fraudulent registrations and fighting spam should be the job of the software, not the moderators.
I agree, that would be nice.
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Re: Is spam on the forum increasing?
hcgtv wrote:
Keeping on eye on fraudulent registrations and fighting spam should be the job of the software, not the moderators.
Els wrote:
I agree, that would be nice.
I’m launching a new forum soon, it has the necessary measures in place so I don’t have to babysit it. Once it goes live, you can try and cause me some grief if you like, and if you’re interested, I can give you access to the backend so you can see how it’s setup.
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Re: Is spam on the forum increasing?
the latest version of PunBB has an extension which reduces fraudulent registrations dramatically.
Yiannis
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