Some forums under attack?

[vasa1]

I visited the forum related to the IE tab extension for FF and Chrome. Massive pharma spamming.

And right now the Chrome board forum seems to be under attack. It's being filled with posts totally unrelated to Chrome!

[Anupam]

Forums are always under attack from spammers... be it any forum. Our forum also gets spam. The inflow is quite a lot nowadays... it was quiet in between. But our moderator team is quite efficient, and the spam is dealt with, as soon as its noticed. Our members also help with this, and alert us, if we are late in attending to spam. We are very strict with spam... and one has to be, in order to protect the forum, otherwise, most of the threads will be nothing but spam.

[vasa1]

Originally Posted by Anupam

Forums are always under attack from spammers... be it any forum. Our forum also gets spam. The inflow is quite a lot nowadays... it was quiet in between. But our moderator team is quite efficient, and the spam is dealt with, as soon as its noticed. Our members also help with this, and alert us, if we are late in attending to spam. We are very strict with spam... and one has to be, in order to protect the forum, otherwise, most of the threads will be nothing but spam.

Yes, another favourite forum had been under a mild attack and members had a few suggestions which the moderator did not like!

I''m giving a few from memory:
A newly-signed up member should be not be allowed to post for 24 h after first login as a member.
A newly-signed up member should not be allowed to start new threads until a certain number of posts are made.
A newly-signed up member should not be allowed to make more than a certain number of posts in a certain time (say, 1 every 5 min).

As I said, none of the suggestions were accepted by the mod .

So now our role is just reporting spam.

[HeWhoRocks]

Adding to what Anupam said, this is a problem on the main site as well. Spammers are getting more sophisticated as i found in a recent example. The spam linked to an AV review/download site that, at a glance, appeared legitimate. On closer inspection it was clearly spam for Avast AV but was presented in an extremely misleading way. Sneaky people these spammers.

[Kyuzo]

One electronics forum I visit was recently compromised by people described by the forum's administrator as Russian hackers/spammers. Apparently they were seeking personal information on the various users and had been attacking the forum for a while. What information there was to be had, other than name and addresses and/or passwords, I do not know. The entire membership has to re-enter their passwords. A right pain.

[Anupam]

Every forum has its own way of operation, and also dealing with spam. We have our own way too. Its up on the forum administrators and moderators to decide on the forum policy, and not the members. Suggestions may be given, but it should be left on the forum administration whether they implement those or not.

Originally Posted by vasa1

A newly-signed up member should be not be allowed to post for 24 h after first login as a member.

I think that is a ridiculous suggestion. What effect will it have, in letting the member post after 24 hours, or just after login. If he has to post spam, he will do it even after 24 hours.

Originally Posted by vasa1

A newly-signed up member should not be allowed to start new threads until a certain number of posts are made.

Again, a ridiculous suggestion. If a member has a problem, and he has to start a new thread, then he should. If not, he will just hijack another thread and post his problem, and that's not the right way to do it.

Originally Posted by vasa1

A newly-signed up member should not be allowed to make more than a certain number of posts in a certain time (say, 1 every 5 min).

That is an OK solution, and can be effective, if moderators are not around much. Sometimes spammers make one posts after another, and in that case, it can be good.

But, first two were really not good, and I can see why the moderators did not choose to follow them.

[vasa1]

Elegantly stated.

[MidnightCowboy]

I vote we close the forum completely for the next few weeks not to deter spammers but so I can watch the World Cup in peace!

[Anupam]

Originally Posted by MidnightCowboy

I vote we close the forum completely for the next few weeks not to deter spammers but so I can watch the World Cup in peace!

You don't need to do that. I will be around... as I don't watch football much. Now don't get shocked and fall off the chair .

[MidnightCowboy]

Originally Posted by Anupam

You don't need to do that. I will be around... as I don't watch football much. Now don't get shocked and fall off the chair .

So, what you in to cricket then?