Saving Old Seagulls

Can a moderator check the IP on the above post and post it here in reply please? It looks like a bot script to me. I can compare it with the current spam list or you can do this too, of course.

My apologies to you if you are indeed a new person joining the Seagull site, no offense meant....please feel free to post any questions in the appropriate forum - General topics is the place if you are unsure of where that should be.

Waste of effort
Google "PolZegerully" and you will find its just another dammed spammer.

212.150.97.114 [ 1 Post ]

This sort of thing is a growing problem.

If I really want pornography or Viagra or even a new wife I'm not sure I'd go looking on a spammer's link!

I have just deleted 10 from the members list!

They should not be able to get on there without my authorisation, so I have asked Tim the webmaster to figure out how they are circumventing the system!

ry to visit the list as often as possible to delete spammers anyway, will have to be more vigilant!

John
SOS

Why not ask your webmaster to add a 'report post' button so if any of us come accross something inappropriate, we can easily draw it to your attention so keeping your workload down?

John - you need to ask your webmaster to setup banning IP addresses from posting...the bots have gotten sophisticated enough to even circumvent standard pHp enrolling and posting authorisation...

...and to really make it an interesting world, there are even people paid to login to forums and post spam, so methods of removing bots arent even fool proof...

THey only sure fire way is to restrict new members posts for a week or so, which is beyond the spammers attention span...

Thanks for all the tips lads, I will pass them on to the webmaster, the weeks delay seems a good one! Anyone with a real problem could e-mail me in the meantime!

cheers.

John
SOS

The downside of a week delay is that I suspect forum users often visit just as readers for a while but one day they see a topic they can contribute to and then register and join in. Imposing a delay between registering and posting for the first time will prevent that happening. However if it is necessary then it is necessary I guess.

The workaround for that problem is to have them send their post to a moderator who can post for them for the week cooling off period. Anyone who cant wait for a week on a new forum might be better served elsewhere.

You also post the policy in the FAQs as well as the rationale of course.

You probably only need to moderate posts in the first week containing links or certain keywords. (like 'poker') The rest could be auto-approved.

For an added refinement to waste the spammers time and hopefully piss off whoever is paying them for the run of spam, reduce moderation burden *AND* to avoid novices making multiple repeat postings because their post didn't appear, you could arrange for not yet moderated posts during the moderation period to appear but ONLY to the originating IP address, so they think the forum is wide open but we dont see their cr@p then automatically cancel accounts that exceed a threshold number of posts with links. You could also auto-approve users who did'nt trigger moderation and participated normally in threads (I would regard it as normal to post a followup after reciving replies but 99.9% of spammers dont hang around for any discussion)

Very few bona-fide seagullers are going to post more than a couple of links in their firsrt week, and many would not post any links at all.

You would also need to disable any links in the user's profile and signature untill they had been moderated and possibly block PM during this period as well.

Obviously, plain text 'http://', ' www.', '.com ' etc. should be treated as links.

It would be essential not to publicise the exact moderation process to prevent new users 'gaming' it. Obviously they need to know there IS moderation so greet them with something along the lines of :-

New users have limited access to advanced features of this forum
and their posts are moderated and may be delayed. To gain full
access, always post responsibly and stay on topic.

It is possible to prevent new members from posting any links for the first week, which will make the site look unappealing to bots or spammers as well.

We were getting nailed with 10-15 a day on our sail board until we clicked this policy into place.

There are always new weapons coming into play to fight spammers, just like those that help in the battle against viruses. I'm fairly sure that John's webmaster will be putting something in place shortly.

Do these people really expect a response? What do they gain from all this activity?

I am currently undergoing a deluge of so called 'tips' about the stock market appearing in my e-mail - I understand that if only a tiny proportion of their spam messages bears fruit - with the recipients buying the recommended stock - they stand to make a small fortune. At least I actually understand what that one's all about.

But if I want Viagra then I'll be popping along to my GP, and if I want a new wife, well, it won't be from an unsolicited mail that appears to come from Russia....

They want good email addresses and active forum sites - these things have value to people mass marketing products.

I used to use a peculiar middle intial combination on my name whenever I entered data so that I could tell who had sold my info to whom...

Now I just ask for 10 quid if they want my email or phone since they will sell them...if you dont pay, you dont get my info...

No one has agreed yet, btw, but they all took my business without giving up the info of course...

Hello Folks,

I have not heard from the webmaster as yet, but it is high sailing season in OZ!

today I deleted another 20 'members'. I am trying to get my head round some of the options on the Forum, I have introduced delays etc, I will hope that I will get a bit of help here soon or I will have to shut it down till someone comes up with a spammer proof forum!

Regards,
John
SOS

I help to moderate another board with this same software. We were having the same problems with bots and spammers. There is a program you should look at to help you combat this problem. We installed it on our board and it has helped out a lot. You can view the info here and get the update program as well http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=435694 Good Luck

Keith