Gabe15

That would be great, except as moderators we don't have that much power, that takes an admin. We can delete posts, edit posts, ban users, and move stuff around, but that's about it. I don't think there is any way we can set up some kind of filter. It would be somewhat manageable even if we could ban users or IP addresses and threads in bulk, but we can't, and there is just too much to keep up with. I looked at a few of the IP addresses, and as Harvey stated there are multiple ones being used, and a few that seem to have blocked access to view their IP address. We can look up IP addresses but I haven't found any tool to block them, only usernames.

I know a lot about bananas, but not so much about computers and software, and this far beyond my, or I would think any of our moderators, expertise, and definitely out of our power. We just have to wait until Jarred can step in and press some of his magic admin buttons.

__________________
Growing bananas in Colorado, Washington, Hawaii since 2004. Commercial banana farmer, 200+ varieties.

Snarkie

Yes, it does take admin access; I had forgotten about that, but we had to do it a few times when enemies tried to spike our punch. It's fairly simple if you understand the VBulletin software, but it's been about ten years since I've had that access and I've forgotten a lot of it.

As an example: I cannot register at Plenty of Fish because I have a Compuserve email addy, and that site blocks all @cs.com addies.

__________________
Doug (D.A. Hänks) http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2955582/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1


The Only Eastern Redwood Forest in America




"Nuke my 'nanners, will you?!"

Snarkie

Once you get an admin on this, here is what to look for:

AdminCP > Settings > Options > User Banning Options

Under the last option, you can block an entire IP range. Hope this helps you guys!


User Banning Options
vBulletin Options > vBulletin Options > User Banning Options

This section of the Admin Control Panel allows you to set the Banning Options for your forum along with IP bans.

Enable Banning Options
Banning allows you to stop certain IP addresses and email addresses from registering and posting to the forum.
Banned IP Addresses
Use this option to prevent certain IP addresses from accessing any part of your board.

If you enter a complete IP address (242.21.11.7), only that IP will be banned.
If you enter a partial IP (243.21.11. or 243.21.11), any IPs that begin with the partial IP will be banned. For example, banning 243.21.11 will prevent 243.21.11.7 from accessing your board. However, 243.21.115.7 would still be able to access your board.

You may also use an '*' as a wildcard for increased flexibility. For example, if you enter 243.21.11*, many IPs will be banned including: 243.21.11.7, 243.21.115.7, 243.21.119.225.
Warning:
Use this option with caution. Entering an incorrect IP can result in banning yourself or other genuine users from your forums.

__________________
Doug (D.A. Hänks) http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2955582/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1


The Only Eastern Redwood Forest in America




"Nuke my 'nanners, will you?!"

CGameProgrammer

Blocking an IP range may not solve the problem and can block legitimate users. IPs do not identify people. Measures need to be added to block any and all spam bots.

Kegas76

Yeah they can be rough sometimes, I like the ones that have a number on a building or house.

Richard

This site was set up in 2005 by some banana and media affectionados. The site software (vBulletin) was chosen by constraints of the parties. Since then, scripts have been designed to exploit it.

What resources are you willing to donate to remedy the situation?

__________________
Back in business at plantsthatproduce.com

Snarkie

No, but they identify hosts/servers and locations. As far as I know, we do not have any legitimate users on this site from North Korea or Cambodia.

Do we?

Even if we do, it's still a temporary way to stop the onslaught until we can find a can of Internet DDT to wipe these vermin out of the forum. I couldn't find the machine gun banana, this will have to suffice instead:

__________________
Doug (D.A. Hänks) http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2955582/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1


The Only Eastern Redwood Forest in America




"Nuke my 'nanners, will you?!"

Snarkie

Yes, those are good too. I still don't understand why "The Cat in the Ferrari" was not the correct answer.

__________________
Doug (D.A. Hänks) http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2955582/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1


The Only Eastern Redwood Forest in America




"Nuke my 'nanners, will you?!"

JP

I could give time. I've got time to delete a bunch of these unwanted posts. That's what I can do to help.

Snarkie

I think there are dozens of us on here that would gladly jump on these posts if we were deputized.

__________________
Doug (D.A. Hänks) http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2955582/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1


The Only Eastern Redwood Forest in America




"Nuke my 'nanners, will you?!"

harveyc

Anybody wishing to be a moderator should send a PM or email to MediaHound, the forum admin. I am working crazy hours with my nursery work right now and already spent more time than I could afford.

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JP

I did. I'll be glad to help you guys out to preserve that site. Till then, continue your good work. We appreciate it.

Snarkie

I actually offered that last year. I'll send him a followup, thanks.

__________________
Doug (D.A. Hänks) http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2955582/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1


The Only Eastern Redwood Forest in America




"Nuke my 'nanners, will you?!"

Snarkie

Thanks to everyone who PMed me about getting this done. I sent an email to Jarred, but unless he gives me admin powers, my hands are tied.

__________________
Doug (D.A. Hänks) http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2955582/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1


The Only Eastern Redwood Forest in America




"Nuke my 'nanners, will you?!"

CGameProgrammer

The solution is to prevent this problem, not try to delete the posts as they occur. They could occur constantly. I recommend using the reCaptcha bot for new account sign-ups at the very least, and probably also for creating new threads, if the account is less than a month old. ReCaptcha does not require you to enter a captcha unless it suspects you're a bot; it tracks your mouse movements, clicks, and typing on the form to deduce whether or not you're human. It generally guesses correctly except on touch-screens (which have no mouse movements).

You can also write server-side code to ensure new threads can't be created too soon after account creation or too soon after the last created thread from that account, and you can even add a filter specifically looking for this Cambodian spam and deleting both it and the account that created it.

The only way I can contribute is to be given access to the source code with FTP privileges. Otherwise it is up to the admin.

Snarkie

So you DO have something to offer!

Between my banning an IP range and you setting up a reCaptcha, we can knock this out.

Let's hope we're given the credentials.

Peace?

__________________
Doug (D.A. Hänks) http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2955582/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1


The Only Eastern Redwood Forest in America




"Nuke my 'nanners, will you?!"

Caline

CGameProgrammer has a good idea and hopefully you'll be able to set up what is needed. I'm not familiar with vbulletin but I work with WordPress and Drupal and antispam measures are certainly needed everywhere.

In the meantime, it would be sweet to deleted these malicious threads in bulk, many show similar titles. That way members can actually find new posts, rather than pages of spam threads.

__________________
Goin' bananas

Mark Dragt

Me too. Put me in coach. Just so me how.
I can't help with the smart people stuff, but I can help with the spring cleaning afterward. Just show me how.

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Mark's Banana Forest Paradise

Mark Dragt

Sent pm to MediaHound. If possible, my boots will be on the ground.

__________________
Mark's Banana Forest Paradise

bigdog

Wow. I haven't checked in here too often, but did today to check on some reports...I started deleting a few hundred posts, but they are endless. Several hundred pages of spam posts, deleting them 20 at a time, could be a while. I wish there was a way to delete all posts by one user. Might speed things up a bit. I'll check back tomorrow and see if I can find some time to delete some more.