Notice Regarding Spam Posts
 

Shortly after 8am an alert was posted by a member about numerous spam posts. I got to work on it quite quickly, deleteting 346 spam posts but quickly learned more were being posted by other users with the same IP address. I banned all 13 or 14 users but could not afford taking any more time to delete what appears to be at least a couple of thousand posts. I sent am email to forum owner/admin Jarred (MediaHound) in hopes he could use some mechanism to delete them more readily as well as block this IP address from future attacks.

We do not need any more alerts from members about the spam messages, I know they are there. I'll work on them as time allows if Jarred doesn't get to them first.

Re: Notice Regarding Spam Posts
 

Harvey,
Thank you for the thankless job you do for the org and its members.
:nanadrink:

Re: Notice Regarding Spam Posts
 

The posts are not the only problem; it's that there's no filter for fake accounts. This one IP is creating thousands of accounts and there's no check to prevent that. There's also no captcha.

Re: Notice Regarding Spam Posts
 

For a period of time we had an annual membership fee which eliminated 100% of this sort of thing but it was somewhat controversial. Once the membership fee was eliminated, it became open season.

I have no control over admin features like that. The last I checked, there were not any other accounts created by this user but I'll keep checking and hope that our admin blocks them.

EDIT: rats, spoke too soon, more users under a different IP address. :(

Sorry, but I've got to suspend my efforts on this. I just banned the latest round of spammer accounts and will send Jarred another email. This sucks.

Re: Notice Regarding Spam Posts
 

Thanks for all you do, Harvey.
I would not mind a membership fee if we could eliminate problems like that.

Re: Notice Regarding Spam Posts
 

Jarred has said he will look into this problem. Sorry for having to put up with this.

Re: Notice Regarding Spam Posts
 

We all understand. Thank you for your efforts. :08:

I used to be an admin on a huge firearms forum, and we had a ton of mods to oversee things. Each forum had its own group of moderators, plus super moderators that oversaw all forums, and of course, the admins who had full control over everything. I'm sure there enough regulars on here to get a full set of mods to help keep this sort of thing in check.

Re: Notice Regarding Spam Posts
 

A membership fee sucks because that would severely reduce the number of new people joining. Often someone would want to make a quick account just to ask about bananas once, or identify one variety, etc. They won't pay just for that; they'd go somewhere else. Also hardly any forums have membership fees yet they can still combat spam.

You need a captcha for creating accounts, possibly a captcha for creating new threads, and if you want you can require either a certain amount of time to pass or a certain number of posts before new accounts are allowed to create threads.

Re: Notice Regarding Spam Posts
 

Good luck fighting this crap, much appreciated!
I don't understand why people write scripts like this,...what's there to win?

Kind regards,
Remko.

Re: Notice Regarding Spam Posts
 

I agree. What's the prize? What's the goal? Are these users upset at the org? Did they eat a bad banana? Pointless posting!

Re: Notice Regarding Spam Posts
 

Bunch of idiots

Re: Notice Regarding Spam Posts
 

I reported one last month for a babysitter! There are all kinds of spam posts on here, but this one looks like a targeted hit. I don't think it's ire against this forum; just a flood that probably hit a lot of forums.

To them, if they make one sale out of it, it is worth the effort. In all honesty, how many of us have actually followed a spam link on email at some point? It does work, and that is why they continue to use it.

I hate captchas; I can't read them half the time. There is an alternative that asks you to answer a simple question, like "What is the Name of This Site" or "2+2=", or "The Cat in the ____".

Re: Notice Regarding Spam Posts
 

Many thanks! Your work is appreciated.

Re: Notice Regarding Spam Posts
 

Do all of these spam posts have to be deleted one at a time? Or can a user name and all the posts that go with it be deleted all at once? If it's one at a time, that's a lot of work for the moderators.

Re: Notice Regarding Spam Posts
 

I'm able to delete 25 at a time, but I still couldn't keep up unless I could stay at it full time. I'm sure Jarred can figure out another way, he's quite experienced at dealing with such things.

Re: Notice Regarding Spam Posts
 

Thank you harveyc!.....Your effort is appreciated!.....

Re: Notice Regarding Spam Posts
 

I agree that membership fees suck, but oftentimes they are well worth it.
It might sound a little snarky, but how many times have we seen the same questions asked over and over, even though the answers were already there and just needed a little search. Or PMs with questions that were covered many times before or would have been interesting to other forum members. Bottom line, some forums just burn themselves out by letting new people in without limitations, subsequently leading to lower quality questions, answers and discussions. I would hate to see that happen to bananas.org.

Re: Notice Regarding Spam Posts
 

Thanks to CraigSS who translated the characters and determined that this is advertising Cambodian casinos. :2182:

Re: Notice Regarding Spam Posts
 

What a bummer. I noticed it not long after it started and thought maybe I could try and delete some and ban the users, but as Harvey stated, the extent is way too extreme, and it's kind of pointless until we can figure out how to stop it from happening.

Re: Notice Regarding Spam Posts
 

It's a drastic measure, but you can check the IP addresses and ban the entire slate until you set up a checkpoint like Captchas.

For example, if you determine they're all coming from Yahoo accounts, block all new accounts with Yahoo addresses for the next few days until you can get it under control. It's drastic, but temporary.

Re: Notice Regarding Spam Posts
 

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.

Re: Notice Regarding Spam Posts
 

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.

Re: Notice Regarding Spam Posts
 

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.

Re: Notice Regarding Spam Posts
 

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.

Re: Notice Regarding Spam Posts
 

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

Re: Notice Regarding Spam Posts
 

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?

Re: Notice Regarding Spam Posts
 

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? :confused:

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: :rollerbananadone:

Re: Notice Regarding Spam Posts
 

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

Re: Notice Regarding Spam Posts
 

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

Re: Notice Regarding Spam Posts
 

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

Re: Notice Regarding Spam Posts
 

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.

Re: Notice Regarding Spam Posts
 

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

Re: Notice Regarding Spam Posts
 

I actually offered that last year. I'll send him a followup, thanks. :08:

Re: Notice Regarding Spam Posts
 

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.

Re: Notice Regarding Spam Posts
 

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.

Re: Notice Regarding Spam Posts
 

So you DO have something to offer! :woohoonaner:

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?

Re: Notice Regarding Spam Posts
 

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.

Re: Notice Regarding Spam Posts
 

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.

Re: Notice Regarding Spam Posts
 

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

Re: Notice Regarding Spam Posts
 

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.

Re: Notice Regarding Spam Posts
 

Someone with database access needs to delete all threads whose title contains that domain name.

Re: Notice Regarding Spam Posts
 

There's a bunch of nice people ready to help out here but most of all, we need Admin. without Admin, nothing can be done. PM's and emails do not seem to reach him. I'm not judging, these things happen. We all have lives outside this forum. If someone knows another way to reach him, now would be the time to do so.

Re: Notice Regarding Spam Posts
 

That may be in Admin Tools, Bigdog. It's been so long that I honestly don't remember.

Re: Notice Regarding Spam Posts
 

Yep that's the ticket!
Lydie

Re: Notice Regarding Spam Posts
 

Is there a search function where you could put in the domain name that comes up in every post, then select all results and delete all?

Lydie

Re: Notice Regarding Spam Posts
 

Looks like it stopped, finally!

Re: Notice Regarding Spam Posts
 

You spoke too soon, looks like they were just napping.

Re: Notice Regarding Spam Posts
 

OK, I discovered a way to prune all threads by a specific user, and think I deleted all the spam posts in 15 minutes, lol.

For Mods, go to the forum where the offensive posts are, then click on "forum tools", then under admin tools, click on "mass prune threads." That takes you to the moderator control panel, then scroll down and under "other options" you can enter the user name, then hit the "prune threads" button. Problem solved!

Yay! I'm sure they'll be back, but at least we can get rid of the threads quickly now.

Re: Notice Regarding Spam Posts
 

Great find. Note to folks, we were made moderators but given no instruction manual. I helped give instructions to Chong the other day just so he knew how to ban someone.

I'll work on posts in the Banana Identification subforum now.

Re: Notice Regarding Spam Posts
 

Frank, have you been banning them also?

I now see that prune function in the moderator control panel where I already have been going to ban folks, search common IP addresses, etc. Had no idea what "pruning" was in this context, but I like it!