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Jeff Keller
10-01-2008, 10:14 PM
You may have noticed a sudden increase in spam today, some of which is quite explicit. This problem is being reported (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=286535) by vBulletin users all over the world.

Please flag any offensive posts and I will remove them as soon as humanly possible. I am looking for a solution that will keep these people (or bots) from registering in the first place.

Thanks,
Jeff
DonSchap
10-01-2008, 10:19 PM
You may have noticed a sudden increase in spam today, some of which is quite explicit. This problem is being reported (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=286535) by vBulletin users all over the world.

Please flag any offensive posts and I will remove them as soon as humanly possible. I am looking for a solution that will keep these people (or bots) from registering in the first place.

Thanks,
Jeff


Ask them a "photographic question" for registration. Make sure it is in the review section of this website. That should, at least, slow 'em down. ;)
Jeff Keller
10-01-2008, 10:36 PM
Just as a follow-up to my original post: there were probably 30-50 new accounts registered today by spammers. Many of them have gmail.org, hotmail.org, and email.org addresses. I've put a few things in place that will hopefully slow them down.
teko
10-01-2008, 11:11 PM
I recommend using reCaptcha (http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=151824). It's a better captcha method than the regular vbulletin's.
Jeff Keller
10-01-2008, 11:49 PM
I recommend using reCaptcha (http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=151824). It's a better captcha method than the regular vbulletin's.
Apparently that was compromised today as well.
Bonzo
10-02-2008, 01:02 AM
I had noticed an increase in spam over the last couple of days; the spammers are getting quite devious these days :(

As long as you have some good administrators in different time zones at least the spam should get picked up quickly and deleted.
Rhys
10-02-2008, 05:29 AM
Put a 30 second delay between registering and making your first post. That should kill most of them.
Turn
10-02-2008, 06:57 AM
and make me, Don and Rooz mods, we'll unleash hell on them!

haha..


no but seriously...I think the delay is a good idea,

actually


We, as a forum should brainstorm methods to slow those assholes
cdifoto
10-02-2008, 07:49 AM
You may have noticed a sudden increase in spam today, some of which is quite explicit. This problem is being reported (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=286535) by vBulletin users all over the world.

Please flag any offensive posts and I will remove them as soon as humanly possible. I am looking for a solution that will keep these people (or bots) from registering in the first place.

Thanks,
Jeff
Give some of us regulars delete & ban permissions and we'll nail the bots when I see 'em, which is usually within a few minutes.
Rhys
10-02-2008, 09:08 AM
I can see it now :p cdifoto (banned)
cdifoto
10-02-2008, 09:54 AM
Oh and make those with delete & ban permissions ban-proof. :)
mugsisme
10-02-2008, 11:30 AM
Oh my, laughing!!! Yeah, the Canon folks will be deleting all the Nikon people and the Nikon mods will be deleting all the Canon people. It will become the battle of the cameras.

Seriously, on Yahoo, I ask my sewing ladies 3 sewing questions. The spammers ignore the questions and voila. I delete them before they can post. I also set my new members on moderate. Is there any way to do that here? Your first post only has to be moderated to prove you are a person?
Rhys
10-02-2008, 12:12 PM
The trouble is, spammers are so clever that their first couple of messages can look quite innocuous then bam it's spam all the way.
Rhys
10-02-2008, 12:13 PM
Oh and make those with delete & ban permissions ban-proof. :)

Maybe we could initiate a "what camera do you use" question and then set an auto ban on the IP address for people claiming to have Pentax, Nikon or Sony cameras :p
mugsisme
10-02-2008, 12:44 PM
I happen to know that the last batch of spammers held Canons in their hands as they clicked away at the key board.
Rhys
10-02-2008, 01:21 PM
I happen to know that the last batch of spammers held Canons in their hands as they clicked away at the key board.

If you examine the exif for all the porno pictures that you get in spam you'll discover that it's all taken using Nikons, Sonys and Pentaxes :p
Mark_48
10-03-2008, 07:25 AM
Some forums have easy ways to flag or report spam, drop down tabs or similar. How or where does one report it on this board?

This one for instance....
http://www.dcresource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=41187
cdifoto
10-03-2008, 07:36 AM
Click the red triangle.
Mark_48
10-03-2008, 08:50 AM
Click the red triangle.

Thanks!! I clicked and poked at everything else except that little bugger.
Rhys
10-03-2008, 11:04 AM
Thanks!! I clicked and poked at everything else except that little bugger.

No we have to wait to see how long it takes a mod to read the report and ban CDIFOTO :p
Jeff Keller
10-05-2008, 12:48 PM
We are now using reCAPTCHA as our image verification service. If this stems the tide of spammers, I might be able to start allowing users with gmail and yahoo addresses to register again.
Rhys
10-05-2008, 01:34 PM
It seems the recent wave of porn spam has been worldwide and pretty untargeted. Here's a news report from the UK: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7653478.stm
seanhoxx
10-05-2008, 07:43 PM
I have only got spammed one time here, and that was months ago!!
A delay time before first post is a good idea, maybe also include a 'activation" email that you need to reply to with some kind of required text? More work for admin. though:( I do hope you can alllow webmail accounts back on though, as I like many people use them, I remember waiting like 6 weeks before I could join.
Rhys
10-05-2008, 08:02 PM
Spam is a problem that could be solved very quickly and easily if governments could be persuaded to work together. What we need is to identify those deliberately sending spam and then after a trial hang them in the public square. Then move their bodies to a remote desert location where they would hang in cages until the flesh had rotted from their bones and broadcast it all on webcam. I bet that would put off a lot of would-be spammers. Of course it's not the severity of the punishment that deters crime but the certainty of detection so it has to be more than a token execution. It needs to be several spammers a week being executed.
seanhoxx
10-05-2008, 08:08 PM
Hmmmm, a international day of spam executions? Now that could be interesting!
Rhys
10-06-2008, 04:26 PM
Hmmmm, a international day of spam executions? Now that could be interesting!

It could be an international sport. The most executions of verified spammers in a day, a week, a year with the winning country getting a free subscription to Viagra weekly :p
adam75south
10-10-2008, 07:53 AM
i had the same problem on my vbulletin forum this past week(probably over 1k spam threads to delete). they got me good too. i spent probably 5 or 6 hours in all updating to 3.7.3 from 3.6.8, deleting spam, then installed this mod to it
http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=183329&highlight=no+spam
...makes a question and answer spam verification where you make your own question and they have to answer it right...so only a human spammer can pass this one. it's a VERY easy install as you just upload the product, no template modifications.
adam75south
10-10-2008, 08:01 AM
btw, here's a demo on my site if you wanna test how it works
http://www.dallasriders.com/forums/register.php just click accept to get to the register page


also, i'm sure you already know about the dropdown at the bottom that says delete thread as spam...which will ban the user and delete all posts they made. but just in case you didn't know i believe it's a new vB 3.7 feature. helps out a LOT if the user posted more than 1 thread.