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Author: Subject: Tired of reporting spam
DrP
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[*] posted on 4-12-2018 at 06:47


There is SOOOO much spam today from Karl99 and brucefuckssheep3 today.... at another site I go to they fix a new registered user with a 5 post cap on the first day or until the mods are sure they aren't a spam bot or a crank.


I can't sift through it all - I'll come back later.


[Edited on 4-12-2018 by DrP]




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Tsjerk
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[*] posted on 4-12-2018 at 07:21


Wait five minutes (3 actually) and refresh. Don't whine and be grateful Melgar did a pretty damn good job so far.
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woelen
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[*] posted on 4-12-2018 at 07:27


Indeed, if there is a lot of spam, then it is short-lived. Things have become much better with Melgar's scripts.



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fusso
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[*] posted on 6-12-2018 at 18:18


What advantages can the spammers get when they include a string of random letters in the title?:o



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j_sum1
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[*] posted on 6-12-2018 at 19:39


Quote: Originally posted by fusso  
What advantages can the spammers get when they include a string of random letters in the title?:o

It is a numbers game. They employ a wide range of simple strategies in the hopes that something will evade detection for long enough for it to have its desired effect. It is the same reason that ferns produce millions of spores and fish lay thousands of eggs. All they need is for one to stick. It is more time effective to produce many simple variants and very large volumes than it is to do any actual targeted marketing or evaluation of strategies.
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12thealchemist
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[*] posted on 20-12-2018 at 12:22


I've noticed a significant increase in the quantity of spam slipping through the net. It seems the majority is getting tacked on the end of threads started within the past decade or so, and was wondering why Melgar's excellent filter is missing these. Are we looking at a move soon?



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fusso
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[*] posted on 20-12-2018 at 12:30


@Melgar had you analyse % of spam posts attached to the end of real threads and spam posts as new threads? Are they different now (recent flood of slipped spams at the end of real threads) and then (before the flood)?



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[*] posted on 30-12-2018 at 16:15


Right. Back from holiday. Seems to be a regular stream of spam making its way through at the moment and it is taking a bit to clean.

Current trends:

  • Spam appended to the end of sticky threads: often ten or more at a time.
  • Spammers evading deletion through use of registrations from months ago.
  • Spam containing chemistry-related words along with all the other garbage. Some words and phrases seem to be harvested from this board.
  • General decrease in efficiency of botkilla in my estmation: I think this dates from when Melgar loosened the filter following an accidental thread deletion. It might be time to tweak those flag weightings.



At the moment I am deleting most spam reports without reading. If you want to get my attention - especially if you discover a new trend or find some4thhing embedded in a thread, please send me a u2u.


[edit] formatting

[Edited on 31-12-2018 by j_sum1]
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XeonTheMGPony
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[*] posted on 31-12-2018 at 05:41


Why not automatically lock all inactive accounts, ie if some one makes an account and i has been inactive for 3 weeks lock posting privileges until they pm a mod to get it back?
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[*] posted on 31-12-2018 at 08:02


Quote: Originally posted by XeonTheMGPony  
Why not automatically lock all inactive accounts, ie if some one makes an account and i has been inactive for 3 weeks lock posting privileges until they pm a mod to get it back?


mods already have a lot of work, plus it would be pretty boring to wait from a few hours to a few days just to comment something on the board (not everyone is active every day)





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S.C. Wack
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[*] posted on 31-12-2018 at 09:50


Quote: Originally posted by XeonTheMGPony  
inactive for 3 weeks lock posting privileges until they pm a mod to get it back?


Brilliant...since that's the majority of actual members, why not lock all accounts then? Much easier than disabling new shitposters/spammers/personalities er members.




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[*] posted on 31-12-2018 at 13:07


Quote: Originally posted by S.C. Wack  
Quote: Originally posted by XeonTheMGPony  
inactive for 3 weeks lock posting privileges until they pm a mod to get it back?


Brilliant...since that's the majority of actual members, why not lock all accounts then? Much easier than disabling new shitposters/spammers/personalities er members.

No shortage of good ideas. But the active mods/admins are limited to solutions that do not require re-coding of the board software. What Melgar has achieved with minimal privileges is remarkable. Migration to a new platform is by far the best solution and will not require the kind of restrictions you are proposing.
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[*] posted on 31-12-2018 at 16:24


The only thing I have proposed is disabling registration, a suboptimal here and now thing, not a wished for (wouldn't it be embarrassing if spam continued at a new board) future. I do wonder if public search engine visibility has caused more problems than it's worth.



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[*] posted on 31-12-2018 at 17:02


You are right. Disabling registration is suboptimal. We did it once for 2 weeks and, although the spam nearly stopped it was not welcoming for newbies. It was not sustainable.

Mods have limited options. Admins have more. The changes needed require back-end access which needs input from the board's owner.

Right now there are a few on holiday and so fixing things is slower. Sorry.
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[*] posted on 31-12-2018 at 17:29


Quote: Originally posted by j_sum1  
Quote: Originally posted by S.C. Wack  
Quote: Originally posted by XeonTheMGPony  
inactive for 3 weeks lock posting privileges until they pm a mod to get it back?


Brilliant...since that's the majority of actual members, why not lock all accounts then? Much easier than disabling new shitposters/spammers/personalities er members.

No shortage of good ideas. But the active mods/admins are limited to solutions that do not require re-coding of the board software. What Melgar has achieved with minimal privileges is remarkable. Migration to a new platform is by far the best solution and will not require the kind of restrictions you are proposing.


Why does Melgar have minimal privileges?

I can eliminate 99.9% of spam with one line of Python or PHP. Anyone can.
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[*] posted on 31-12-2018 at 17:47


You have already stated that you are a coding genius. Great. I am sure your one line of code is awesome.

Believe me. The mods and admins have looked at a number of options. But this is an old, inflexible system.
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[*] posted on 31-12-2018 at 18:04


Quote: Originally posted by j_sum1  
You have already stated that you are a coding genius. Great. I am sure your one line of code is awesome.

Believe me. The mods and admins have looked at a number of options. But this is an old, inflexible system.


That's beside the point. You didn't answer the question. Is Polverone MIA?
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[*] posted on 31-12-2018 at 18:14


Yes, Polverone hasn't been on the forum for one and a half months.



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[*] posted on 1-1-2019 at 02:32


Sadly Polverone isn't doing anything. I wonder if he simply wants to abandon the board?



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[*] posted on 1-1-2019 at 03:36


The spambot is pretty weak. Or is this good?



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[*] posted on 1-1-2019 at 04:04


BotKilla probably died... too many spam threads




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[*] posted on 1-1-2019 at 04:44


This spammer has an old registration. Therefore it it not autodeleting the account when reported. Also, probably for a similar reason, it is not being flagged via botkilla's filters. I think the settings need tweaking.

ATM, this account is producing a string of 14 spam threads about 6-8 times a day. It also bypasses flood protection: posting at about 25 second interval. This means it is not a dumb bit of code. It is also adapting: albeit not as fast as another current spammer.

I have manually deleted the 14 threads maybe a dozen times over the past couple of days. It requires either an adjustment to Melgar's script or an admin to freeze the account.
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[*] posted on 1-1-2019 at 04:53


Is this board run by adults?
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WGTR
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[*] posted on 1-1-2019 at 06:44


Yes, but the effective number of adults (ENA) who run the board who are present at any given time can be represented approximately by dividing the number of adults who run the board by 365, and then multiplying by the number of days that they are actually here. To achieve better granularity, it is better to improve resolution to an hourly basis instead of daily. Also, this doesn't account for the holidays (like right now), when most people are taking a much-needed break. Ha, ha.

Anyway, j_sum1, can you delete user accounts? Or change account passwords? One trick that I would use would be to re-register the account name and then retire it with a random password and a snarky message. I'm not sure what all you can do as a Super Mod.




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[*] posted on 1-1-2019 at 07:04
See what I just did here?


MariaCoosy1 is an evil spammer who has been retired by WGTR. She is a filthy creature who has been condemned to reside trapped within the confines of an underserviced cat litter box.
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