The Spam-Bots are KILLIN me, son!

[cheerfulgreek]

I could be wrong, but it just seems like since John started using the advertising, the spam got stronger along with it. It's annoying.

[ree-Xi]

If I login and the spambot spams are still there hours later - and the bots usually post the magical number of 3 posts - I report them, stating that the number of spam posts. Otherwise, I have found through experience that if you report only the one, the others will be left up. It's my contribution to GC!

It does scare me the accuracy of content in some of the spam. Can auto-generated spam be that precise?

Lastly, why do people spam? Aside from the porn spam and the nuisance spam (the kind that is made to clog inboxes and comment logs with the aim of interrupting service), do they really result in more traffic/sales?

[33girl]

Originally Posted by ree-Xi

Otherwise, I have found through experience that if you report only the one, the others will be left up.

If you report the spam in the Events forum, I can delete that because I'm the Events mod. I am unable to delete spam in Chapter Ops, Rush etc. because those aren't my forums. Believe me, if I could I would.

The forum mod plus John and the super mods (James, NinjaPoodle, PenguinTrax and SAEalumnus) get a notification when a post is reported. If you want to make sure that all the spam in all the forums gets deleted, send a PM to one of the super mods. They can delete the spam and ban the spammer at the same time.

It all depends on who gets to it first - if a super mod sees the notification first, all spam posts will be deleted and the spammer banned. If a regular mod sees it first, they can only fix their individual forum.

[ree-Xi]

Originally Posted by 33girl

If you report the spam in the Events forum, I can delete that because I'm the Events mod. I am unable to delete spam in Chapter Ops, Rush etc. because those aren't my forums. Believe me, if I could I would.

The forum mod plus John and the super mods (James, NinjaPoodle, PenguinTrax and SAEalumnus) get a notification when a post is reported. If you want to make sure that all the spam in all the forums gets deleted, send a PM to one of the super mods. They can delete the spam and ban the spammer at the same time.

It all depends on who gets to it first - if a super mod sees the notification first, all spam posts will be deleted and the spammer banned. If a regular mod sees it first, they can only fix their individual forum.

Ohhh...thank you for the explanation!!!

[kddani]

Mods can only do so much. The administrator is really the only one who can take preventative measures, of which there must be some because other message boards don't have this problem. But they do seem to be getting worse since all of the advertisements were added.

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by 33girl

If you report the spam in the Events forum, I can delete that because I'm the Events mod. I am unable to delete spam in Chapter Ops, Rush etc. because those aren't my forums. Believe me, if I could I would.

The forum mod plus John and the super mods (James, NinjaPoodle, PenguinTrax and SAEalumnus) get a notification when a post is reported. If you want to make sure that all the spam in all the forums gets deleted, send a PM to one of the super mods. They can delete the spam and ban the spammer at the same time.

It all depends on who gets to it first - if a super mod sees the notification first, all spam posts will be deleted and the spammer banned. If a regular mod sees it first, they can only fix their individual forum.

Can we nominate you to SuperMod status? We see you around here more then anyone else anyway!

[33girl]

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

Can we nominate you to SuperMod status? We see you around here more then anyone else anyway!

If nominated, I will not run. If elected, I will not serve.

In all seriousness, no, I don't want to do it. The super mods we have are doing a fine job and more than 4 would be overkill. They're here, maybe just not posting.

[SAEalumnus]

Originally Posted by cheerfulgreek

I could be wrong, but it just seems like since John started using the advertising, the spam got stronger along with it. It's annoying.

It certainly seems that way. As a matter of interest, for as far back as available records go (3 1/2 years), there have been an average of 62 bans issued per month, but as of the time of this post, the most recent months have been 238 (Dec), 172 (Nov), 135 (Oct), and 65 (Sept). This year as a whole also saw 57% of all of the bans over the last 3 1/2 years. Not all of those bans were spammers, but I doubt the difference would be significant. What's really noteworthy is these are the numbers of individual usernames that were banned, not the number of actual posts that had to be deleted.

All I can say is, somebody must be getting paid if they're out in these kinds of numbers.

[KSig RC]

Originally Posted by SAEalumnus

All I can say is, somebody must be getting paid if they're out in these kinds of numbers.

Well . . . since sign-up is a pretty basic (and old) captcha and posting requires absolutely zero interaction other than clicking "Submit" (plus this is a very common board type), it's pretty likely a bot could handle all of it - literally thousands of accounts and user names could happen every day on forums. There's no doubt the ads are contributing negatively - any hits or redirects will get the bots working overtime in search of more.

It'll get worse before it gets better if John doesn't do something. Which will suck for the volunteer moderators. Hope you at least got a Christmas card.

[kddani]

Bump

I log on usually pretty early in the morning, and always look under "New Posts" where there are always a gazillion spam threads.

[cheerfulgreek]

Originally Posted by SAEalumnus

It certainly seems that way. As a matter of interest, for as far back as available records go (3 1/2 years), there have been an average of 62 bans issued per month, but as of the time of this post, the most recent months have been 238 (Dec), 172 (Nov), 135 (Oct), and 65 (Sept). This year as a whole also saw 57% of all of the bans over the last 3 1/2 years. Not all of those bans were spammers, but I doubt the difference would be significant. What's really noteworthy is these are the numbers of individual usernames that were banned, not the number of actual posts that had to be deleted.

All I can say is, somebody must be getting paid if they're out in these kinds of numbers.

I dunno, it just seems like 3 years ago when I was a new member, we never had this problem, nowhere near as much as it's happening now. We're even getting movie spammers. That's never happened. Movie spammers? C'mon. That's ridiculous. I mean, what's next? And I'm not complaining about the mods or anything. I think you all are doing the best you can, and that's all you can do. It's just that I was wondering can John do something about it?

[DaemonSeid]

Originally Posted by cheerfulgreek

That's ridiculous. I mean, what's next??

Spam spammers




MMmmmmm Spam....yum.

[cheerfulgreek]

Originally Posted by DaemonSeid

Spam spammers




MMmmmmm Spam....yum.

lol

[NinjaPoodle]

Originally Posted by cheerfulgreek

I dunno, it just seems like 3 years ago when I was a new member, we never had this problem, nowhere near as much as it's happening now. We're even getting movie spammers. That's never happened. Movie spammers? C'mon. That's ridiculous. I mean, what's next? And I'm not complaining about the mods or anything. I think you all are doing the best you can, and that's all you can do. It's just that I was wondering can John do something about it?

Sorry if I came off mad. I was just tired. We've got a massive storm (San Francisco) passing overhead and I got a 5:20 am thunder-above-my-house-wake-me-up-and-set-off-all-the-neighborhood-car-alarms-and shake the house salute. OYE.

[G-Kue 1911]

My sweet NJP could never come off mad....well unless you diss those....uuuuugh cowboys...but even then she rocks a lil!

Originally Posted by NinjaPoodle

Sorry if I came off mad. I was just tired. We've got a massive storm (San Francisco) passing overhead and I got a 5:20 am thunder-above-my-house-wake-me-up-and-set-off-all-the-neighborhood-car-alarms-and shake the house salute. OYE.