The Accidental Smallholder Forum

Community => Announcements => Topic started by: darkbrowneggs on December 23, 2013, 01:24:16 pm

Title: Spammers
Post by: darkbrowneggs on December 23, 2013, 01:24:16 pm
Hi Dan - I have been reporting any spamming type posts I see.  Is this helpful or just a nuisance from your point of view?
Title: Re: Spammers
Post by: Bionic on December 23, 2013, 01:40:27 pm
Sue, there have been loads today haven't there. I reported one and then wondered the same as you.
Title: Re: Spammers
Post by: bloomer on December 23, 2013, 02:40:36 pm
we appreciate all the reports


With the holidays we are taking longer to respond (I'm away and on my phone so can't delete them)


But we deffinitely want you to report them


Thank you


Bloomer



Title: Re: Spammers
Post by: Backinwellies on December 23, 2013, 03:16:06 pm
I'm trying to get them deleted .... reports help thank you
Title: Re: Spammers
Post by: Bodger on December 23, 2013, 05:16:26 pm
I'm on here every morning at 5.30am if you want an early morning cleaner in. The dog gets a chew and the Mrs a cup of tea in bed an hour later. :love:
Title: Re: Spammers
Post by: sokel on December 23, 2013, 09:13:54 pm
I get the reports on my phone but with it being the time of year  I am not near a computer , but I do get on as soon as I can to delete.
The reports do help  ::)
Title: Re: Spammers
Post by: Bodger on December 24, 2013, 08:12:53 am
Talking of spam, its time to get the brush and brush pan out again.

http://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/forum/index.php?topic=39919.0 (http://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/forum/index.php?topic=39919.0)

On the forum I help to run, we manage to avoid most of the spammers, by new members accounts having to be activated by the moderating team.

Many would be spammers deactivate their own accounts as soon as they realize that they can't get straight on to the forum to do their dirty work.
Title: Re: Spammers
Post by: bloomer on December 24, 2013, 08:14:16 am
im on a morning mission


up early with a poorly baby bloomer, been and done my last minute shopping and now drinking tea and stealing my mums wifi access...
Title: Re: Spammers
Post by: Daisys Mum on December 24, 2013, 08:16:10 am
There were certainly a few on this morning at 2.00 when I couldn't sleep :(
Title: Re: Spammers
Post by: bloomer on December 24, 2013, 08:17:54 am
yup by a rough count of reports we had a good 10 over night, they register and post once only then create a new account and repeat!!!


i cant write on here what i actually think of them Dan would have to ban me!!!


 :excited: :excited: :excited:
Title: Re: Spammers
Post by: SallyintNorth on December 24, 2013, 08:23:21 am
Talking of spam, its time to get the brush and brush pan out again.

http://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/forum/index.php?topic=39919.0 (http://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/forum/index.php?topic=39919.0)

Oh, so now I know there's a forum I'm not privy to ;)  :rant:  - just kidding, you guys do a great job and I'm very grateful to you all for all that you do to keep TAS the useful, friendly place it is :) :-*
Title: Re: Spammers
Post by: bloomer on December 24, 2013, 08:27:09 am
no you cant access it cos i already deleted it :-)



Title: Re: Spammers
Post by: kelly58 on December 24, 2013, 09:39:44 am
I wasnt as bright as you guys one morning and opened one   >:(  the   hubby spent ages sorting my laptop  :rant:
 What a boring life these people must lead, if thats their entertainment
Title: Re: Spammers
Post by: doganjo on December 24, 2013, 10:34:40 am
Kelly, opening the message should not in itself create problems - you must have clicked on one of the links in the post.  Never click on links in posts, messages or emails unless you are 100% sure who sent it - and be careful of that too as email accounts can be hacked into.
Title: Re: Spammers
Post by: kelly58 on December 24, 2013, 11:43:48 am
Ye thanks doganjo, lesson learnt  :innocent: My ears are still ringing from the bashing they got from hubby !
Not the brightest button in the box when it comes to IT  ???  :)
Title: Re: Spammers
Post by: Bodger on December 24, 2013, 12:25:52 pm
Don't look now but? :roflanim: :roflanim: :roflanim:
Title: Re: Spammers
Post by: bloomer on December 26, 2013, 08:20:52 am
apparently spammers respect christmas day as we had none yesterday


but boxing day is fair game... 2 more burned in my withering gaze this morning!!!
Title: Re: Spammers
Post by: Bodger on December 26, 2013, 01:36:51 pm
Yup but todays Boxing day.

http://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/forum/index.php?topic=39952.0 (http://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/forum/index.php?topic=39952.0)

Title: Re: Spammers
Post by: Bodger on December 26, 2013, 01:47:27 pm
and more :rant:
Title: Re: Spammers
Post by: Backinwellies on December 26, 2013, 03:03:52 pm
.... I zapped 3 or 4 yesterday  so there were some on Christmas day .... I just got to them first!
Title: Re: Spammers
Post by: doganjo on December 26, 2013, 04:56:36 pm
A couple more just appeared, have reported them. :o
Title: Re: Spammers
Post by: Bodger on December 27, 2013, 05:04:14 am
Its 4.50am and at this time, there are three separate spam adverts on the forum. TAS has obviously been marked down on the spammers almanac as an 'easy touch' and as long as the spammers know that anyone can register and immediately spam at will, then its going to be a continuing problem.
Title: Re: Spammers
Post by: sokel on December 27, 2013, 05:11:36 am
Yes just removed 6 more this morning   :thumbsup:
Title: Re: Spammers
Post by: Bodger on December 27, 2013, 07:14:15 am
Most of the spammers come from a few particular countries. There are ways and means of weeding these out. Drop me a line if you need some info.
Title: Re: Spammers
Post by: Dan on December 27, 2013, 09:32:30 am
Most of the spammers come from a few particular countries. There are ways and means of weeding these out. Drop me a line if you need some info.

I'm all ears!

We block IP address ranges at our firewall, known spam-originating IP addresses, email addresses and hostnames at the application level via a third-party spam tracking service, and have extensive pattern matching of email addresses, hostnames and IP addresses in our our ban lists which are triggered at the point of registration. Between them these measures prevent hundreds of registrations per day, but obviously some are still getting through.

If there's something else we could be doing please post it, all contributions welcome.  :)
Title: Re: Spammers
Post by: doganjo on December 27, 2013, 10:05:47 am
I think you and all your Mods are doing a great job, Dan.   :bouquet:

To be honest the posts are pretty obvious and most of us are sensible enough not to read them, except that you have to open them in order to report them. And I hope NONE of us are silly enough to click on any of the links!
Title: Re: Spammers
Post by: Q on December 27, 2013, 10:49:29 am
blocking the spammers is fine but where will i be able to get my little blue pills....     :roflanim: :roflanim:
Title: Re: Spammers
Post by: MartinC on December 27, 2013, 11:49:36 am
Bodger asked me to come over and take a look at this for you, I'm an Admin for the OTG forum so use to dealing with these things.

SMF forums (Version 2 and above) support Captcha which is a lot more effective than the verification question.

There's also an option to make new users pass anti-spambot tests before making posts while their post count is less than a certain number.

IP blocking is good but you need to be careful not to block genuine users. We use to use a similar thing to replace swear words on the OTG forum but ended up replacing other words due to misuse of the wild cards.

Manual activation of users is the only surefire way to get rid of them but that means an Admin having time to individually check out and unlock the users when they join.

Martin.
Title: Re: Spammers
Post by: doganjo on December 27, 2013, 04:04:11 pm
I am admin on a couple of Facebook Groups and I have to monitor all requests to join.  It's not difficult and doesn't take a lot of time.
Title: Re: Spammers
Post by: Bodger on December 30, 2013, 07:21:04 am
Another annoying crop this morning and some of them not at all pleasant.
Title: Re: Spammers
Post by: Backinwellies on December 30, 2013, 07:53:18 am
All the ones I zap are in  announcements (another 4 just now) ...... not under any other heading ... 
Title: Re: Spammers
Post by: devonlady on December 15, 2014, 03:21:39 pm
How would I recognise spam unless it was in me sandwich!?
Title: Re: Spammers
Post by: Fleecewife on December 15, 2014, 03:29:15 pm
How would I recognise spam unless it was in me sandwich!?

It's just as disgusting when you find it in your mail  :P
Title: Re: Spammers
Post by: Womble on December 15, 2014, 07:15:40 pm
Well done to the Mods for sorting out this morning's Spamalaunch. Always appreciated!  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: Spammers
Post by: kelly58 on December 15, 2014, 07:30:55 pm
Fleecewife ........... crispy griddled spam is yummy !  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: Spammers
Post by: Jullienne on April 23, 2016, 12:51:12 pm
I have just reported a few too, highly annoying!
Title: Re: Spammers
Post by: Dan on April 23, 2016, 01:32:09 pm
You may have noticed a spate of spam on the forum this morning. This was an unintended consequence of a change I made to the permissions yesterday - sorry! The spam itself is not unusual, but it's only moderators who are supposed to be able to see it.

It's fixed now so you shouldn't be bothered with spam any longer.

Please report any spam you do spot by posting on this thread, by using the 'Report post' function, or by PM.