The spammers have returned again

[kalinecountry]

I posted this in our mods/admin private forum and no responses so,

All the new members are spammers
Since August when the Admin brought the number of members back to 769,
I have watched every day these new members sign up and then spam advertise.
I checked IP's and the are all from China, Japan, India, Pakistan, South Korea, and Ukraine. I have banned about 200 since August. Spoke with Mitch a couple of months back, and he was able to get some too...
Now this last week, I wrote to the Admin, and haven't heard back yet.

It is getting worse with these as many have the same IP address as well.
After going to bed and now getting on the forum this morning, I see the amount of these has increased from 1,085 to 1,098 whereas before it would be 1 or 2 a day. I am away from the computer for 2 hours and now another dozen since the previous dozen.

wtf and why are they coming on signing onto our forum.
Can't vBulletin put a stop to these? Most have some wild form of letters and dot. @ hotmail.
Maybe more of you guys can also try to stop them.
I decided to do this thread today after seeing how many came on overnight and all day today.

 

[tinselwolverine]

I saw two yesterday or the day before, and blew them both out...those were the only two I saw.

 

[kalinecountry]

I saw two yesterday or the day before, and blew them both out...those were the only two I saw.

Great Tinsel.

and I just got a couple more as I returned. They are just coming in waves for the past week which again is the reason for posting the threads on them.
vBulletin or when the Admin/Mike can maybe figure out if there is a way they are coming in with several different names using the same IP, maybe they can block before they are members and begin their spamming.

 

[Monster]

Yeah, I've one touched banned at least 3 in the last few weeks.

 

[Monster]

Perhaps we change the process to post. I haven't checked in a while, but does the board require email confirmation before getting posting privileges? Also, I do know there are some vbulletin boards that require a certain number of posts before being allowed to create threads.

This is directed to Admin, by the way.

 

[Mitchrapp]

I got one yesterday myself.. I suspect it's just that time of year.

 

[Mitchrapp]

Perhaps we change the process to post. I haven't checked in a while, but does the board require email confirmation before getting posting privileges? Also, I do know there are some vbulletin boards that require a certain number of posts before being allowed to create threads.

This is directed to Admin, by the way.

Having a ceratin no. of posts before creating a thread is a great idea..

 

[Mike]

Like I've said many times, automated 'spambots' are just a part of life on forums now, you can't stop them 100%. The only way to fight them is to keep up with the removal of their posts if they do post. You're going to see lots of registrations by them (and even still, only a handful get through the registration process - most are nuked before that through our anti-spam registration modifications), but not all of them get through to post.

If they're not posting, they're harmless (they're still harmless even when they post, just annoying). But it takes a full effort from both our members and moderators to get rid of the posts ASAP when they happen. Reporting spam posts quickly (by clicking the yellow circle with the exclamation mark in it) will help us eliminate them faster. Having to post a certain amount of times before being able to start a thread won't really solve anything, as they would just post their spam in others' threads.

Are a lot posting? If so, how many per day about? I personally haven't seen any, maybe you guys are getting to them before I see them though. And yea, most likely it's picked up as of late because of the time of year.

kalinecountry - how did you try to contact me? I haven't received any PMs or emails from you.

 

[kalinecountry]

Like I've said many times, automated 'spambots' are just a part of life on forums now, you can't stop them 100%. The only way to fight them is to keep up with the removal of their posts if they do post. You're going to see lots of registrations by them (and even still, only a handful get through the registration process - most are nuked before that through our anti-spam registration modifications), but not all of them get through to post.

If they're not posting, they're harmless (they're still harmless even when they post, just annoying). But it takes a full effort from both our members and moderators to get rid of the posts ASAP when they happen. Reporting spam posts quickly (by clicking the yellow circle with the exclamation mark in it) will help us eliminate them faster. Having to post a certain amount of times before being able to start a thread won't really solve anything, as they would just post their spam in others' threads.

Are a lot posting? If so, how many per day about? I personally haven't seen any, maybe you guys are getting to them before I see them though. And yea, most likely it's picked up as of late because of the time of year.

kalinecountry - how did you try to contact me? I haven't received any PMs or emails from you.

Mike - I sent a private message to you through here a few days ago.

 

[Mike]

Mike - I sent a private message to you through here a few days ago.

Hmm, weird, I never got anything. Last message I have from you is from July. :shrug:

 

[kalinecountry]

In the past week I have deleted 5/6 new spammers advertising with IP locations in China and this morning India.

 

[kalinecountry]

This month of June and after just ridding the board of 4 or 5 the past few minutes, maybe Admin can look into this with vBulletin like the last time when they started registering in droves.

 

[kalinecountry]

Just removed 4 with the same ip.

37.161.206.183.static.js.chinamobile.com

 

[turok]

Why are new members with random UC/LC letters and numbers as SNs being permitted to register and lurk here? Shouldn't there be a time limit of 3 months to make an initial post before being purged from the member database, and 6 months if a member last posted but since becomes dormant?

 

[Mike]

We don't remove users from the forum simply because they don't post. A lot of people just read and don't participate in posting.

 

[Mitchrapp]

Why are new members with random UC/LC letters and numbers as SNs being permitted to register and lurk here? Shouldn't there be a time limit of 3 months to make an initial post before being purged from the member database, and 6 months if a member last posted but since becomes dormant?

As far as people who signup for spam or up to no good, KC knocks them out really quickly.

 

[turok]

It just seems a bit suspicious to me, the use of proxies and user agents can mask their actual IP addys and browser IDs, and it isn't necessary to login to DSF in order to view forum topics and members' posts.

 

[Mitchrapp]

It just seems a bit suspicious to me, the use of proxies and user agents can mask their actual IP addys and browser IDs, and it isn't necessary to login to DSF in order to view forum topics and members' posts.

But those aren't users who have ID's like Dave15. Its more CJ105TL651XX or something. Easily noticeable. It gets taken care of pretty well.

 

[Mike]

Yep, either way, if and when they post spam, they're eliminated. If they don't, then they're no harm anyway. And occasionally I do go through the memberlist and delete obvious spam accounts all at once.

 

[kalinecountry]

But those aren't users who have ID's like Dave15. Its more CJ105TL651XX or something. Easily noticeable. It gets taken care of pretty well.

This morning there is an sn that looks innocent but was also from China. Tommy with a 5 digit zipcode.
So now they might be trying that tactic instead of the letters in small or large cap and numbers.