Results 1 to 8 of 8

Thread: Massive Spam Flood

  1. #1
    Senior Member norahc's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2012
    Location
    Zip code EIEIO
    Posts
    192

    Massive Spam Flood

    I'm sure we've all noticed a massive increase in the amount of spam posts here, but today topped it. 5 pages of new posts in less than 24 hours, and 4 of them were spam. Given that these are all new members who are signing up just to spam us, I would like to toss out a couple of options for Tom and Luke to think about.

    1) Place new members on "moderator preview" where all their initial posts must be approved before being visible to general membership
    2) Install the StopForumSpam vBulletin plugin
    3) Increase forum staff to help deal with the problem
    4) Start blocking IP addresses of known spammers

    While we will never be able to get rid of all spammers and their posts, it would be nice to be able to visit here without being deluged by it. We should be able to keep it to a manageable level so it doesn't adversely affect our experience here.
    Last edited by norahc; 03-31-2013 at 03:39 PM.
    "Some battles are fought for principle and some battles are fought for dollars. When you fight for principles you fight until hell freezes over and then you fight on the ice." - Spokane Councilman Steve Salvatori

  2. #2

    Massive Spam Flood

    Quote Originally Posted by norahc View Post
    I'm sure we've all noticed a massive increase in the amount of spam posts here, but today topped it. 5 pages of new posts in less than 24 hours, and 4 of them were spam. Given that these are all new members who are signing up just to spam us, I would like to toss out a couple of options for Tom and Luke to think about.

    1) Place new members on "moderator preview" where all their initial posts must be approved before being visible to general membership
    2) Install the StopForumSpam vBulletin plugin
    3) Increase forum staff to help deal with the problem
    4) Start blocking IP addresses of known spammers

    While we will never be able to get rid of all spammers and their posts, it would be nice to be able to visit here without being deluged by it. We should be able to keep it to a manageable level so it doesn't adversely affect our experience here.
    I am already working on getting the spam under control, I am waiting on a new version of the servers spam software which will be ready this week. It's a custom VBulletin plugin and should help a lot, in the mean time I will continue to get rid of the spam within a few hours of posting.
    Weapons Education Moderator - If you have any suggestions to make these forums better use the contact us link at the bottom of any page.

  3. #3
    Senior Member MP Gunther's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2012
    Location
    Phoenix, Arizona
    Posts
    264
    Thank you for bringing it up and Thank You very much lukewind for addressing the problem
    “The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bare arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves from tyranny in government.”
    -Thomas Jefferson-

  4. #4
    The new spam plugin has been installed and in a couple hours of use has already denied nearly 400 spam attempts. From now on the large spam attacks will be few and far between. A few here and there will get through but everything should be way more manageable now.

    Thanks
    Lucas
    Weapons Education Moderator - If you have any suggestions to make these forums better use the contact us link at the bottom of any page.

  5. #5
    Senior Member norahc's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2012
    Location
    Zip code EIEIO
    Posts
    192
    Quote Originally Posted by lukewind View Post
    The new spam plugin has been installed and in a couple hours of use has already denied nearly 400 spam attempts. From now on the large spam attacks will be few and far between. A few here and there will get through but everything should be way more manageable now.

    Thanks
    Lucas
    Thank you...that's all I was asking for.
    "Some battles are fought for principle and some battles are fought for dollars. When you fight for principles you fight until hell freezes over and then you fight on the ice." - Spokane Councilman Steve Salvatori

  6. #6
    Just remember, when the spam hits an active thread they we're emailed the spam. I've had to make the decision to unsubscribe to all active threads to stop this.

  7. #7

    Massive Spam Flood

    Quote Originally Posted by funkymonkey1111 View Post
    Just remember, when the spam hits an active thread they we're emailed the spam. I've had to make the decision to unsubscribe to all active threads to stop this.
    The spam has already been taken care of, however there is no way to ever stop 100% of it. Currently less then 1 spam post is getting through the filters each day, which is pretty good so I would imagine you can resub to threads if you like as you will not get so many emails anymore. As time goes by the filter will only get better, but so do the spammers at finding ways around them lol.
    Weapons Education Moderator - If you have any suggestions to make these forums better use the contact us link at the bottom of any page.

  8. #8
    Senior Member norahc's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2012
    Location
    Zip code EIEIO
    Posts
    192
    Quote Originally Posted by lukewind View Post
    The spam has already been taken care of, however there is no way to ever stop 100% of it. Currently less then 1 spam post is getting through the filters each day, which is pretty good so I would imagine you can resub to threads if you like as you will not get so many emails anymore. As time goes by the filter will only get better, but so do the spammers at finding ways around them lol.
    Agreed, and I've noticed a drastic reduction in the amount of spam since the plug in was installed. Thanks again!
    "Some battles are fought for principle and some battles are fought for dollars. When you fight for principles you fight until hell freezes over and then you fight on the ice." - Spokane Councilman Steve Salvatori

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •