spammies

[blackbird71]

blackbird71 last edited by

But I don't like it anyway nor do I see it necessary. We have a few $uperheroes to easily deal with this cosmetic inconvenience - which can be additionally eased out by a hiding feature I've already proposed.
And I dislike "ranks" - nobody's "better" just because they came earlier.

I don't like "ranks" either, but at root, the idea of limiting new-user privileges is about trust rather than rank. Trust is something one extends, usually based on demonstrated trustworthiness of the party to whom trust is extended. That demonstration requires time to develop, however short that may be. Admittedly, even then a dedicated spammer can still game the system, but it burns up time and requires a degree of personal involvement - both anathema to spammers' cost structures.

I have genuine concerns that, as @leushino notes further up, those "Superhero" mods will experience frustration and eventual burnout having to deal with the never-ending, 24/7 waves of spam hitting the forums the way they're now structured, as happened with the MyOpera forums. Granted, the current forums are simpler (no blogs, etc), but the challenges/risks remain nevertheless.

[A Former User]

A Former User last edited by

I have a better idea - we hire an Exorcist! :idea:

[wbgs-radio]

wbgs-radio last edited by

Please do something about spam please.

[sgunhouse]

sgunhouse Moderator Volunteer last edited by

They are extremely persistent, aren't they.

[A Former User]

A Former User last edited by

We're being haunted!

[Deleted User]

Deleted User last edited by

Old news department: I read a couple of years back that spammers are, in fact, using humans to get through the CAPTCHA system. They go to a place like India where you can hire people for pennies on the dollar for what it would cost here, and these people do little else all day but read and respond to CAPTCHA graphics.

It comes as little surprise, when you consider we're dealing with people who think the entire Internet was created just so they can advertise Viagra, body enhancements, dating scams and Nigerian noblemen who need to spirit large sums of cash into stranger's bank accounts to everybody in the world. In other words-- scum.

[sgunhouse]

sgunhouse Moderator Volunteer last edited by

You left out our most common spammers here - the "black magic" Indian babas. That guy up there doesn't like black magic ...

[blackcoder]

blackcoder last edited by

... and has a unusual taste in some types of meat. O.O

[Deleted User]

Deleted User last edited by

There has to be tighter registration requiring second source authentication. In addition, the captchas are pretty much useless. Maybe a system of questions and answers (avoiding numeric answers since bots can guess these) during the registration would help. There is also Xenforo tools for dealing the spam once it raises its ugly head. I've also read good things about KeyCaptcha.

[blackbird71]

blackbird71 last edited by

There has to be tighter registration ... Maybe a system of questions and answers... There is also Xenforo tools for dealing the spam once it raises its ugly head. I've also read good things about KeyCaptcha.

Indeed! There are a number of forums out there that never exhibit a single spam (various Microsoft forums, Wilders, DSLR, etc), even though they allow posting by new posters. Whether it's their registration processes or the tools they use to protect/clean the forums, these alone stand as proof that it can be done.

[A Former User]

A Former User last edited by

No, Blackbird - Norway just should bomb India.

[blackbird71]

blackbird71 last edited by

No, Blackbird - Norway just should bomb India.

Which would be a pity, wouldn't it, if the spam posting was actually originating in Vietnam or Pakistan or Bulgaria? Just because the topic of the spam is located in India doesn't mean the spam poster himself is located there... a lot of this stuff is contracted out as a bulk commodity arrangement.