Spam attack

[mezzmo@mvg.za.net]

Hi Guys

Is there nothing that can be done to address the growing level of spam on the Conceiva Forum? There seems to be more SPAM than actual useful content.

The offending content seems to be repeats of the same posts, over and over and over.....

Can't these users just get blocked or something? I would actually even be happy to have tighter security just to be rid of this rubbish.

Comments anyone?

Cheers
Mark

[Paul]

Hi Mark,

I agree - it has been getting worse & it does mess up the the forum until we remove them each day. We already have most of vBulletin's anti-spam settings turned on, but they don't seem to stop them. We can use a third-party service to help block them and/or knock them off. We have not tried this yet, so we'll look into it.

[JohnM]

A fairly easy way (although it does make it a bit harder for you) is to set it so that a new user cannot post directly. They would be moderated until they have a small number of legitimate posts. Another way that would be easier for you is to add a field to the registration form. For that field you could either ask a question (non-math) like what is your favorite Monty Python Movie? The answer of course is not important as long as it is intelligible. Or you could give the instruction enter C o n c e i v a in the box with no spaces. The idea of the question is to eliminate the bots that do it. The moderated way would also eliminate people that do it since they would need to earn the privilege of un-moderated posting.

[mezzmo@mvg.za.net]

JohnM suggestion regarding the moderation of initial posts seems like a doable solution. All members seem to be ranked in any event, so moderating all "Junior Members" may get the spammers to find some other group to irritate?

[Paul]

Thanks for the suggestions. We're discussing & reviewing better anti-spam techniques now. We'll have something implemented shortly.

[mezzmo@mvg.za.net]

Am I speaking too soon, or does this problem seem better this week?

[mezzmo@mvg.za.net]

Am I speaking too soon, or does this problem seem better this week?

Spoke too soon... Very irritating.

[Paul]

We made a few changes last week and it has lessened the incoming spam. We'll continue to improve it.