Spam flood

Sirène

New member
...in the last 24 hours I personally have banned 40+ new registered spammers, and other mods have banned quite a few as well

I knew you guys were working hard, but that it above and beyond. Thanks for the effort.

Salome has put into the registration process re-CAPTCHA

Maybe it should be made more like an application process... :think: I hate the idea of someone genuinely interested being discouraged by a questionnaire, but I think the only way to discourage spammers is to make it not worth their time to sign up. Time is money after all.
 

Bast

New member
I'm pretty new here, but a little questionaire wouldn't have bothered me or detered me from signing up.

I think anyone with a genuine interest in the forum would make that small effort.


Does it help the mods to click the report button? A couple of times I have seen spammage and reported it, at other times I wasn't sure if that post about amazing new weight loss supplements etc...had been allowed to be there and wasn't my business.

If it helps weed them out, I am happy to report every one of them I see.
 

Darshiva

Moderator
I would have loved a questionairre when signing up. I didn't know a heck of a lot then, but would have loved the incentive to study and of course the hints of direction to study in.

Even a simple 'discuss what you love about bellydance' would have set me back an hour because I needed to cut it short! :D
 

Daimona

Moderator
Well, if I had to fill out a large questionnaire the first time I signed in, I'd probably dropped that forum despite being genuinly interested..
Random questions, math questions or capthchas on the other hand, I would't mind.
 

Mosaic

Super Moderator
I'm pretty new here, but a little questionaire wouldn't have bothered me or detered me from signing up.

I think anyone with a genuine interest in the forum would make that small effort.


Does it help the mods to click the report button? A couple of times I have seen spammage and reported it, at other times I wasn't sure if that post about amazing new weight loss supplements etc...had been allowed to be there and wasn't my business.

If it helps weed them out, I am happy to report every one of them I see.
If you see something that looks like spam do report it, it doesn't matter if it isn't. With so many threads & posts it is easy to miss something every now & then. If something reported isn't spam (which isn't very often) I PM the reporter just to let them know I've checked the report, so they know they are not being ignored.
~Mosaic
 

Sirène

New member
I didn't know a heck of a lot then, but would have loved the incentive to study and of course the hints of direction to study in.

That's the type of questions I had in mind: belly dance related stuff that shows that a person has spent some time reading the forums, or can at least use the search function. If it gives them ideas for the future, all the better. :)
 

Harry

Member
Yet another approach I've seen other places is the requirement to post an introduction in something like the Meet & Greet before permission is granted to post elsewhere. Of course, the applicant (lack of better name) needs to describe themselves a little bit, and why they find the forum of interest. It's encouraged here, but I don't think everybody participates.

However, that might be a tough job in this active site...
 

jjj

New member
That's the type of questions I had in mind: belly dance related stuff that shows that a person has spent some time reading the forums, or can at least use the search function. If it gives them ideas for the future, all the better. :)

I didn't read anything or searched just join :doh:

I think just any question even what are the colors of the flag should do.
 

Darshiva

Moderator
I never did the meet & greet post, just jumped right in to conversation feet first after lurking as a non-member for about 4 months.
 

Yame

New member
Yet another approach I've seen other places is the requirement to post an introduction in something like the Meet & Greet before permission is granted to post elsewhere. Of course, the applicant (lack of better name) needs to describe themselves a little bit, and why they find the forum of interest. It's encouraged here, but I don't think everybody participates.

However, that might be a tough job in this active site...

I think this is a good idea, as well.
 

Aniseteph

New member
Looking at what spammers typically post I don't think you'd need to go as far as probing questionnaires or "so, what is it about belly dance...?" questions.

How many of them manage to say "Hi, so&so here, I'd like to have posting-privileges to your forum please?", instead of a pile of cut 'n' pasted drivel with a tell tale strange link in the middle of it?
 

shiradotnet

Well-known member
I made my "Belly Dance Videos" Yahoo group private because of too much spam. Now when new members want to join, they must answer the question, "Why do you want to join this forum?"

90% of the responses are worded in a way that makes it clear the person actually has a genuine interest in belly dance videos. They might say, "I use videos to help me practice belly dance at home," or, "I hope to get some reviews of belly dance videos I'm interested in," or whatever.

The other 10% sound extremely generic, such as, "I like belly dancing." For those, I look at the user name and email address that goes with it. Those that look like names a belly dancer might choose pass the test. The rest are denied. Once in a great while, I'll receive an email from the person who got denied asking why, and usually those emails make it clear the person actually is interested in belly dance, but just didn't bother to provide a useful answer to my question. I've approved every such person who followed up with a private mail and explanation of their interest in joining that group.


If there were a desire to ask a question of people wanting to join this group to screen spammers, you could word it as, "Please tell us in a sentence or two why you'd like to join." That way people will know they're not expected to write a book.
 

Sirène

New member
For those, I look at the user name and email address that goes with it. Those that look like names a belly dancer might choose pass the test. The rest are denied.

Your approval system sounds sensible, however I disagree with this tiny part of it. If the structure of my email address had been part of the vetting process, I never would have made it onto any dance forums. It was something I chose a long time ago when my interests were very different.

Based on something that just popped up in another thread, I'm going to make the suggestion that posting images be disabled for new members/members below a certain number of posts.
 

Ariadne

Well-known member
Salome has put into the registration process re-CAPTCHA & is looking into other means to catch spammers, but that will mainly deter the spambots, single post spammers will be harder to catch at the door, but we mods work hard to keep them at bay and get rid of them as soon as we spot them.

I really like the CAPTCHA that has been implemented but I just ran across a NSFW (really, really, NSFW) spam so I'm not sure it's working. Would it be less work to implement Shira's idea of individual approval of applications then to constantly ban all these guys?
 

Mosaic

Super Moderator
Your approval system sounds sensible, however I disagree with this tiny part of it. If the structure of my email address had been part of the vetting process, I never would have made it onto any dance forums. It was something I chose a long time ago when my interests were very different.

Based on something that just popped up in another thread, I'm going to make the suggestion that posting images be disabled for new members/members below a certain number of posts.
After just logging in a few minutes ago & the first thing I see spammy user names so off I go to check their posts and whack right between the eyes 2 pics to freak out the most open minded person, I kind of agree with you, I nearly had a heartattack on the spot!:shok: I was thinking here we go again some idiot posting about ugg boots or nike or some other rubbish - yep definitely rubbish, but rubbish you just don't want to see .. ever! on our family friendly forum. Talk about a quick wake up of the brain this morning! That usually takes a couple of cups of coffee:lol::lol:
~Mosaic
 

Mosaic

Super Moderator
I really like the CAPTCHA that has been implemented but I just ran across a NSFW (really, really, NSFW) spam so I'm not sure it's working. Would it be less work to implement Shira's idea of individual approval of applications then to constantly ban all these guys?
Yes, they were EPIC NSFW or anywhere else for that matter!! Individual approval could work, but when you get hit with 40 plus new registrations a day which is happening lately it may end up being a nightmare. The capcha thing seems to have stopped bots that constantly mass registered, the human component is much harder to stop <sigh> But we keep working on it trying to find ways to beat them, I pass on any possible systems & ideas to Salome that don't cost an arm & a leg. But some things you probably need a tech whiz kid to implement or they may not be suitable for this forum.
~Mosaic
 

shiradotnet

Well-known member
Your approval system sounds sensible, however I disagree with this tiny part of it. If the structure of my email address had been part of the vetting process, I never would have made it onto any dance forums. It was something I chose a long time ago when my interests were very different.

However, if the user has typed a sensible sentence or two about why they want to join the group, then the structure of the email address wouldn't matter because I'd approve it on the basis of the sentence.
 

shiradotnet

Well-known member
Just for curiosity's sake, what percentage of new forum signups is spam versus probably-legitimate new users?
 

Mosaic

Super Moderator
Just for curiosity's sake, what percentage of new forum signups is spam versus probably-legitimate new users?
At the moment probably a good 75 to 90% are spammers. Yesterday 40-45 spammers to 2 legit I think it was, today ( so far) around 26 spammers 0 legit.

When it is quiet maybe 5 -8 spammers to every 1 legit.

Other forums are being hit with around 95% spammer regos, & at the moment 100 to 400 spammer registrations day, they must be very active forums. I would curl up & die at 100 a day
~Mosaic
 
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