Open letter to JBMC about spammers

LawsHosting

LawsHosting

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Ok, I'm not complaining (ok, maye I am a bit), but, recently there has been a lot of spammers replying to posts just to post links - which is really off-putting (personally)

I understand there's been talks of plugins, but theres been no follow-ups.... So, to help, I'll paste some links.....

http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=176481
http://corpocrat.com/2008/10/02/how-to-fight-spam-in-vbulletin/
http://www.codeitwell.com/stop-vbulletin-spam-part-ii.html
http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=131568
http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=230921

I understand the moderators do a good job already, but it is a bit annoying when you see interesting posts having new replies just to be faced with jibberish with a link.

Just my 50p's worth.
 
Hello,

Thanks for the info. We actually are using spambuster which does work, but doesn't catch everything. It has not had it's rules tweaked in a while, so I'll monitor newly reported spam and update the rules to catch the newer spam themes.

If anyone does see spam on the forum, please report it (it's the red and white triangle logo on each message). This will help us determine what the current trend is so we can take action accordingly (update the plugins and remove the spam).

We will be continuing to adjust at things evolve, so if the rules updates are not enough, we can look at other things to try.

One option is to have a rotating code that only approved clients (those who have purchased licenses) can get and use, accessible from the clients section. This would block the spam, but would also block everyone else who many need legitimate forum access.

John
 
I eventually find and delete ALL spam, and I suspend all spammers. Sometimes it takes a few days, but I do find and delete it.
DirectAdmin Support said:
If anyone does see spam on the forum, please report it (it's the red and white triangle logo on each message). This will help us determine what the current trend is so we can take action accordingly (update the plugins and remove the spam).
Click to expand...
I've been doing hard-deletes of spam to save space and simplifying indexing, but starting now I'll only do soft deletes of spam not caught by Spambuster, so you can still look at it.
One option is to have a rotating code that only approved clients (those who have purchased licenses) can get and use, accessible from the clients section. This would block the spam, but would also block everyone else who many need legitimate forum access.
Click to expand...
How about turning off self-signup completely and automatically (or manually) signup new licensees. If people really need to post and aren't licensees (after all we do have sections for users and resellers) they can notify their hosts, and their hosts can vouch for them.

A lot of work, though. User input requested: do think the spam issue is too great?

Jeff
 
I don't think the issue is too great, only if you have the time go ahead. Giving only licensed people access could also have the benefit of keeping users out who think they have hosting by DA or come for general dovecot support or whatnot.

I see the the spam post quite often, then I wonder should I press report or not, so I guess I'll report them from now on. If everyone does so, and maybe put it somewhere where everyone can read it, 'report spam posts' - in combination with uptodate antispam plugins, I think its manageable.
 
I have never administered vbulletin before so this is just a thought. Could you somehow make use of the active license numbers? Users and reseller could get that from their hosts. Or is that too easy to guess? After 3 guesses the ip could be banned.
 
Just let the new accounts be approved by admins? So admins can first check the user signup, if fake cancel.
 
To add, there's a lot of useless replies appearing i.e Trolling, ("Great, thanks for your article").... Very weird
 
I generally catch and delete them when I read them, but not always. Feel free to click on the Report Post (exclamation point in triangle) icon to report any post. I'm not the only one who gets those reports.

Jeff
 
Maybe this will be useful

http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=232061
Z - X Posts Before Links

Since VB4 has some build in spam guards for specific sites/users who are widely known for spamming, I felt that it didn't help stop any of the small time and newbie spammers and so I decided to make this mod.

This mod doesn't allow users to post any form of a link without achieving so many posts first. So if they want to posts tons of videos, ftp, images, websites, game servers ... etc this will stop most of them, possibly all. So wether is a whole new thread or a reply in another thread it will stop them.
Click to expand...

And for genuine posters, they can ask for help first, and a moderator can upgrade them (to a member-like status) then they will be allowed to post links?
 
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That would be a great mod... they'd just need to make it for vb 3.8.. or I'll update the forum to 4.x.

One thing I did just do is disable the editing of posts for "Registered" Users. I think spambuster works great for spam posts, but not spam edits, which may be how they're getting around it. No more edits for new Users. I've also been adding more tags words into the list.

John
 
I offered a simple yet very effective solution about a year ago for this issue.... my advice was not taken and yet we still deal with spam....

This is a very simple problem with a very simple solution.
 
Hello,

Which solution was that? My memory doesn't go that far back ;)

If it was the use of the "human verification questions", we're already using them for all new forum signups, and changing them at certain time intervals. The current spammers are in fact human, hence they still get through, it just slows them down (via looking up the answers).

If it was something else, let us know.

John
 
I just reviewed the questions you have in place, good work, I would also say the ones getting through are human registered and then sent to the bot to post.
 
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