Missing Forum Admin

[ddave123]

Forum URL: raven-mpv.proboards.com/

Our small forum is getting spammed by posts from adbots, but it doesn't seem to have an active Admin/Moderator anymore to get it cleaned up.  I've tried messaging the Admin a few times without any response.  Is there anything that can be done?

[Retread]

May 15, 2019 17:19:02 GMT -8 ddave123 said:

Forum URL: raven-mpv.proboards.com/

Our small forum is getting spammed by posts from adbots, but it doesn't seem to have an active Admin/Moderator anymore to get it cleaned up.  I've tried messaging the Admin a few times without any response.  Is there anything that can be done?

Hi ddave123

I think the ProBoards Admins may be offline for the night.
ProBoards Admins* are online Monday through Friday from 9am-5pm PST/PDT (with the exception of some US holidays).

They'll probably take a bit of time to evaluate the situation before giving you a reply tomorrow.

I see your forum Admin hasn't posted since 2016, but they may have been online since then. In a case like this, the remedy might be for the PB Admins to simply remove the spam posts from public view. (you could help by giving them a list of posts)

Or they might decide on some other method. In any case, you came to the right place.

[synch]

May 15, 2019 17:19:02 GMT -8 ddave123 said:

Forum URL: raven-mpv.proboards.com/

Our small forum is getting spammed by posts from adbots, but it doesn't seem to have an active Admin/Moderator anymore to get it cleaned up.  I've tried messaging the Admin a few times without any response.  Is there anything that can be done?

Can a bot actually post on Proboards? I thought there were test to prove you are a human before you are allowed to post or to register.

[Derek‽]

May 15, 2019 18:41:23 GMT -8 synch said:

May 15, 2019 17:19:02 GMT -8 ddave123 said:

Forum URL: raven-mpv.proboards.com/

Our small forum is getting spammed by posts from adbots, but it doesn't seem to have an active Admin/Moderator anymore to get it cleaned up.  I've tried messaging the Admin a few times without any response.  Is there anything that can be done?

Can a bot actually post on Proboards? I thought there were test to prove you are a human before you are allowed to post or to register.

Can a bot post? Yes. CAPTCHA tests aren’t infallible and have changed quite a bit over the years due to bots becoming better able to pass the older tests. In time, the tests will have to change yet again as developers create more sophisticated bots that can deceive tests’ current confidence scores.

Do they post? Unlikely. The human verification tests may not be infallible, but they’re still very generally highly accurate in assessing whether or not a user is a bot or human. What’s posted on the OP’s forum is the same kind of spam you see elsewhere on PB, which is posted by live spammers.

[ddave123]

Well, it's good to know they aren't actual bots. Those are some awfully dedicated people though. Thanks everyone for the clarification.

[bigballofyarn]

May 16, 2019 4:41:01 GMT -8 ddave123 said:

Well, it's good to know they aren't actual bots. Those are some awfully dedicated people though. Thanks everyone for the clarification.

Unfortunately spammers are often persistent. If only they'd use their motivation for something more constructive. The Proboards Support staff will start to roll in, in about three hours. I'm sure they'll be able to remove the spam for you. Best of luck with your forum.

[synch]

Thanks for the replies, everyone. I noticed on the forum that spammers were registered users so restricting posts to members is not going to stop spam. I imagine these spammers are using VPNs, and can access the forum from different servers, so I wonder how one goes about removing their ability to post or encourage them to go elsewhere?

[bigballofyarn]

May 16, 2019 5:25:18 GMT -8 synch said:

Thanks for the replies, everyone. I noticed on the forum that spammers were registered users so restricting posts to members is not going to stop spam. I imagine these spammers are using VPNs, and can access the forum from different servers, so I wonder how one goes about removing their ability to post or encourage them to go elsewhere?

If you have the ability to delete the posts and the accounts, do that. If you have the ability to ban the IP addresses and email addresses, do that.

I use restricted registrations on my forum. Admin > Forum Settings > Login & Registration tab.

My settings are:

Restrict Registration:  Yes 
[This allows you to review every member that joins this forum before they can login. You can accept or reject their request to join from the Admin Panel.]

I set up a Restricted Registration Message which asks them how they heard about the forum. 

When I receive a message about a new registration, I read what they wrote in the box. Whether or not they wrote anything, I then search their email address and IP address to see if there are any reports of spam.  Most proxies have tons of spam reports against them.  If they show up as a spammer, I block/ban them, and the account never gets through.

[synch]

Thanks for that detailed reply bigballofyarn. If we ever run into a problem with spammers, I'll definitely do what you suggest. I am admin on the forum.

[Scott]

synch, I have to ask that if you have any more questions to please start your own thread. This thread was started by ddave123 and the issues with their forum. While your initial post was related to their issue, subsequent posts have morphed into fully taking over this thread. Thank you.

[synch]

Oh, I didn't realize that was what I was doing. I'll be more careful in the future. I deleted the offending  part of my post.

[Scott]

ddave123, getting back on track with your issue... I've visited the forum and am reviewing for spam to remove. As Retread suggested above, it would be helpful if you could provide links to a couple different spam posts (or spam poster profiles) just so we're on the same page, and to make sure we removing all the spam. Thanks.

[ddave123]

May 16, 2019 7:39:50 GMT -8 Scott said:

ddave123 , getting back on track with your issue... I've visited the forum and am reviewing for spam to remove. As Retread suggested above, it would be helpful if you could provide links to a couple different spam posts (or spam poster profiles) just so we're on the same page, and to make sure we removing all the spam. Thanks.

I see that someone (I'm guessing it was you, Scott) has gone in already and removed all of the spam threads from the forum.  Thank you for that.  It looks so much better now.  There are probably some individual spam posts in other valid threads there, but I'm not sure it's worth trying to go back and search all those out.  If we run into this problem again, should issues be brought back up in this thread, or will this thread be marked resolved and closed?

Also, is there a process for transferring the forum ownership to someone else if the forum admin is no longer around?  If so, is there a length of time the admin has to be inactive before that can happen, or that based on something else?

[Scott]

ddave123, yea that was me. If you find a few stragglers that I missed, just send me a PM here with the links to the posts.

If you should need this again, please start a new thread, as you are correct this one will be marked resolved. However you could link to this one so we have reference to what transpired previously.


Regarding forum transfer you can read through our Help Guide article on Forum Account Transfers. One of the first things we do look at is the admin's length of absence, however each forum is unique in its needs so requests are reviewed on a case by case basis.