Fighting spam on forums - one suggested solution

[Tix Mascot]

Forum URL: heretix.boards.net

Hi and belated Merry Christmas to everybody!

We have lately been bombarded with spam threads from seemingly the same (group of) individual(s). They habitually select a random sub-board, where they create a text containing a clickable image, highlighted hyper text and a clickable signature, which all take you to an external commercial site.

So what have we done to combat this issue? If you click on the link below and read the suggestion, you'll understand our idea.

heretix.boards.net/thread/13031/closing-loophole?page=1&scrollTo=165293

Since we have only limited experience with this kind of harassment, we'd appreciate a constructive input here. If we all can agree on a common front, the spammers will eventually grow tired of the ProBoards family and look for greener pastures elsewhere...

Thanks in advance and Happy Holidays!

Cheers
Tix Mascot

[Kami]

For what it's worth this is something that PB already suggests doing. Gently, you won't get everyone on PB to unite on a common front on this, simply because PB hosts hundreds of thousands of forums, and a vast majority of users do not come here unless they need technical support. Those who are familiar with their admin panel or have previously asked for assistance are either already doing this or have decided not to.

It's not a bad idea! Quite the opposite. But I wanted to levelset expectations about this being a united effort across the service.

[Tix Mascot]

Dec 27, 2023 23:45:21 GMT -8 Kami said:

For what it's worth this is something that PB already suggests doing. Gently, you won't get everyone on PB to unite on a common front on this, simply because PB hosts hundreds of thousands of forums, and a vast majority of users do not come here unless they need technical support. Those who are familiar with their admin panel or have previously asked for assistance are either already doing this or have decided not to.

It's not a bad idea! Quite the opposite. But I wanted to levelset expectations about this being a united effort across the service.

Thanks for your feedback! I have traced certain usernames to various forums, both within and outside PB. Some of them are very active and seemingly spamming their way around the 'Net. So I just came up with this plan to limit their destructive creativity and wondered if this was something that others would like to try as well.

[Nscalerr 🐺]

I have been using a variation of this with members set to 'Probationary' until they post an introduction, also the only board they can post on is only visible to members, thus robbing spammers of their ability to show off their work.

[Scott]

Just to add to the discussion - while Restrict Registration is not always a favorite option, it does aid in vetting new members. In the Pending Members section of the admin panel, when one clicks on the either the registrant's email address or IP address, it performs a search on the Stop Forum Spam site and will list if either has been reported in spamming activity. Granted like anything it's not 100% as the information is only as good as the reports made to the site, but it does help. And this can be used along with the add new members to group function.

[Tix Mascot]

Dec 28, 2023 7:20:08 GMT -8 Scott said:

when one clicks on the either the registrant's email address or IP address, it performs a search on the Stop Forum Spam site and will list if either has been reported in spamming activity. Granted like anything it's not 100% as the information is only as good as the reports made to the site, but it does help. And this can be used along with the add new members to group function.

Exactly. That's why we opted for this solution instead of Restricted Registration.

[termitehunter]

My forum has slowly died from disuse and there has suddenly been several new members that have posted spam.  I have been promptly deleting and banning them and their IP but another arrives to post more.

I decided that since the forum is mostly inactive and I want it to remain open to guests and not restrict new members to vetting, I would welcome them, with a caveat. They may post but only in a board set up just for them. Post spam on the correct board and I may allow it to remain along with the poster. The SPAM Board is front and center and the title just might attract their attention. The Sticky first thread explains the simple rules.

I set this board up one night after deleting the latest spammer. Believe it or not I got another new spam member the next day and they followed my rule.

The board title (SPAM) is highlighted in red (plugin) with a warning to actual members about the board and an invitation to spammers to post only in the spam board with a warning not to post elsewhere.  I assign a spam can photo as their avatar to further highlight their posts. I have even gone so far as to welcome them to the forum (for now) For the first post I also added a large red  "SPAM Posting" title to the post. I'll probably continue to do that for each as a warning.

Really, I am just curious as to how they might respond.
The Greater Charlotte Geocaching Club
 

[Tix Mascot]

termitehunter, that's one way to do it. We are probably dealing with one person or a coordinated group of spammers here, since most profiles consist of some letters followed by numbers, while the IP addresses can be traced to either New York or Romania.

[yogibearbull]

Tix Mascot, make sure to make "Holding Cell" a HIDDEN Group. Otherwise, its members can just leave from their Profiles - the experienced spammers. The solution you have outlined is known, but may be not so well-known.

support.proboards.com/thread/668975/restricted-groups

[Tix Mascot]

Dec 31, 2023 17:57:01 GMT -8 yogibearbull said:

Tix Mascot , make sure to make "Holding Cell" a HIDDEN Group. Otherwise, its members can just leave from their Profiles - the experienced spammers. The solution you have outlined is known, but may be not so well-known.

support.proboards.com/thread/668975/restricted-groups

Thanks for the kind suggestion! Yes, luckily, I was actually thinking of that and set the group to 'hidden'. I created a dummy profile just to experience what happens when new members arrive and they don't see any of our topic boards. The only thing they have access to is their own profile and the info pages.

I've already rescued one profile from the group before he got impatient and baled, so I hope that it won't happen. The admin of our sister forum called Foodstop chose to restrict registration and she has already banned three spammer accounts before they got access, but it seems as if they have learned the hard way now, since we haven't been bothered since Christmas.

But I'll give it a few more weeks before I open up again, just to be safe.

Grabbing this opportunity to wish everybody a really Happy New Year!

[Tix Mascot]

I also blocked their option to add links in their profile signature, by installing a relevant plugin and setting the option to have anything in your signature to after having made your first post, which they can't!

[Nscalerr 🐺]

Which plugin is it?

[Scott]

Just a reminder that the plugin will not affect those accessing the forum with mobile (mobile version).

[Tix Mascot]

Jan 4, 2024 5:31:31 GMT -8 Nscalerr 🐺 said:

Which plugin is it?

www.proboards.com/library/plugins/item/54

Jan 4, 2024 7:50:19 GMT -8 Scott said:

Just a reminder that the plugin will not affect those accessing the forum with mobile (mobile version).

I didn't know that - thanks for the info!

[GooRoo]

Dec 27, 2023 23:13:23 GMT -8 Tix Mascot said:

Forum URL: heretix.boards.net

Hi and belated Merry Christmas to everybody!

We have lately been bombarded with spam threads from seemingly the same (group of) individual(s). They habitually select a random sub-board, where they create a text containing a clickable image, highlighted hyper text and a clickable signature, which all take you to an external commercial site.

So what have we done to combat this issue? If you click on the link below and read the suggestion, you'll understand our idea.

heretix.boards.net/thread/13031/closing-loophole?page=1&scrollTo=165293

Since we have only limited experience with this kind of harassment, we'd appreciate a constructive input here. If we all can agree on a common front, the spammers will eventually grow tired of the ProBoards family and look for greener pastures elsewhere...

Thanks in advance and Happy Holidays!

Cheers
Tix Mascot

Apparently there is a single source for this. The WIMP indicate the source is in southeast Texas. And, YES, taking a lot of time to create fake email addresses, usernames that do not match email, and long-winded explanations about email lists along with an image link seems to me to be counter-productive ... unless someone is paying the person to flood (Proboards) forums with the SPAM.