Spam problem
- This topic has 14 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 08/29/2017 at 3:42 am by
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The spam problem is getting a bit out of hand. When I started this morning I deleted 5 spam messages. But since then they kept coming in and by now I have deleted at least 20 spam posts. And I cannot remain online all day.
One thing that could improve the spam deletion is that not only the messages are deleted, but also the accounts that posted them. This worked on the previous forum quite well.
And I think it is time for some better control on subscription. I don’t know exactly what the possibilities are, but the current check (a sum) appears too simple for spambots. I fully realize we need some user-friendly for new users, but a better control would improve the site considerably, I think.
Molecule Polishing: my blog about sharpening with the Wicked Edge
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15 spams in the last 30 minutes… This is getting crazy. I’m afraid manually deleting this may become unfeasible. And I have a full-time job.
Molecule Polishing: my blog about sharpening with the Wicked Edge
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As an fyi, I am making some permission changes on the backend, and sometimes that temporarily causes problems for legitimate users. I’ll apologize in advance, and will just assure you that I’ll be working on this today, so any problems should be temporary.
Working to make knife.wickededgeusa.com a great forum!
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I’ve made some changes, and am finished working on it, for now. Unfortunately, I’ll predict that we’ll probably see some spam slip through again in the future, as I’m trying to stop short of anti-spam measures that make life painful for all users, all the time.
I’m also being a bit vague on what I’ve done, just so the spammers won’t be tipped off.
Working to make knife.wickededgeusa.com a great forum!
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Is it possible to add the “I am not a robot” check to the sequence for opening a new account?
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FYI… I’m doing some additional changes today, to prevent spammers from registering. You may temporarily see that you have to enter a captcha with each new Topic or Reply, but this will be [probably] be temporary, for legitimate users. I say probably just because these spammers are proving tough to block.
Working to make knife.wickededgeusa.com a great forum!
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Mark,
Thanks for all of the help on eliminating spam. So there’s a relatively new version of google’s captcha (the anti-spam image that typically shows a word) that’s less of a pain for legitimate users. It uses some voodoo behind the scenes to determine how big of a risk a specific user is, and it adjusts the stringency of the captcha accordingly. For example, legitimate users are probably going to just have to check a box that says something like “I’m not a robot” while riskier users will have a tougher time. We have this new captcha installed now both for new user registrations, and for returning user logins. In addition, new registrations are not allowed to log in without first manually validating their email address.
These steps, in addition to some other stuff behind the scenes, should drastically reduce the spam users and posts. At least until the spammers figure out how to defeat these steps, like they inevitably seem to do.
Thanks,
ChrisWorking to make knife.wickededgeusa.com a great forum!
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