Anti Spam Actions
 

As a short-term measure I've banned a couple of dozen members for obvious spamming and deleted their threads.

If this had an adverse impact on any genuine members please accept my apologies.

Haynes Admin

Thankyou :)

Thanks. :)

Are there any future plans to upgrade the VB software and add any security updates.?
Perhaps a manual ok by the mods for new members before they can post.?

I have had my powers upgraded so i can now deal with spam more easily.

good news :)

Does this mean you get a tight slighty gay looking super hero costume?

Good to hear :)

Thanks...

I have never seen a tirade of forum spam of that ferocity before.. quite spectacular!

TT

They created over 100 new profiles and they still online creating more

It's a BOT of some sort.

Not real people.

TT

no need to link to them..

getting deleted, I now have power to remove so have expunged 50-70 this morning.

Well it was there so thought I'd point it out, my pleasure.

i have banned 13 new users today.......... :(

Shame they have nothing better to do,sad tossers.

its an automated bot that keeps rolling its ip the only real way to stop it is to have admin approval on new signups

While this may discourage genuine new users I think it admin approval on new users should be seriously considered, even if only in the short term until another solution is found, although if they're rolling ip and generating new users I doubt there's not much else the software can do.

Alternatively could there be admin approval on say the first 5 - 10 posts from a new user? not sure it makes much difference than the first option but just another thought.

Unfortunately, while an open access public forum is good for genuine users its obviously open to abuse so I guess it needs locking down a bit.

Just my thoughts :)

Aren't there other security options on vBulletin, like CAPTCHA, or a security question? The question can be something stupidly simple, like "What is the name of the publishing house that hosts this forum?", but that might be enough to get the bot off our backs.

or one of those copy the letters when its really hard to read them, they're annoying but if its works then its worth considering.

Just thinking aloud and its a bit idealistic but does anyone think a 'trust rating' would work?

For example a users trust rating would be promoted every 50 posts, or possibly with recommendations from other highly trusted users.

A user with low trust ratings would have to either get posts approved or go through a security measure while a user with high trust rating could post without restrictions.

Like I say just thinking aloud and imagining ideals :)

CAPTCHA is something we are looking into, unfortunately the current forum software is out of date and wont support it. until haynes get time to update the software it may be necessary to have mod approval on a users first post.

the problem is at the moment haynes IT guy is on holiday, w have spoke but he cant sort it until he gets home.

I reckon an interim solution of Mod Approval on either new users/first x posts should be implemented as it could run into weeks/months until a software upgrade is approved (I guess its not free!)

There has to be a more detailed method of joining this forum with say a 7-10 days space in between joining and posting to stop these wankers form getting on here, I know this is very frustrating and time consuming for the mods, it is bad enough getting crap via email everyday, let alone these jerks getting access to this great forum.

Cheers
Nigel

have asked haynes if they can turn off registration until a solution is found. unfortunately tt and i are only mods and you need to be admin to change the look feel and more importantly the sign up options of the forum.

i have deleted over 100 posts this morning, all we can do at the moment is log on a few times a day and clear up and ban users until haynes can do something.

I thinks its fair to say you guys can only do as much as you can given the options available to you, it sounds a bit like just 'bailing out' until haynes can instigate a proper fix.

It must be quite a chore for you to have to keep bailing out the crap and answering all our concerns at the same time so fair play and appreciation for everything your doing :)

Lets hope haynes put some priority on this and get it sorted asap. Also the mod structure should be looked at properly to allow some redundancy to cover when people are not able to do it but have a full hierarchy of mods to admins available within a reasonable time frame to cover things like this.

Cheers Ash & TT for everything your doing.

That has to a big thanks really because its all unpaid and a shed load of their time. Thanks boys.:)

Bob

I second that ....thanks for taking the timeout tt and Ash for getting rid of that s**t;)

From me too :) good job lads

No Probs..

Been out today but just got back in and trimed a few more

There should be some options to explore even on this version of the software..

TT

Good job lads, we do appreciate what your doing for the forum and it's members.

Terry

+1 to that, much appreciated chaps.

Looking good guys, Thanks for the time & effort.

Cheers
Nigel

I can ban users as well now so hopefully the problem will deminish a bit.


TT

just out of interest do you know how many have been banned under the current spam issue?

72 this week so far

be a few more over night me thinks....

although if inteligent the BOT may check the longevity of its work and decide to move on ... although i doubt it as it's not exactly costly for the BOT owner to keep it pluging at sites.

TT

another bunch of users banned and 30odd posts removed...

TT

would there be some way of only book owners been able to register here to post
this way it helps fund the site via book sales?

As a retrospective measure no, you would need a complex individual code number in each book. Then their would be the technical aspect, which would far outweigh the work needed to upgrade to a later version of vBulletin which has improved anti-spam measures.

And besides, we want to encourage genuine people to join the self build community.

TT