Spammers swarming the forums

Super2910 said:
I know y’all are trying your best, but tonight I got notifications for 46 spam posts. In the last 10 hours. I’m only subscribed to email notifications to two forums.
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Spambot.
A spambot is an automated piece of software that starts a new thread about every 30 seconds. Each spambot I have seen posts in a single forum. It keeps generating threads until we find it and ban the account. These spambots are normally programmed to activate at hours when few mods are around. If no mod is around when the spambot activates, then a single bot can generate A LOT of threads.

Last night a spambot hit the forum to which you had subscribed. For each thread that was started by that single bot, you got a notification.

Some of the mods here stay up late to extend our coverage of the forum. Others get up early for the same reason. We do what we can. But we all have day jobs and families. So there are gaps in the coverage.
 
knarfeng said:
Spambot.
A spambot is an automated piece of software that starts a new thread about every 30 seconds. Each spambot I have seen posts in a single forum. It keeps generating threads until we find it and ban the account. These spambots are normally programmed to activate at hours when few mods are around. If no mod is around when the spambot activates, then a single bot can generate A LOT of threads.

Last night a spambot hit the forum to which you had subscribed. For each thread that was started by that single bot, you got a notification.

Some of the mods here stay up late to extend our coverage of the forum. Others get up early for the same reason. We do what we can. But we all have day jobs and families. So there are gaps in the coverage.
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I completely get that, but it definitely feels like we are under siege right now. Even as I post this, I am receiving new spambot notifications. I don’t profess to know the answers, but perhaps a change in policy might make a difference?
 
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I gotta start keeping track...I must've done at least a dozen tonight.

~Chip
 
We may be getting used as an information drop for illicit activity. This stuff may be far worse then just spam.

n2s
 
lol, information drop? like spycraft/jihad/etc? no... they'd be using reddit or some other such free and wild place

I really would suggest at this point to implement a new user account is not allowed to post for 24 hours, and, on top of that, no new threads faster than every 5 minutes. I used to work with forum software back in the really early days, like 20 years back... I'm sure modern systems should allow this level of control.

FYI @Spark - we're literally at 8 PAGES of spam in the GKD forum right now before we get to legit content! that is a new level of spam

correction, 10 pages of spam threads in the GKD right now
 
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If you need moderation help, I always check BF first thing in the morning when I get to work, which seems to be a highly active time for the current spambots.
 
Me thinks it's time to hire some more mods.
I hardly ever see a Mod on line when I log on anymore (different times of day) and if there is it's only one. Rarely are two logged on at the same time.
Time to beef up the defenses @Spark.
 
I'd be willing to help as well, I've got a week of nightshifts every month where I can catch em pretty early.

~Chip
 
I know less than nothing about computer software, but I find it hard to believe that there isn't a relatively simple way to write code that would keep spammers (or anyone else) from posting more than once every xxx seconds/minutes. Wouldn't that fix this problem?
 
No, just a sneaky spam wave while the majority of the staff is at work and unable to monitor as vigilantly.
 
S'all good now: Guyon reaped threads, presumably with hideous glee, and efficiency.

It's worth taking a moment to tip a hat to him and the rest of the admin team: keeping this place going in the right direction must be hard enough, even without the presence of one Red Bull addled spammer with three alt accounts and a quota to fill!
 
There are a few reports in the back end..as well as several of us working on the issue.

screenshot of the back end..At least 4 pages of this
SPAM.JPG
 
130 posts between 2 forums last night. We need a new system, because what we have is not working.
 
bhyde said:
..as well as several of us working on the issue.
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5ve2Amc.gif

At least that's how I imagine it going. :D
 
This morning the forums were practically unreadable, about 7:30 a.m.-8:30 a.m. CST (GMT -5).
 
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