Spam Issues

[Emily]

I'm sorry for all the spam we have been experiencing lately. Yesterday after I cleaned up various spam accounts I went in and re-did the registration settings. Hopefully the new facet I added to the registration will help prevent spam signups. Currently my techie and I are working on installing and experimenting with the new 4.0 software in a test environment - it includes powerful spam blockers that should help eliminate this issue.

Thanks mods for working so hard to keep on top of things and I'm sorry for the issues!

[Punkins_Mom]

i noticed alot more lately (prolly cuz the holidays) it annoys me that these spamers have nothing better to do than fill up our forum (every single thread) with junk. Thanks for doing your best to take care of it! :) I love this site :)

[Sillypup5]

They aren't people. They are computer generated accounts that once one gets in, they flood the place. I banned over 50 of them in the last 2 days and I can't keep up.

[Sillypup5]

Emily, there are like 20-30 new spam accounts that are in the 'online today' listings. I do not have time to go in and take care of them right now I have to get ready for work. Whatever this forum has for spam control isn't working.

[LeRoy's owner]

I agree Megan. I feel overwhelmed by all the spam. When I came on earlier this morning I had to sit and delete a BUNCH of spam before I could even start looking at threads and posts. It is getting to be too much. Something has to give.
Please stay with us everyone, we are doing our best to keep up with it. This is the best site there is and I know Emily will do all she can to keep it that way.
I wonder if maybe it is time to start some kind of approval for new registrations. I have been to sites that do that. It seems that most of them are doing it these days and it puts a stop to the spam.
What would everyones input be on that. Just a suggestion.

[Kokomo]

Call me paranoid or pessimistic but I believe 90% of computer viruses are put out by Anti-Virus software companies and it seems like to much of a coincidence that just as new software is being made available from 'vbulletin' that spam control on existing software is becoming unmanageable. This stinks of a 'buy our new stuff or suffer our wrath' scenario. So 'vbulletin' comes out with new software and is shutting down all support for existing software so if you don't get the new stuff you'll be forever exposed to whatever problems comes from here on out.....but if you buy the new stuff they will update and support the software to prevent/eliminate these problems....and just as this new software is becoming available the problems get 1000Xs worse. This isn't fishy at all.:rolleyes:

[identicaltriplets]

They aren't people. They are computer generated accounts that once one gets in, they flood the place. I banned over 50 of them in the last 2 days and I can't keep up.
That's what I was just going to say. I used to be admin for a large board, and sometimes I would wake up to zillions of new spam accounts. Ugh! It does get tiring. We finally put up new spam blockers too. Each thing we added definitely helped but there will be turkeys that always find a way!

[Emily]

Its the holidays too I think Clay.. I've spent literally hours the past couple days cleaning up spam here, 2 other birds I admin at, and several blogs. Its just a pain in the butt. I'm talking with my techie now to see what the best course of action to take is.

[Punkins_Mom]

I've been on a forum that require approval before posting too and that seems to work for the most part. That would be a good idea I think :)
I've never done any kind of Admin work before so i don't know how it works or if it would be more trouble for you to do it that way. Y'all do a good job deleting it pretty fast so I'm not that concerned I just hope it calms down so you dont have to spend hours deleting things instead of enjoying posting :)

[Sillypup5]

Making any new membership having to be approved would be a lot less of a pain in the butt than us coming on 20-30 times a day just to TRY and keep up with this problem. Yes, it could take a couple hours sometimes for a legit new member to be approved... but really, that is better than you guys all having to weed through all the spam to get to the real posts. If us moderators are getting tired of it, and we're the ones who can actually do something about it, I can just imagine how you all are feeling. If I hadn't had the last 2 days off work and been coming on here every 1/2 hour to hour, I don't even want to know what the forum would have looked like by the end of the days. I am at work today so I can't deal with it right now, even though I see there are new threads everywhere again. Sorry guys. I am not trying to take the credit for trying to keep the place spam free over the last while, I know Connie and Emily have been doing a lot as well. I just know how much time and effort I personally put into it yesterday and Monday, and if I added it all up it would be hours. I really do believe that moderating registration is the only way to go to get rid of this issue all together.

[Annrose]

I feel for all the people trying to clean up the SPaM!
I know U guys R doing your best.

[Zhenya]

I am so surprised that we are getting a lot of spam from Russia. What are they thinking about? Nobody (may be except me) wouldn’t be able to read it anyway.

[jinx1764]

Call me paranoid or pessimistic but I believe 90% of computer viruses are put out by Anti-Virus software companies and it seems like to much of a coincidence that just as new software is being made available from 'vbulletin' that spam control on existing software is becoming unmanageable. This stinks of a 'buy our new stuff or suffer our wrath' scenario. So 'vbulletin' comes out with new software and is shutting down all support for existing software so if you don't get the new stuff you'll be forever exposed to whatever problems comes from here on out.....but if you buy the new stuff they will update and support the software to prevent/eliminate these problems....and just as this new software is becoming available the problems get 1000Xs worse. This isn't fishy at all.:rolleyes:

LOL, you and my husband are two of a kind and the more I hang out with my hubby the more paranoid I get. Is it contagious? Like my Dad says, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not after you.

[Punkins_Mom]

I think its definitely the holiday. Spam hasn't been this the past few weeks. Its just last few Days that its been the WORST. All Day today its one after another. Crazy!

[Kokomo]

wasn't even close to this bad last year

[Sillypup5]

No it has never been this bad.

[Punkins_Mom]

Spammers are getting desperate. People are alot more careful with what they click and how they spend their money with the economy the way it is.

[Jazzy]

thanks everyone for keeping up with it. I think the approval idea is a great course of action - if people really are interested in joining, they shouldn't have any issues with waiting for approval. And I know there are a lot of other forums getting hit too - my hubbie is on a motorcycle forum that got hit a few weeks ago, however, not this bad...

[LeRoy's owner]

In my personal opinion, I think we need to close registration for now. I don't think it would hurt anything. Most sites have registration approval these days. That would put an end to this spam.
I love this site but frankly I am sick and tired of the spam and something has to be done.
With that being said, please stay with us everyone. While Emily works on it, Megan and I will keep deleting it to the best of our ability.
By the way Megan, thanks for helping with ALL THIS SPAM. I appreciate your help and just wanted to let you know that. Thanks again..............................connie

[Punkins_Mom]

today was going so well. Then Bam stupid Spammer! Grrr they all need to be CRUSHED!!!! :mwahaha :cursing:

[LeRoy's owner]

Sorry for any inconvience Manda. I spent a half hour this morning deleting spam and I will work on it now. I have to go to work in a bit so I hope it won't get to bad.
Try to still enjoy the site, even with the spam. Sorry.

[Punkins_Mom]

I am a very patient person. I just check my normal threads and come back after I pack for a while ;)

[Emily]

Just implemented a ReCaptcha (aka the same verification they use on Craigslist) for registration. Lets see if that works....

[Jazzy]

hopefully, because I'm amazed at how many showed up in the last 24 hours!

[Emily]

I just spent the past 30 minutes blacklisting probably well over 2000 spam emails and domains. If anyone tries to register with the domain part of the email i blacklisted, they won't be able to register.

Hopefully that will help as well.

[Jazzy]

wow - I must say that the dedication that you and the other moderators show to this site is great - we all really appreciate it!

[Emily]

Is it just me or did the spam seem to decrease a little today?

[Kokomo]

Hard for me to say. The mods cleaning up the posts would be best suited to answer that one. I did notice that there has been less complete spam take overs but then again it could be that a mod had cleaned it up.:shrug

[Sillypup5]

I don't know either, sorry guys I"ve been quite busy the last couple days and haven't had a chance to come on and clean things up. I don't know if Connie was around today? I know she was swamped at the beginning of the week as well.