K2 / Proflex Riders Group

General => Tech Forum => Topic started by: Colin on December 16, 2014, 05:49:10 am

Title: multiple junk posters
Post by: Colin on December 16, 2014, 05:49:10 am: Loads of crap postings today I see!
I thought we had a manual (human) approving process for membership before people could post?
surely not many new people would need to be vetted?
I'm willing to help if needed.

Col.
Title: Re: multiple junk posters
Post by: orange on December 16, 2014, 06:19:01 am: yeah I had to remove 40 or so yesterday. Haven't had time today to do it. I've informed Dave (Grimjack) so hopefully he can have a look...
Title: Re: multiple junk posters
Post by: shovelon on December 16, 2014, 06:52:51 am: I have been taking them out too and will keep doing so.

Terry
Title: Re: multiple junk posters
Post by: orange on December 17, 2014, 02:17:44 am: that should be the lot.

Please report spam as you see it and I'll try and remove.
Title: Re: multiple junk posters
Post by: shovelon on December 17, 2014, 09:01:19 am: Quote from: orange on December 17, 2014, 02:17:44 am
that should be the lot.

Please report spam as you see it and I'll try and remove.

So how did you do it Ed? That was like a couple of hundred.

Terry
Title: Re: multiple junk posters
Post by: orange on December 17, 2014, 10:01:04 am: have replied via PM :)
Title: Re: multiple junk posters
Post by: GrimJack on December 18, 2014, 12:31:13 am: Miserable spammers...

There are problems with manual approval. The thing is, there's no way to tell ahead of time whether someone is a valid, stand up guy, or if he wants to post spam. You can't tell this until after their first post.

What we've been doing in the past is trying to make it not worth their while. If they waste more time than we do, they tend to go look for easier victims. To this end, I make them answer some simple questions while registering. This also tends to filter out the bots, as a computer program doesn't know how to answer what color the sky is, for instance. On the last round up software updates, somehow this got set so they only had to answer 1 question instead of the usual 6... so I've set that back.

I've also updated the forum software to the latest version, which gives us some extra security.

Hopefully this will cut it back... if it persists, we still have several backup plans. I can add a delay, so they have to wait a day or more before their account activates. I can freeze new memberships for a month as a last resort - this tends to make them pull the site off their lists, and genuine users will often email to complain, and I can manually create them an account.
Title: Re: multiple junk posters
Post by: GrimJack on December 18, 2014, 12:32:40 am: Oh, and please do use the report button, then I get a record in email that tells me what users to wipe. After the posts have been deleted, it's tough to tell who is a real user with zero posts, and who is a spammer that's had all their posts deleted!
Title: Re: multiple junk posters
Post by: Colin on December 18, 2014, 03:17:44 am: Top man Grim Jack! (and all the Mods!)

I reported one of the posters but when I went to do another one, I think it said something like "you can only report one per day"

But hey, not a big prob, just keen to minimise work for the mods and/or help.

It's starting to look a lot like Christmas!!!!

I've bought myself a nice Large 657 frame in black (just for spares) and a small 900 frame in red, possibly for the Missus as the Medium OzX has turned out to have a slightly too high standover height for her, what with the 5" SC32 forks raising the front end slightly...............She loves it for road riding but she doesn't have the confidence on it when the ground is a bit "lumpy and bumpy" ................doh!

Col.
Title: Re: multiple junk posters
Post by: GrimJack on December 18, 2014, 12:37:53 pm: I've also just now installed a modification that compares new user's IP addresses against a known list of asshats, and if they are coming from a known asshat location, denies their account. :D
Title: Re: multiple junk posters
Post by: kiwi on December 19, 2014, 04:14:47 pm: Top work guys.Maybe we need to work on some questions that only K2 and proflex guys will know...that will deny the newbies tho i guess.
You can grant me moderator/admin abilities again if you want.I dont spend as much time here as i used to
Title: Re: multiple junk posters
Post by: Spokes on December 21, 2014, 03:45:37 pm: Big thanks to all those doing their bit!

Chris
Title: Re: multiple junk posters
Post by: Carbon_Angus on December 31, 2014, 10:28:06 am: Glad to see...and remember who started this BB.
Thanks mods, too. I'm just getting old.