So, About All This Spam

[Spike-X]

Any plans to cut down on it a bit? It's getting unbearable on the Comm Board lately, with the entire front page sometimes taken over by spam threads. Perhaps a 'No new threads until you have x number of posts' rule like on some other boards I've seen? That seems to work well.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

I would agree to that plan. The spam has been ridiculous and intolerable. Hell, it's up on the boards right now.

[Conn Seanery]

We're "cutting down" on spam as swiftly as possible, just like we always have. It just so happens this particular type of spammer/spambot using the flood-the-forums method has been on the rise the last month or so. At this time we'd rather not deny genuine new users the right to start their own threads because of them. Also, a post prerequisite on starting threads would likely only shift the problem laterally, causing the spammers to spam-bomb already existing threads (which may make it easier to slip our notice).

[HunterDoodle]

We're "cutting down" on spam as swiftly as possible, just like we always have. It just so happens this particular type of spammer/spambot using the flood-the-forums method has been on the rise the last month or so.

Just to help the members cut you some slack, if there's something I learned from all the times I participated in trolling raids. It's that the raiders/spammers/whatever won't stop until they run out of proxies and VPNs. Keep in mind guys, IP bans aren't the fix all solution that people make them out to be. Heck, I know a guy who got IP banned at least 3 times during a recent Tumblr raid.
In the end, thanks to proxies, it will take a troll about all of a minute to come back, and that's not counting that these are bots, it takes them less than a minute to connect to a proxy, register under a new name, and go right back to doing what they did when they got banned.

[Spike-X]

We're "cutting down" on spam as swiftly as possible, just like we always have. It just so happens this particular type of spammer/spambot using the flood-the-forums method has been on the rise the last month or so. At this time we'd rather not deny genuine new users the right to start their own threads because of them. Also, a post prerequisite on starting threads would likely only shift the problem laterally, causing the spammers to spam-bomb already existing threads (which may make it easier to slip our notice).

Fair point.

[HunterDoodle]

So I decided to run it through google translate.
They're advertising Korean bootleg movies, probably full of malware.
Even worse, it's not porn.

[JasonTodd428]

Don't know if there's a connection to all the spam but I've been experiencing slow loading times since all this spam started whether I'm in Chrome, Firefox or IE on both my tablet and my PC. My server doesn't seem to be the issue. Maybe these spambots are eating up bandwidth? I used to run a forum years ago and I seem to remember this happening at one point there. Any ideas if the two are connected in any way?

[RLAAMJR.]

We're "cutting down" on spam as swiftly as possible, just like we always have. It just so happens this particular type of spammer/spambot using the flood-the-forums method has been on the rise the last month or so. At this time we'd rather not deny genuine new users the right to start their own threads because of them. Also, a post prerequisite on starting threads would likely only shift the problem laterally, causing the spammers to spam-bomb already existing threads (which may make it easier to slip our notice).

Is it possible that the spam is attached to an innocent registered user?

[Expletive Deleted]

Is it possible that the spam is attached to an innocent registered user?

Generally speaking, no.

[Conn Seanery]

Don't know if there's a connection to all the spam but I've been experiencing slow loading times since all this spam started whether I'm in Chrome, Firefox or IE on both my tablet and my PC. My server doesn't seem to be the issue. Maybe these spambots are eating up bandwidth? I used to run a forum years ago and I seem to remember this happening at one point there. Any ideas if the two are connected in any way?

I think it would take a lot more spambots than we've been getting being active all at once for it to even come close to having a noticeable effect on forum navigating speed. I know it looks like a lot when they spam-bomb a forum (or forums), but in general we haven't really had many operating at or around the same time.

[JasonTodd428]

I think it would take a lot more spambots than we've been getting being active all at once for it to even come close to having a noticeable effect on forum navigating speed. I know it looks like a lot when they spam-bomb a forum (or forums), but in general we haven't really had many operating at or around the same time.

Okay, thanks.

[Shawn Hopkins]

We're "cutting down" on spam as swiftly as possible, just like we always have. It just so happens this particular type of spammer/spambot using the flood-the-forums method has been on the rise the last month or so. At this time we'd rather not deny genuine new users the right to start their own threads because of them. Also, a post prerequisite on starting threads would likely only shift the problem laterally, causing the spammers to spam-bomb already existing threads (which may make it easier to slip our notice).

Have you given any more thought to this? It's getting worse, not better.

[Lindsey]

I have no idea how the spam bots work and such so I have no idea if this would help or not but would adding a captcha code or something like when starting or posting on a thread help? Just a thought since it does seem to be out of control these days.

[Conn Seanery]

Have you given any more thought to this? It's getting worse, not better.

The circumstances are the same as the last time I answered.

[Conn Seanery]

I have no idea how the spam bots work and such so I have no idea if this would help or not but would adding a captcha code or something like when starting or posting on a thread help? Just a thought since it does seem to be out of control these days.

We are using an image verification at the registration level, but I'd be wary of using it at the posting level. While it might be effective at discouraging spammer activity, I imagine it would be an annoying chore for regular users.