View Full Version : Forum Spam



brdad
01-22-2009, 09:01 AM
I was going to post this in the board area for Rick to look at, and then decided it might be beneficial to all members. We get new members from time to time and sometimes it is easy to identify their post(s) as spam which makes it easy to ignore or report. Other times the intentions of the new member is less clear. On rare occasion innocent people have been accused of being spammers which is unfortunate.

Many times the spam is nothing more than an annoyance, but oftentimes the posts contain links to external sites which contain malware which could lead to many forms of unwanted problems.

http://www.stopforumspam.com/ is a web site which has a list of thousands of known forum spammers and their IP addresses, user names, and email addresses. There is a search box where you can enter in the user name to help identify possible spammers. I would recommend checking this list before clicking on any link posted by a brand new member. However, be aware we could get a new member who has a matching user name just by coincidence, further verification may be needed.

Edit: A search for a new member I recently was suspicious of is on the list.

hollora
01-22-2009, 10:22 AM
Thank you for this informative post.

NativeMainer
01-22-2009, 11:45 AM
Thank you. It's unfortuante that we have to go such lengths, but I guess it's becoming increasingly necessary. I wish some of the spammers would realize that they are only creating ill feelings towards them by posting such stuff.

WhereRWe?
01-22-2009, 12:03 PM
Sheesh! Just wait for it...

A few minutes ago we had a "new member" join, first name "http://******.yactive.com", last name "BluePillSeller". :eek::eek:

And the ISP - 80.243.153.69 - is on the StopForumSpam list - MANY times.

I report all spam email I get to SpamCop (http://www.spamcop.net/). It may help...

dubord207
01-22-2009, 12:19 PM
Hey, how 'bout a warm welcome to BluePillSeller Cacher! This is a fun and addictive sport. If you can't find a cache after 4 hours then give up and call your doctor!:)




Sheesh! Just wait for it...

A few minutes ago we had a "new member" join, first name "http://******.yactive.com", last name "BluePillSeller". :eek::eek:

And the ISP - 80.243.153.69 - is on the StopForumSpam list - MANY times.

I report all spam email I get to SpamCop (http://www.spamcop.net/). It may help...

tat
01-22-2009, 01:11 PM
Sheesh! Just wait for it...

A few minutes ago we had a "new member" join, first name "http://******.yactive.com", last name "BluePillSeller". :eek::eek:

And the ISP - 80.243.153.69 - is on the StopForumSpam list - MANY times.

I report all spam email I get to SpamCop (http://www.spamcop.net/). It may help...

It's too bad you couldn't have temporarily blocked them from posting.

brdad
01-22-2009, 02:05 PM
It's too bad you couldn't have temporarily blocked them from posting.

That's one thing I was thinking of. I am not sure if there is a way to block the IPs on that list or if there is a reason it is not a good idea.

attroll
01-22-2009, 02:29 PM
That's one thing I was thinking of. I am not sure if there is a way to block the IPs on that list or if there is a reason it is not a good idea.
Yes our web site can block IPs from coming to it.

Blocking an IP can be a good and sometimes a dangerous thing. If the IP is an IP that is assigned to someone that is using cable or DSL then it usually is not a problem because that IP is only used by that users.

The problem lies in IPs that are being used by dilaup users. There are a lot of people still using dialup connections. When a person uses a dialup connection they do not allways have the same IP address when they log in.

If Joe Smuch has dialup in Waterville and loogs in with a IP address of 80.243.153.69 and the next time he may have a totally different IP address.

This means that if Joe Smuch was a spammer and I wanted to block that IP address and I did. Than Jane Doe from Waterville who also has dialup and she tries to log in and can't, then chances are she was assigned that IP address from her dialup connection at that time.

This is one instance that IP's can be a problem to ban.

Another one is IP's from wireless routers, libraries and other things of that nature. If a spammer users libraries, schools or any wireless connection to spam from that is for public use then it gets banned then that means no one else will be able to use that connection again. The same goes for you users out there that have wireless set up in you home that is not secure. If someone sits outside you house and uses your connection they can start spamming.

robt
01-22-2009, 02:31 PM
The site admins can aslo send the spam to the ips's abuse email addy with the approprate reccords and sometimes they will act on it.

Ekidokai
01-22-2009, 05:35 PM
Has anyone thought about spamming the spammers?

WhereRWe?
01-22-2009, 05:40 PM
Yes our web site can block IPs from coming to it.



I think you ought to block the IP of this guy: 80.243.153.69

As I said earlier, it is listed MANY times on the site Brdad mentioned - all spam email addresses - and it is an ISP in Amsterdam, Holland that we have had many fake "new members" from.

brdad
01-22-2009, 06:00 PM
It seems it would be great if anyone logging in from a known spammer IP is restricted from posting or maybe joining until a webmaster allows it. Those people would have to send a message asking to join.

Of course, that's probably not easily implemented.

Regardless, the list is a good tool to use for reference.

Gob-ler
01-22-2009, 09:39 PM
I agree, many of the sites I frequent now require you to sign up and you cannot post until it is approved by the webmaster. If this sort of stuff continues to be a problem then that is a possibility.

Oh, and thanks for the informative post way back at the beginning!

robt
01-26-2009, 02:42 PM
on my site you have to click on a verifcation email for verifcation b4 you can post anything

hollora
01-26-2009, 05:21 PM
I agree, many of the sites I frequent now require you to sign up and you cannot post until it is approved by the webmaster. If this sort of stuff continues to be a problem then that is a possibility.

Oh, and thanks for the informative post way back at the beginning!

I have experienced the same thing as Gob-ler. A slight delay after you sign up - for some type of verification.

Labor intensive maybe - but perhaps worth it. And yes, an informative post.

Back to the regularily scheduled programming.