Spam, spam, spam...

[SeanF]

It's just ridiculous.

[lornaschinske]

I'm...... depressed! Just think, with all the potentially wonderful things you can learn, do and explore with a computer and the internet, it is used to generate....trash.

[SeanF]

It can't be good for health of the backend database. Hopefully there are backups for when (not if) the thousands of bogus accounts crash everything.

[SeanF]

Steve could ban new registrations from Chinese IP addresses. I just took a sample of today's new spammer accounts, and they are 100% from China.

How about it Steve?

[GreyEagle]

com on Steve!........ This is getting out of hand.......


Registered users: a11jlx9v0z4, Aviva174, Bing [Bot], brooklynbreadgypsy, cc9xxss86, dasd6zsl9aj, dasd7hbd2nf, dasnyl67g2w, Google [Bot], GreyEagle, Hoit8291, kk5wass86, kk8ddss86, kzhyvequ44, lailshjdg86, marcoline50b, mary7c6m, niegunbhj, pp8jmss86, qgsxjktvl, snonbos, wia29qhj64
Legend: Administrators, How-to Crew, Moderators

Statistics

Total posts 93282 • Total topics 8827 • Total members 12180 • Our newest member 11jordansair

[GreyEagle]

over 200 new spam members today

Registered users:a07kyb2l4k1, amquvud46, apiqrzl08, apmkhct65, atgqnro98, auelhja33, bbv286hs08, lecki1865, bziw38ah34, fgfg877ik, GreyEagle, hhngleay, hyvlrdvalq, inkblots84, iwbzjw3478, jtldzrvg, ketkasccf, kew6b1gss86, m6i9ds0y3f, mceiss88, mi8sv4h7u, milsv595d, miysv239y, miysv328z, mvv6u3pss86, njnsyztes, ogagyztk, oot6b5vss86, pp8jmss86, qqrkss86, sikfg925c, snjyqsbps, snzxdiora, stcpwege, tuiahanac, tynei48341, tynei61698, ukwdzwto, upzvnvnua, vlrvrabm, zrdmvezsud

[syke]

Originally Posted by SeanF

Steve could ban new registrations from Chinese IP addresses. I just took a sample of today's new spammer accounts, and they are 100% from China.

How about it Steve?

That is a good idea.

[lornaschinske]

Originally Posted by GreyEagle

over 200 new spam members today

Registered users:a07kyb2l4k1, amquvud46, apiqrzl08, apmkhct65, atgqnro98, auelhja33, bbv286hs08, lecki1865, bziw38ah34, fgfg877ik, GreyEagle, hhngleay, hyvlrdvalq, inkblots84, iwbzjw3478, jtldzrvg, ketkasccf, kew6b1gss86, m6i9ds0y3f, mceiss88, mi8sv4h7u, milsv595d, miysv239y, miysv328z, mvv6u3pss86, njnsyztes, ogagyztk, oot6b5vss86, pp8jmss86, qqrkss86, sikfg925c, snjyqsbps, snzxdiora, stcpwege, tuiahanac, tynei48341, tynei61698, ukwdzwto, upzvnvnua, vlrvrabm, zrdmvezsud

I see two very suspicious looking user names in that group. Using my powerful deduction skills, I think those are the spam members... the rest are obviuosly legitimate members!

[lornaschinske]

Sorted member list by Number of posts, just for fun. Okay, I'm bored and lazy today.

Out of 245 pages....
page 1 - page 192 had users with 0 posts
page 192 - page 207 had users with 1 post

There are lots of old "members" that never posted or posted only once or twice. Granted some of the "0" and other low posts are legitimate but it does give a skewed idea as to how many members there are. Or rather how many active members. But I guess it really doesn't matter. Kinda interesting about the "real" people who join and never post or only post once or twice and never show up again. Do they join and read/post only to become intimidated by converting a bus or do other things (like a place to park it, funds to convert, time to invest, lack of skills, lack of support from friends & family) persuade them to abandon the idea.

I rarely look at he members list. Only looked once or twice while trying to locate another skoolie near our location. The lack of realistic location info is irritating. I'm guilty of that myself, but just added my current location.

[inkblots84]

Originally Posted by lornaschinske

I see two very suspicious looking user names in that group. Using my powerful deduction skills, I think those are the spam members... the rest are obviuosly legitimate members!

RAR! Hear my spam!

on to a more serious note, I looked at a forum today that made me fill out a captcha, then answer two questions: what is the first word: tree, shark, banana, formula
What is the last word: television, kitten, polar, candle.

This was only to use the forum search as a non member. Seems like a hassle, but really wasn't. Also to even sign up for freecycle Ihad to do something similar as well as include a short blurb (maybe max out at xxx characters?).

Would adding questions and a blurb about why one wants to be a member reduce some spam? Seems like folks who sign up here really do have a reason and shouldn't be bothered too much by a little extra security.

[91 Bus Guy]

Originally Posted by Part-time

I think Inkblot has the idea.
I'm on a forum that is related to the shovelhead era harleys, and the question is simple but effective. "What is this forum about?"
I think maybe something like "what is the original color of a skoolie?"

This gets my vote as well. Same idea works well on another forum, where I am a member.

Keith

[91 Bus Guy]

For sure it is different. When I signed up, and was asked "what color," I would have said Yellow. I didn't know that there was a special formula for a school bus. It may discourage potential members that didn't know, or didn't think to even search for "What color were School Buses painted?"
Just my .02,

Keith

[SeanF]

I don't think it has to be this way. But the only person who can fix it doesn't seem to care, and doesn't reply to PMs.

[SeanF]

Something as easy as setting the max number of messages allowed in the moderation queue =1 for each user would be a help. That, and banning Chinese IP addresses, would take a few minutes to implement and save the mods considerable time each day.

[Skunky Bus]

Attack of the spambots!
I was just in the School Bus News forum and noticed that my name was the only one that even looked like that of a real member. (It was early Sunday morning.) One of the three others was:
Username:6bevn90x7c
Rank:Scared to Post
Groups:Newly registered usersRegistered users
My Bus:mno590
Year:1990
Coachwork:nop467
Chassis:tuv214
Engine:qrs448
Rated Cap.:0
Just registered April 5th.

I've seen plenty of IH3800 chassis and DT466 engines... Never heard of a nop467 body on a tuv214 chassis/qrs448 engine... new Chinese make, perhaps? Rated capacity zero because suspension isn't worth a crap?

[SeanF]

Yep, we've been seeing about 2500-3000 spams per day, but just in the last day it's already up to 5000.

[freakn]

68+ pages so far today = 3428 posts to be deleted....ARGH

[syke]

Thanks for keeping this place tiddy guys!

To bad you cant get any help from the admin though.

[SeanF]

Yes, this is by far the most spam we've seen. Nearly 8000 in the past 24 hours.

[travelinwithus]

Hey GE,

Sorry I couldn't continue helping you delete those 5000 spam posts this morning. I had an appointment I had to get to so I deleted as many as I could. I did however attempt to email Steve at the email address he had on file for the domain name. I will let you all know if I here anything.