june gloom on 31/3/2011 at 16:37
Is anything being done about this? We're getting so much spam it's coming out of our ears. I must be reporting at least 2-3 spam posts a week.
Kolya on 31/3/2011 at 18:36
Hello dethtoll,
I'd like to add you to my professional network on linkedIn.
<a title="Click to confirm" href="http://www.schwarzsilber.de/#[[Jody%20Miller%20-%20There%27s%20A%20Party%20Goin%27%20On]]"><img src="http://www.dynamicbusiness.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/linkedin-logo2.jpg"/></a>
Sincerely,
William Carlos Williams
Al_B on 31/3/2011 at 19:05
I'm really tempted to report that post as spam just for the heck of it, Koyla :)
I've not noticed a huge problem with spam posts - yes, two to three a week sounds about right but given the profile of ttlg I'm surprised it's not higher. Part of the problem is that they're getting more sophisticated, posting semi-reasonable responses to threads before dropping the real spam link / picture.
To give credit to the mods, they're normally pretty good at getting rid of the spam - normally the ones that I've noticed and reported get removed pretty quickly.
addink on 31/3/2011 at 23:15
Is it hard to prevent new members from posting active links? I mean: do allow them to post urls just not turn them into <a href=..> elements..
It doesn't prevent spammers from spamming. However it does kill one of their main reasons for spamming in the first place: improving their position within Google results.
Also, disallow embedding images so they can't track visitors to the thread.
Queue on 31/3/2011 at 23:45
Quote Posted by Al_B
I'm really tempted to report that post as spam just for the heck of it, Koyla :)
Why not... I already reported dethtoll's.
Al_B on 1/4/2011 at 00:16
Quote Posted by addink
However it does kill one of their main reasons for spamming in the first place: improving their position within Google results.
I assumed (incorrectly) that ttlg imposed the rel="nofollow" attribute for any external links. This doesn't appear to be the case and may be (
http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php/343940-How-to-add-(-rel-quot-nofollow-quot-)-to-all-external-links!) easy to turn on.
Quote Posted by addink
Also, disallow embedding images so they can't track visitors to the thread.
I suspect this may be a harder problem. It's not unreasonable to expect a new member to want to post a screenshot and it's obviously tricky for the forum software to know whether it is an image of system settings or a viagra link.
Al_B on 1/4/2011 at 00:21
Double post (unless I get sniped again...)
Out of interest, Koyla, did you find that adding the security question to the systemshock forums cut down on the amount of spamming? It's probably undesirable for ttlg as a whole but the general technique of requiring at least a little bit of knowledge about a specialist interest before posting is quite appealing.
Queue on 1/4/2011 at 01:49
I do really like the added measure of the security question employed at the systemshock forum (though I admittedly had to google the answer to the question), and wonder if it's not a bad idea for here.
But, on the other hand, I would miss the likes of Rita.... Their short stays are always fun.
Kolya on 1/4/2011 at 02:10
We've been using these questions for I think 2 years now and we haven't had a single spam post since then.
