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WTF with the spam?!
Re: WTF with the spam?!
Anyone ready to take a more pro-active approach to the spam problem ?
Or will you wait till the forum falls down around your ankles ?
Or will you wait till the forum falls down around your ankles ?
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Re: WTF with the spam?!
Any news on getting the ability to actually ban spammers?
I supposed it's a self limiting problem, we're going to run out of letter permutations for usernames soon enough...
I supposed it's a self limiting problem, we're going to run out of letter permutations for usernames soon enough...
The Forum's search box is terrible. Use site specific search, e.g.
https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3A ... terms+here
https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3A ... terms+here
Re: WTF with the spam?!
Gotta feel sorry for the spamhunters. They are vastly too few in number, and their hands are basically tied by "don't care, don't have to" attitude of the admins. But how much easier would their job be if they could simply nuke a spammer's account, instead of having to delete >150 (and counting) individual messages.
Last edited by dasein on 2013-01-11 00:47, edited 2 times in total.
Re: WTF with the spam?!
At the risk of sounding cynical, I think admins (not mods/spamhunters) may secretly do the happy dance when the forum gets hammered like this. There's a lot they could do to combat the problem, or to empower the "front-line defenders" to be able to do more. But the admins simply do not show any signs at all of caring.Rifester wrote:It is a very simple problem to correct... Stupid that nobody will fix it.
Re: WTF with the spam?!
I've wondered about that for a long time. There are any number of technical modifications which would prevent 99% of the spam without any need for daily administration. So, why not?dasein wrote:At the risk of sounding cynical, I think admins (not mods/spamhunters) may secretly do the happy dance when the forum gets hammered like this. There's a lot they could do to combat the problem, or to empower the "front-line defenders" to be able to do more. But the admins simply do not show any signs at all of caring.
Re: WTF with the spam?!
We had a similar spam problem at our free software forum at uni. Our legendary admin put some cat pictures on the signup page and a small quiz relating to them. Never was a spam bot to be seen again.
Re: WTF with the spam?!
Because they don't care. I doubt that an admin (any admin) has so much as visited the forums in months. (Which admittedly leads to a very odd definition of "admin".)Bulkley wrote:So, why not?
One of the admins started a "how to improve the forum" thread almost a year ago, but began by saying pointedly that suggestions related to spamfighting were not among the improvements being solicited.
AFAIK, there are fewer than a half-dozen people (mods and spamhunters) who have the power to nuke the spam. And for reasons passing all understanding, mods/spamhunters no longer have the ability to simply delete a spammers' account (and presumably all the associated posts as well). IIRC, that power simply vanished one day, without comment, warning, nor public explanation. So pity the next spamhunter who logs in, only to find 200-300 reported messages, each of which has to be deleted individually.
I want to be clear here: the moderators and spamhunters are not the problem. They do a difficult job under equally difficult conditions, and yet one of them actually took the time and effort to send me a PM a while back thanking me for my spam reporting efforts. The root problem is is forum admins, who either are genuinely indifferent, or do a positively amazing job of faking it. They won't do their job, and they ignore/resist any suggestion that others should be empowered to do it, either.
Re: WTF with the spam?!
I believe the complete lack of interest is simply due to "Forum Administrator for x-number of years" looking good on a resume. I can think of no other plausible reason.dasein wrote:The root problem is is forum admins, who either are genuinely indifferent, or do a positively amazing job of faking it.
Re: WTF with the spam?!
This has been a great forum but at times it gets almost strangled with spam. Should we all be looking to make a mass move to another forum? One that has the capacity and the will? Is there one?
Re: WTF with the spam?!
http://www.debianhelp.org/forumBulkley wrote:This has been a great forum but at times it gets almost strangled with spam. Should we all be looking to make a mass move to another forum? One that has the capacity and the will? Is there one?
But you know that, no?
"I am not fine with it, so there is nothing for me to do but stand aside." M.D.
Re: WTF with the spam?!
The answer is yes, but that is the wrong question. The question should be; Is there a viable forum with the capacity and will? The answer to that is none that I am aware of.Bulkley wrote:This has been a great forum but at times it gets almost strangled with spam. Should we all be looking to make a mass move to another forum? One that has the capacity and the will? Is there one?
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Re: WTF with the spam?!
I asked about the spammers last month and the message that came back was "There is a problem with the forum ban function, hopefully it will be fixed soon."
What is the problem and why isn't it fixed yet?
Two Forums I know (Kubuntu Forums and linuxforum.com) use the Spam-O-Matic system which seems to work very well - http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=248042
On the Ubuntux Forum members can be removed or blocked.
What is the problem and why isn't it fixed yet?
Two Forums I know (Kubuntu Forums and linuxforum.com) use the Spam-O-Matic system which seems to work very well - http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=248042
On the Ubuntux Forum members can be removed or blocked.
Re: WTF with the spam?!
,dasein wrote:Gotta feel sorry for the spamhunters. They are vastly too few in number, and their hands are basically tied by "don't care, don't have to" attitude of the admins.
There are only 3 of us active, saulgoode, deltaflyer, and myself. Our numbers are not the issue, its the fact they send us to a gunfight armed only with a water pistol.
When we try to ban a spambot, we get directed to a blank page. The admins are aware of the problem, ask them why it isn't fixed yet.arochester wrote: What is the problem and why isn't it fixed yet?
To all the good members who report spam, thank you, it helps us more than you think.
Re: WTF with the spam?!
A cynical soul might imagine that that's precisely the condition that the admins want to achieve.Bulkley wrote:Should we all be looking to make a mass move to another forum?
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, because the very highest-level poobahs don't give a crap.arochester wrote:What is the problem and why isn't it fixed yet?
(Pondering: do the young 'uns have any idea what the phrase "broken record" is meant to convey?)
If spamhunters have to remove individual spams manually, I have to imagine that such a task would be less mechanically burdensome if it were distributed among a larger base of folks. I know that I got really (really) tired of reporting spam yesterday, and basically gave up after several dozen. My thought (perhaps inaccurate) is that spam removal is at least as cumbersome and time-consuming as spam reporting.4D696B65 wrote:Our numbers are not the issue, its the fact they send us to a gunfight armed only with a water pistol.
But hey, you're the spamhunter. If you say that you three have it covered, I take your word for it. Though I seem to recall a great deal of flourish about appointing a fourth spamhunter; apparently that didn't quite work out.
What about us bad members who also happen, quite by coincidence, to report spam?4D696B65 wrote:To all the good members who report spam, thank you
In all seriousness, I meant what I said above. I think that FDN spamhunters do an absolutely amazing job, given how badly hamstrung you are by "highers-up."
Re: WTF with the spam?!
Funny too that a moderator has got the time to close a real thread,
but at the same time ignores the spam-problem.
Yeah, that one single thread with a bit of blah-blah is a serious problem these days ...
I send an email to admins/stuff/etc and asked if anything could be done about the spam problem.
By the way (aka: it won't hurd if others do that too. My reputation ain't the best ever seen on earth):
http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=7928
but at the same time ignores the spam-problem.
Yeah, that one single thread with a bit of blah-blah is a serious problem these days ...
I send an email to admins/stuff/etc and asked if anything could be done about the spam problem.
By the way (aka: it won't hurd if others do that too. My reputation ain't the best ever seen on earth):
http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=7928
"I am not fine with it, so there is nothing for me to do but stand aside." M.D.
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Re: WTF with the spam?!
The spammers are now addressing their spam to the other spammers.
http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=92911
The circle is complete, the spampocalypse is Nigh.
http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=92911
The circle is complete, the spampocalypse is Nigh.
The Forum's search box is terrible. Use site specific search, e.g.
https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3A ... terms+here
https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3A ... terms+here
Re: WTF with the spam?!
Yet again this afternoon (PST), nearly half of the first page of "active" topics are new spam threads.
Can't speak for anyone else, of course. But for myself, this is starting to get old. I suspect that others may be feeling the same way.
It'll be sad if this board ends up going under because the admins won't arm the spamhunters with adequate tools.
Can't speak for anyone else, of course. But for myself, this is starting to get old. I suspect that others may be feeling the same way.
It'll be sad if this board ends up going under because the admins won't arm the spamhunters with adequate tools.