Recognizing Spam

[digitS']

It must take some training! I am wondering if having "signatures" has some of attraction for spammers.

Obviously, if there is a link in the post to some site that sells something - it is a spammer. It may even be a spam-bot. But, what if it is just some innocent statement like "Hahahaha.......That great!!" What does that even mean? Maybe "that" is "great." Maybe not.

I don't envy Nifty and the other administrators their jobs. What I think may happen is that the spammer posts numerous messages like "Hahahaha.......That great!!" throughout the forum and then comes back in a few weeks and, having the required number of posts, puts in a signature line. Bang - there is the spam all through the forums. Multiple deleting is now required by the administration.

I did a google search for "Hahahaha.......That great!!" That didn't turn up any good information, that's for sure. Then I looked for the name of the poster - Dozens & Dozens & Dozens of forums! Everything from golf to maltese dogs to medical students and the list goes on and on . . .

(Next I suppose the spammers will use a multitude of different names on a multitude of forums and then Hahahaha.......That great!!)

Steve

 

[897tgigvib]

I didn't think of that when I saw those non sequitor posts.

Did you report it to Nifty Digit?

 

[so lucky]

I've been seeing those. I have been giving the poster the benefit of a doubt: thinking perhaps they were some barely English speaking shy lurker who wanted to be part of the game, but didn't have much to say. But DigitS' I think your idea makes more sense. Guess time will tell.

 

[digitS']

I reported one about a month ago that was just:

blah

blah

blah

Little short messages just scattered throughout the forum in just a matter of a couple minutes. But, let's say someone is around for 2 or 3 weeks and has just 1 or 2 messages each visit. Yeah, how would one know this is just a spammer?

I could still be wrong - didn't click "report." Could be just a lonely soul but the #'s of forums joined!!!

It kind of seems like there's a risk to having "signatures." Unless Nifty can expunge everything someone has posted in one fell swoop.

Steve

 

[897tgigvib]

I went ahead and reported it to give Nifty a chance to see those posts to decide.

Some things ya just gotta let the boss know about to decide. I categorized it as "other". Hope that was the right way.

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

i've mostly noticed when it is an older thread that seems to have been 'lost' for some time and suddenly there is someone new that posts something non-sensible to the thread, and they never seem to introduce themselves first!

maybe there could be a stipulation that you aren't allowed to post to any threads before you post a 'where am I? where are you?' about themselves.

 

[Nifty]

Great discussion!!!

Spam management is actually a really interesting area of science and art! There is a TON of great research and tools out there and it's always cat & mouse game with spammers. In fact, I have an article on my blog about forum spammers and the types: http://www.nifty-stuff.com/stop-forum-spam-anti-spam-systems.php

In general, the biggest problem is tenacious and patient human spammers. The spam-bots and people that sign up, post 20 times with links in each post... those are easy to stop and kill... it's the ones that join, post once, wait a week, post again, etc. that are tricky. Big red flags are a new member linking to the same URL in signatures and posts... there's usually only one reason someone new posts the same link more than once, and it's to drive traffic.

Also, finding the balance between stopping spammers but not blocking legit members is tricky. On one end of the spectrum we could block 100% of spam by closing the forum to new members and new posts, but on the other end we could open the forum up to guest posting and be flooded with spam.

If someone looks like a spammer, but we're not 100% sure they are, we usually err on the side of giving them the benefit of the doubt and wait till they start posting links, etc.

Good news: The new system has some really awesome anti-spam features and spam management tools. If you're bored, here is some more info about it (including a video): http://xenforo.com/help/spam/

 

[Nyboy]

Here is a dumb question what harm does spam do?

 

[digitS']

Well, that's a great question!

I think often we are more sensitive to things than is warranted but you know me, Nyboy. I am "wordy!"

I often go on to several paragraphs and often put links in . . . which I have to find and open in other tabs, copy/paste - etc. Put some picture in ~ that is clickable ~ and linked to some cute song ♪ ♫ or whatever ಠ_ಠ,.

Of course, I'm not likely to do any of that in response to "HaHa."

Have you ever seen a forum that is no longer monitored, Nyboy? One has to wonder if it was abandoned because the spam outnumbered the real posts! Tons of spam! The spam-bots don't know and I wonder if the human spammers even notice that nobody has actually posted a question or a comment for several days. Tons of it! A little scary . . .

Steve

 

[Ridgerunner]

What harm does spam do? I agree, a great question. It will be fun to hear Niftys perspective. I cant remember who, but someone else on here has run forums before also. Their perspective will also be interesting.

Spam is a great way to spread viruses. Be careful in opening links in anything that looks suspicious.

If you open a link in spam, that might tell the spammers or spambots that is a real address. You can get swamped by spam.

Spam is aggravating. Youre trying to hold a conversation with someone, spam is an interruption. If a forum is swamped with spam to the point people cant hold conversations, they quit going there.