Is it time to address the Spam issue again?

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Beesie
Beesie Member Posts: 12,240
edited June 2014 in Comments, Suggestions, Feature Requests

The number of spammers and spam posts had been cut down considerably when the policy to limit new members to 5 posts a day was in place.  I understand why that policy wasn't popular and appreciate why new members are now allowed unlimited numbers of posts.  Personally I think that a number of new issues have arisen as a result of this change in policy... and one of the issues is that we now get many more spammers.

Today the "Waiting for Test Results" forum is being overrun by spammers. Currently there are 22 spam posts among the first 25 posts in that forum.  This is a bit more than the average weekend, but it is similar to what we see every weekend.

Is it time to relook new member posting priviledges so that we can stop these spammers?


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  • proudtospin
    proudtospin Member Posts: 5,972
    edited July 2013

    I would conquer but not sure how to stop, as in why the devil do I want to watch a fight online here!

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  • Sinfullyd
    Sinfullyd Member Posts: 88
    edited July 2013

    Being a fairly new member if this site I have been very confused about all these video posts. Just thought it was a member trying to keep other people with films lol it is very frustrating as I have not been diagnosed yet so the waiting for results section is the one I read the most. I hope there is a way to stop it!

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  • proudtospin
    proudtospin Member Posts: 5,972
    edited July 2013

    sinfully, it is not normal and I am sure the moderators will resolve the issue

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  • Moderators
    Moderators Member Posts: 25,912
    edited July 2013

    Many thanks to all of you who reported the spam posts today. They have all been removed, and their automated authors have been banned.

    Today was unusually bad, and we're very sorry for the disruption! These commercial spammers are getting smarter though (or their programmers are), and know to limit the number of posts each bot makes so they're less likely to trigger flood controls - they just send in lots of bots.

    We'll be reviewing all the spammy posters with the tech team, to see if there's something else we may be able to restrict their access. Unfortunately, this likely isn't the last we'll see of this type of thing!

    proudtospin, we've always wondered about these boxing/sports spammers too - maybe because we talk about "fighting" BC they think there's an interest? More likely their programmers just look for busy, active forums, whatever the subject.

    •  Your Mods

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  • gonegirl
    gonegirl Member Posts: 1,871
    edited July 2013

    Maybe set up a catchpa when someone signs up as a new user

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  • proudtospin
    proudtospin Member Posts: 5,972
    edited July 2013

    mods, you ma have  it the trigger as we do talk about fighting alot!

    I know on my little aol e mail, I can block certain words so it possible to block a word, sure is possible to use it to target also

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  • Moderators
    Moderators Member Posts: 25,912
    edited July 2013

    gritgirl, the team has introduced a CAPTCHA (Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart), and we have other security/access measures in place. As these spammers evolve their methods, we are too - just not quite fast enough for today's onslaught!

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  • curveball
    curveball Member Posts: 3,040
    edited July 2013

    just a thought, is the forum software able to recognize and divert to moderation any post with more than (say) five links in it? I've noticed that the video spams often have a large number of links, and I don't think there are often valid posts from forum members with more than five links in the same post.

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  • Moderators
    Moderators Member Posts: 25,912
    edited July 2013

    curveball, we'll add that suggestionn to our discussion with the tech wizards, thanks!

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  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited July 2013

    Just reported 2 in the LE forum.

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  • Moderators
    Moderators Member Posts: 25,912
    edited July 2013

    Thank you, Musical! The posts have been deleted, and the spammer is banned.

    • The Mods

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  • GoWithTheFlow
    GoWithTheFlow Member Posts: 727
    edited July 2013

    another crapload posted tonight.  Seems like it's the same or similar username as past posts. 

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  • fredntan
    fredntan Member Posts: 1,821
    edited July 2013

    the sports ones never interested me, but lately they advertise popular shows. are they legite? i dont have cable anymore, so would love to watch game of thrones. do I get virus if I click on them? just wondering

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  • GoWithTheFlow
    GoWithTheFlow Member Posts: 727
    edited July 2013

    I would be hesitant to click on anything that was spam like that.  There's got to be some catch to it if they spend their time posting on a breast cancer site like that.  Either they are getting $$ from ads when you click their link, or they are going to give your computer a virus.

    Have you tried hulu, amazon videos, netflix, etc.?

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  • Moderators
    Moderators Member Posts: 25,912
    edited July 2013

    Very good advice, GoWithTheFlow!

    These spammers, whether for sports, events, TV shows or whatever, are NOT legit. They and others like them post here on Breastcancer.org, and on thousands of sites all over the internet. For your own security, DO NOT CLICK on links in these ads.

    As always, thank you to everyone who reports spam - you all rock!

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  • curveball
    curveball Member Posts: 3,040
    edited July 2013

    Let me guess, if you click on the link, at some point you will be asked for your credit card number to "subscribe" to their (phony) video service, and instead of videos, you get your identity stolen. Is that it?

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  • Moderators
    Moderators Member Posts: 25,912
    edited July 2013

    curveball, it could be that, or as relatively unthreatening as the advertiser building lots of posts with inbound links in order to boost their search engine ranking. Whatever the motive, they don't belong here on BCO, and we continue to add ways to stop them interrupting our members with such spam.

    • The Mods

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