New twist on the SPAM assaults

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badboob67
badboob67 Member Posts: 2,780
edited June 2014 in Comments, Suggestions, Feature Requests

Mods, we are now being spammed in yet another "creative" way by our dear friend "sophie".  He/she is posting to threads and just writing "try this" and then making the text an active link. He is using the tinyURL application to hide the fact that the link is going to his treat cancer dot nl website.

Locking the box on the URL-posting tool that allows us to display hyperlinked text rather than the actual URL should take care of the problem.  

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  • AnnNYC
    AnnNYC Member Posts: 4,484
    edited April 2008

    Also, mods -- if the "members list" had a sort feature, and we could sort by date joined, one could keep easily find the newest members. I for one would be happy to volunteer a "shift" to monitor new members for spam activity.

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  • Beesie
    Beesie Member Posts: 12,240
    edited April 2008

    Ann, that's a great suggestion.  It used to be easy to find his posts, but now that he's simply responding in someone else's thread, he is much harder to find.  He's already joined under two different names within the last couple of hours and I wouldn't be surprised if he's on now under another name but unless one of our small group who watch for these things happens to come across his post, it could be hours or days before he is discovered.  By listing members based on the date they joined, we can flush him out very quickly and much more easily.

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  • althea
    althea Member Posts: 1,595
    edited April 2008

    Ann, that is a GREAT suggestion! Mods, I certainly hope that your custom made software includes varying levels of login access rights.  You have here yet another offer for help.  Inquiring minds are wondering why these offers seem to echo into an empty chamber.  

    I've seen links that say tinyurl, but I'm not familiar with what that feature does.  Could someone explain? 

    Spammers are relentless.  They are one of the top five reasons I used to develop websites for people and run message boards, but not anymore.  They're just like cancer!  Bloodsuckers.  Oops, there I go with name calling, and I don't like to do that.  Guess that goes to show I have a higher opinion of the 'men' in the polygamists camps than I do spammers!  :)  

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  • badboob67
    badboob67 Member Posts: 2,780
    edited April 2008

    Althea,

    According to tinyurl.com:

    Are you posting something that you don't want people to know what the URL is because it might give away that it's an affiliate link? Then you can enter a URL into TinyURL, and your affiliate link will be hidden from the visitor, only the tinyurl.com address and the ending address will be visible to your visitors. 

    Basically, it is a script that will take a URL (of any length) and rewrite it. When one clicks on a "tinyurl" hyperlink, they are sent to the original URL through a re-direct from tinyurl. This is a GOOD thing when cutting/pasting extra long links that can go on for line after line, but our spammer (scumsucking bottomfeeder that he is) is using it to cloak the link to his website. It would appear that he has decided to take the anti-spam measures here personally. At this point, the possible revenue that could come from his continued attacks surely cannot outweigh the extra effort he is making to continue his spamming. He seems especially interested in posting to the palliative and metastatic sections of the boards. There is a special place in hell for people like this.

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  • Beesie
    Beesie Member Posts: 12,240
    edited April 2008

    Today I found another one of these posts from Marilyn543. 

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  • AnnNYC
    AnnNYC Member Posts: 4,484
    edited April 2008

    And there were three from "Feg45" -- again in the mets and palliative sections.

    (Not to be confused with "feg1" who is a real BC sister)

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