Recent SPAM in this forum

ChrisHall

could one of the forum moderators do anything about the SPAM currently hitting the forums?

The main culprits appear to be

anterama

LoummaDaulp

kassileso

Narkdervert

floorroff

jonaserag

Viedneweeno

glalomsmimi

Nick

drymnsherry

elewoltarne

jmsnjjmsn

sterfuemits

Othetstut

BopMeantyMato

Thanks

Chris

L-5jockey

Here's a few more accounts that are spammers!

reibiomoberly

Othetstut

sterfuemits

These dozen or so, may all be coming from the same source.

It may be time for airport-data.com to implement a more secure verification system,

for registering new users (authors) as currently used by most other forums sites.

As this site generates more traffic and becomes more popular, it also become more attractive to spammers.

John

ChrisHall

traivanam has SPAMMED the boards 106 times in two days

Bluedharma

Airport-data.com members,

I have reviewed each of the forums, and have removed any messages that are not appropriate or non-aviation related.

All users that have posted those messages have been removed from the system.

I have also reviewed the recent users that have joined. I have removed those users that were clearly joining to post SPAM.

I apologize for the recent rush of SPAM. This is a family friendly site and we wish to keep it that way.

We will be keeping a close eye on postings, and will attempt to do the best we can on keeping this site family friendly.

Thank you for your understanding.

Bluedharma

ChrisHall

Here' another one

digHokskist

Bluedharma

The spam is happening almost faster than I can keep on top of it. We are getting entries almost every hour on the hour.

Every hour we have about 20 new users who are not valid.

A new method of registering needs to be looked into.

I am having a hard time keeping on top of this.

MalcolmClarke

The work of Bluedharma is I feel sure appreciated by us all but the problem continues.

I no longer refer to the content of "Recent Forum Posts" on the front page as clearly the majority of members posts are being crowded out by those of the low life who seek to use the site for their own commercial purposes.

Would it be beneficial in the short term to replace this section by a list of the forums (or should that be fora!) which would diminish the publicity given to these people?

Malcolm.

Bluedharma

Thanks Malcolm.

I am removing about 6-10 new users per hour. I am not even sure if they are all spammers (which is a concern to me)...

Most of the spammers are putting links in the signature, and I have added to the restricted word listing in attempts to catch these words before they post. Sadly, I can not restrict words like "furniture"... Many of the posts are regarding services???

I can continue to remove new users (before they post), but I am afraid that I will remove some valid users.

Perhaps a method of approving users prior to any post would be welcome, but I am unable to find that feature in the admin section.

Any advice would be welcome.

Regards,

Ztex

Paul,

Thanks for the hard work on this...it's not much fun, I know.

This forum seems to b much more susceptible to this kind of thing...

All of the forums I visit now require an e-mail confirmation / response prior to posting. Even then a few azzhats slip through and post spam...but at least it is manageable.

I remember Ken posting last year that he had installed some form of spam filter thing...I wonder if there is something else that could be done?

Zane

Bluedharma

Thanks Zane,

Ken does have a good spam "word" filtering system. So it filters out lot of the nasty..nasty stuff...

I am having problems with the spam that is posted about furniture, car keys and vacations... It is hard to put words into the system to block those.

When I look at the logs, there is many more users as of Jan 1, 2011 that are signing up now with the clear intent of posting spam.

I wonder why this is happening all of a sudden???

Weird...

Bluedharma

So far so good. Over an hour and no bad posts.

I put a few word filters into the spam filter that may catch some of these guys.

Hope it works.

Ztex

Oops...spoke too soon.

Bluedharma

Changed some more settings... Crossing fingers now.

Bluedharma

OK...

When these new (SPAM) users try to sign up this is what they get...

Your account has been created. However, this forum requires account activation by the administrator. An e-mail has been sent to them and you will be informed when your account has been activated

That should fix their wagon... :

TimothyAanerud

Yes. Authentication/validation of users will help.

Bluedharma

Thanks Timothy for posting! It has been "quiet" for about 4-5 hours.

I was afraid that I had "locked" everyone out for awhile...

Made some changes that should make a difference.

Lots of "SPAM" people are signing up... but they are getting bounced before they post.

So it looks like the Spam is somewhat under control. (I hope...)

I will continue to review to keep this forum safe and open for aviation enthusiasts.

Thanks again to everyone for their understanding.

Ken Wang

I am back, finally. The project is really a tough one for me.

Thanks a lot to Paul for the effort to keep this site clean. I think you made the right decision to activate "new account approval" function.

I will catch up asap.

Ken