Is there any reason the "!" Button could not be used usefully? Many big sites like Amazon and the like have a user-based spam filter, where if enough users mark a post as spam, the system is automated to delete or collapse it. Seems like a simple bit of programming, to make a button that deletes the post if, say, 10 users mark it as spam.
RealMiniDriver wrote:Osterkraut wrote:Agreed. I think it may be the whole “grassroots" mentality. “I can make something better than an off-the-shelf product."SVreX wrote: I'm curious why. Why is this site such an attraction for canoes? They are MUCH more prevalent here than other comparably sized sites. Software? Web management decisions? User's surfing habits? Poor filtering? Canoes like cars? As a frequent user, it makes me concerned for my own system's integrity. But mostly, I am just interested in learning.The price of using home-spun forum software. vBulletin has countless apps designed to stop spam from getting posted. I never really understood why GRM chose to reinvent the wheel like they did.
Unfortunately this ended up more like that wagon Corvette and less like the Midlana.
It's not just here, in the last week my personal spam count has gone up.
This morning I deleted/reported 41 pieces of spam that arrived since 1:00 a.m.
I hope there's a spam hell for those people when they die and I wish someone would hurry that process along. 
Sora kinda unrelated related: I have gotten a LOT of calls from 'Unavailable' on my cell. I answered the first one, it was pretty obviously a boiler room sales call so I disconnected ASAP. Since then I have gotten 39 more of the damn things and it seems that since 'Unavailable' means the caller ID can't see the number I can't block the damn things. It also seems that the numbers these calls come from get switched around to overcome a single number being blocked, to make it better Verizon used to offer a $4.99 a month service to block these type calls but it's been dicontinued. If I EVER get my hands on these azzholes, well I'll be posting from a prison cell.
Since I'm 8 1/2 hours off from east coast time, I'll do what I can.
bastomatic wrote: Is there any reason the "!" Button could not be used usefully? Many big sites like Amazon and the like have a user-based spam filter, where if enough users mark a post as spam, the system is automated to delete or collapse it. Seems like a simple bit of programming, to make a button that deletes the post if, say, 10 users mark it as spam.
The "!" button can auto-collapse threads, but I would recommend setting it up so it ALSO sends the canoe sinkers a PM or email as well so they can give it a more permanent sinking instead of just collapsing it.
Curmudgeon wrote: Sora kinda unrelated related: I have gotten a LOT of calls from 'Unavailable' on my cell. I answered the first one, it was pretty obviously a boiler room sales call so I disconnected ASAP. Since then I have gotten 39 more of the damn things and it seems that since 'Unavailable' means the caller ID can't see the number I can't block the damn things. It also seems that the numbers these calls come from get switched around to overcome a single number being blocked, to make it better Verizon used to offer a $4.99 a month service to block these type calls but it's been dicontinued. If I EVER get my hands on these azzholes, well I'll be posting from a prison cell.
I managed to get one of those guys to stop calling me - it was some sort of robodialer, and I was annoyed enough that I decided to follow through on the "Push 1" just to see if I could annoy them even more than they annoyed me. Conversation went something like this:
Telemarketer: Hello, may I please have your name?
Me: Ok, it's Allen. I need to get your name now.
Telemarketer: Ok, my name is [pauses a bit while he tries to remember his alias] Greg Smith.
Me: May I get the name of your employer, their mailing address, and a callback number?
May I ask why you need this?
Me: So I can tell where to send the subpoena. [I know, I should have said "summons" here - non lawyer winging it.]
Telemarketer: Subpoena? WHAT?!? Why did you want to send a subpoena?
Me: Using an illegal robodialing program, violating the Do Not Call list, and whatever other violations of Federal Trade Commission rules we determine you've broken here.
Telemarketer: Er, uh, we were referred to you...
Me: Please give the name and address of the company that issued the referral.
Telemarketer: Er... I'll add you to our do not call list.
Me: Not good enough. Please give me your mailing address as I requested.
Telemarketer: (Hangs up right away)
At least it appears he was telling the truth about putting my name on a do not call list.
Chris_V wrote:SVreX wrote: I'm curious why. Why is this site such an attraction for canoes? They are MUCH more prevalent here than other comparably sized sites.I'm a mod on a couple of other car forums and they are just as prevalent there. It IS a full time job keeping up with it. We've tried making it harder to register, and it still happens.
I'm sure that is true.
Isn't that part of the cost of running a forum?
Doesn't change the obligation/ responsibility to the readership, advertisers, etc.
The fact that it is less evident to the users on some sites is evidence that it is being handled differently.
I'm not being critical, just honest.
I know I have reduced my time here- perhaps others have too.
I look forward to the upcoming improvements and am, as always, appreciative of the staff, and willing to help if asked.
I've been getting phone numbers that read like +190 544 388 27 so that it will bypass the ID and you can't block or at least don't realize you need to block.
Where else can you report spam other than:
"FTC spam@uce.gov"
& spam @ your service provider.
Am I missing any other good places to report them?
foxtrapper wrote: it's becoming steadily harder to sift through the trash to find real threads. Might well be time for some rather draconian measures by the board moderators to keep the spammers out.
Considering that spam is usually obvious from the thread title alone, I'm going to go ahead and say that this is quite an exaggeration.
MadScientistMatt wrote:bastomatic wrote: Is there any reason the "!" Button could not be used usefully? Many big sites like Amazon and the like have a user-based spam filter, where if enough users mark a post as spam, the system is automated to delete or collapse it. Seems like a simple bit of programming, to make a button that deletes the post if, say, 10 users mark it as spam.The "!" button can auto-collapse threads, but I would recommend setting it up so it ALSO sends the canoe sinkers a PM or email as well so they can give it a more permanent sinking instead of just collapsing it.
I'd love to see the '!' button properly implemented during a site revision. having it email/PM is one option. Having it log the post to a table is another option
For now try using the new canoes to delete thread.
Duke wrote:foxtrapper wrote: it's becoming steadily harder to sift through the trash to find real threads. Might well be time for some rather draconian measures by the board moderators to keep the spammers out.Considering that spam is usually obvious from the thread title alone, I'm going to go ahead and say that this is quite an exaggeration.
No, it's not obvious.
The random spam that is going to umpteen dozen places might be obvious but more and more the guys are tailoring the spam to the site with titles that could be real. It's more effective that way.
Duke wrote: Considering that spam is usually obvious from the thread title alone, I'm going to go ahead and say that this is quite an exaggeration.
You weren't in here this morning, were you? Almost three complete pages of canoes before I found real posts. And no, they aren't obvious.
More draconian measures up front regulating posting would greatly relieve the work and mess of attempting to clean them up after they've been posted.
carguy123 wrote:Duke wrote:No, it's not obvious. The random spam that is going to umpteen dozen places might be obvious but more and more the guys are tailoring the spam to the site with titles that could be real. It's more effective that way.foxtrapper wrote: it's becoming steadily harder to sift through the trash to find real threads. Might well be time for some rather draconian measures by the board moderators to keep the spammers out.Considering that spam is usually obvious from the thread title alone, I'm going to go ahead and say that this is quite an exaggeration.
plus the spammers are just adding a post to an existing thread .. and not just zombie threads ... there was one yesterday that had been tagged to the UTCC thread ... Joey took care of it ... yea Joey
wbjones wrote:carguy123 wrote:plus the spammers are just adding a post to an existing thread .. and not just zombie threads ... there was one yesterday that had been tagged to the UTCC thread ... Joey took care of it ... yea JoeyDuke wrote:No, it's not obvious. The random spam that is going to umpteen dozen places might be obvious but more and more the guys are tailoring the spam to the site with titles that could be real. It's more effective that way.foxtrapper wrote: it's becoming steadily harder to sift through the trash to find real threads. Might well be time for some rather draconian measures by the board moderators to keep the spammers out.Considering that spam is usually obvious from the thread title alone, I'm going to go ahead and say that this is quite an exaggeration.
This is a bigger problem. On teh two boards i moderate, the spammers have taken to adding responses to threads and you have to weed them out while keeping the thread intact. Today I came into one of the forums and found 50 posts added to a single thread, all by one time posters. Banning doesn't work, and we've taken steps with captcha and the like for making registration tougher. And it still gets through somehow.
Several boards I am on have an intro thread that you must post 3-5 times in before you gain the privilege to post in the open forums. If anything, it could make it easier to find canoe posts easier by grouping them in one area.
I don't recommend the Admin activated accounts for everyone new either.....that is more of a PITA. I would volunteer to help kill spam, but I am somewhat unpredictable when I am on here......but I generally check in once an hour from 0900-0300hours.
moparman76_69 wrote: Perhaps we really should prepare the coastal defenses by giving some more people Mod powers.
I like the idea of dronestrikes on their IP's location.
Got a tip: On the signup page maybe have a little message saying something like "Note to spammers: Enforcement on this board is swift and efficient. You will not be successful." It's the truth (even considering the recent outbreak) so maybe that will demoralize some of them.
OK, this is getting crazy, a more aggressive idea:
A "report spam" button similar to previous suggestions, but if 5 or more people report a user's first post within say 1 hour, their account and everything they ever made is wiped out. I assume reports are trackable so it should be pretty abuse-proof (not that we have those kinda users on here anyway 
)
I think I like both the ideas of the ! button actually working for spam and disabling a user's account and all posts if over 5 people report them AND having an "intro" section which requires a certain number of posts.
Though with the rate Sabio555 is going, he'll be a Dork by lunch time.
MadScientistMatt wrote: I'd suggest adding a "report spam" button, combined with some extra moderators to help with the load.
This is a good idea.
It's funny how these canoes come in waves. I've noticed it here and on the MG forum I frequent.
I'd LOVE to see this board go to vBulletin or some other off-the-shelf system for lots of reasons, like being able to use mobile apps like Tapatalk or Forum Runner, better editing and picture embedding, a real search function, etc. But I understand it's not in the offing, so it is what it is.
My solution would be to arm the villagers. Appoint a few more trusted users as moderators to reduce the workload on the existing ones and just keep squishing the bugs as they appear.
Mmadness wrote: Would it be possible to limit the number of accounts per IP adress? Basically, it is the same canoe over and over so if we can eliminate this one spammer, we should be canoe free.
With the amount of TORs/Proxies out there this would be useless. It helps in preventing that particular IP from ever revisiting the site again but there are plenty of ways for spammers to circumvent an IP block and continue on with their malicious ways. Plus most spam comes from botnets and commanded/controlled from an IRC. Block one IP they'll simply use another one of their zombies to perform the desired action.
Adding some complexity to the registration process would be an easy solution to mitigate some of the spamming. Requesting an answer to a question, responding to a confirmation e-mail for account activation, or anything to just add a few more steps the registration process will help.
Let's just be thankful they aren't compromising our legitimate usernames for spam yet.
In reply to GameboyRMH:
+1
I like that idea. It definitely needs to be reverted back to an admin to get the final boot out the door.
Tom_Spangler wrote: My solution would be to arm the villagers. Appoint a few more trusted users as moderators to reduce the workload on the existing ones and just keep squishing the bugs as they appear.
As of this a.m., we've got two more people to do that.
[....and no, everybody, it is not always the same IP, or domain.]
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