QuakerInfo.com Forum

wsamuel · Posted: Mon Oct 3, 2005 12:36 pm Post subject: Spam here

We have a number of incidences of people posting spam here, with links to questionable commercial and/or pornographic sites. I remove these posts as soon as I find them, and ban the offenders. Some of them use crafty means so that these links are only visible when highlighted.

I appreciate when people notify me by PM (see pm link at the bottom of each post) or e-mail when they find spam here.

A number of people register here, and put in their profile spam links. That they are spam is usually quite obvious from the URL. It is my policy to do nothing about this unless they post in an objectionable manner. Most of them never post here.
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Bill Samuel, Webservant, QuakerInfo.com

wsamuel · Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2006 10:23 pm Post subject:

Someone in a thread started by a spammer, and therefore deleted, indicated there were bots which allowed people to spam Forums like these. The message noted that some Forums require registrants to put letters and numbers from a visual image in a box to sign up for the Forum. This, in fact, is the case for this Forum, so spammers can not use automated means to sign up and post in this Forum. Only registered users are allowed to post.

But with all this, we still get spam posts not infrequently.
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Bill Samuel, Webservant, QuakerInfo.com

wsamuel · Posted: Mon Apr 24, 2006 4:43 am Post subject:

Spam here has increased dramatically. I frequently have to delete several posts a day, and I also ban the spammers. Unfortunately, this software does not offer the kind of options I would like to have to enable me to control it without interfering with legitimate participants or greatly increasing the administrative workload.

I have made a couple of changes. I now ban users based solely on a profile with a spam or pornographic link. I also now require an email verification to register, which should help as many spammers use phony email addresses.
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Bill Samuel, Webservant, QuakerInfo.com

wsamuel · Posted: Wed Apr 26, 2006 5:04 am Post subject:

The email verification hasn't proved to be that much of a deterrent to spammers. Therefore, I have moved to require Administrator approval to register. I don't know how well this will work. Unfortunately, the software does not allow any configuration of what information a registrant needs to provide.
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Bill Samuel, Webservant, QuakerInfo.com

wsamuel · Posted: Mon Jun 19, 2006 7:12 pm Post subject:

The method of requiring the administrator to approve registrants seems to have been effective in preventing spam. The email that goes to those seeking registration tells them how to contact me to explain why they want to be registered. Most attempting registration don't respond, but a number have. None of those have been a problem.

The one issue that still bothers people is the Memberlist. It includes everyone who tried to register, whether or not they ultimately succeeded (and most don't). Many of them put in objectionable URLs as their Web site, and some of them use objectionable names. As best as I can determine, the software provides no way for me to keep them off the Memberlist. So I think we just have to live with that.
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Bill Samuel, Webservant, QuakerInfo.com

Diane · Joined: 19 Mar 2007 Posts: 214 Location: Australia

Thought I should let you know that there is a spy-bot embedded somewhere in the second page of postings about modesty and clothing - titled "Why are dresses considered more modest than pants"?

My own anti-spy ware is silent until I go into the second page of the thread. It alarms again on the third page. I guess someone brought it with them,unwittingly, from their own computer.
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"Friend, consider that you may be mistaken."

wsamuel · Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 8:10 pm Post subject:

I've tried to investigate, but I find no evidence of this. Any such detection software will have a certain number of false positives, and I suspect this is what is happening. But if anyone can find evidence of a problem in a specific post, please let me know.
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Bill Samuel, Webservant, QuakerInfo.com

Shay · Joined: 01 Jun 2005 Posts: 885

For what it's worth- you can't post a spybot as far as I know. You could upload it to a webpage, but you wouldn't be able to put a program in a post that would download itself to a user's computer.

Did it happen once, or more than once? It's possible it's reacting to some words in that thread rather than software. The ol' net geek in me noticed tempting, cherry, girls repeated several times, sexuality, etc... all perfectly normal for the conversation, but a program might pick up on them as being associated with pron. (And I misspell it so search engine don't pick this website up for that word.)

More on malware can be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malware

Including the various ways it can infect someone's computer.

FWIW< I browse using Firefox, an alternate web browser, and never get a pop-up here except when I log on asking if I'll accept a cookie. (Basically a small data packet kept in my browser that shows I'm 'me' so I don't have to log in each time.)