This is getting really old, really quick

bljones · #1 04-11-2012

Nothing to see here. Everything is fine.

Faster · #2 04-11-2012

Easy bl.... I just got on line and have banned about 25 posts/threads in the last few minutes. These spam bombing runs are unfortunate, but given different time zones and we mods' 'other lives' this kind of thing gets dealt with asap, once we either see it or a report on it.

Have another cup of coffee....

LandLocked66c · #3 04-11-2012

If you've never run forum software then you wouldn't know how much of a full time job it is to monitor. Especially when the software guys won't implement a simple question type verification to make the user verify they aren't bots. Once I implemented that on my forums there was never a problem again! All forums should have this, it eliminates all but the actual paid spammers and those folks can be dealt with handily...

bljones · #4 04-11-2012

Faster, I'm gonna work really hard at not being offended by your answer.

This is the only sailing forum I frequent with this kind of issue.
This is the only forum of any type that I frequent, with this kind of issue.
This has been an ongoing issue for as long as I have been here.
This is the first time I have brought it up.
Instead of "we're working on it," or "thanks for bringing it up" or "yeah, we know, it's ongoing, any ideas?"
I get "Have another cup of coffee."

LandLocked66c · #5 04-11-2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by bljones

I get "Have another cup of coffee."

Fair enough really!

bljones · #6 04-11-2012

Have you been told yet today?

Maine Sail · #7 04-11-2012

BLJ,

I can assure you this is not the only sailing forum with these issues. These spammers are getting very clever and are relentless. I ban a lot of them, as do the guys here, but they just come back. We've taken to blocking specific lots of IP addresses but then you run the risk of a real user not having access...

Some forums have gone to asking new users to answer a few "interest related" trivia questions that ANY sailor would know but some spammer in a net cafe in India has no clue about.

Like:

"How many sails on a sloop?"
"What is a Yanmar?"
"What is the weight in a keel called"

No easy answer to the spammers except to do your part and use the report post icon. I use it on SN 3-4 days per week for spammers as I am East coast and up early . The crew here reacts pretty quickly..

Report Post =

Use it...

tdw · #8 04-11-2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by bljones

Faster, I'm gonna work really hard at not being offended by your answer.

This is the only sailing forum I frequent with this kind of issue.
This is the only forum of any type that I frequent, with this kind of issue.
This has been an ongoing issue for as long as I have been here.
This is the first time I have brought it up.
Instead of "we're working on it," or "thanks for bringing it up" or "yeah, we know, it's ongoing, any ideas?"
I get "Have another cup of coffee."

Jones,

Unfair to to even think about slamming Fast. Unfair and out of line. Mate, if you even need to think about not being offended by that line then you probably do need to have another cup.

Reality is that at certain times Mod/Admin presence is limited particularly around holiday periods and yes sometimes it does take a few hours for Spam to be erradicated. In this latest instance , all down to a single spammer, 24 posts were made in a very short period of time and all within the last 4 - 13 hours and all by now deleted and users banned. Unfortunately in this instance the spammer slipped in between my going off line last evening and Fast coming on line this morning (my time). Jeff obviously wasn't around earlier as he normally would be. Had Jeff H been here the spam would have been deleted even earlier.

It is obvious in reality however that security needs tightening, it always does and it always will. After the last software upgrade which included better screening of new users, spam did drop off but it now appears to be increasing again, albeit in this last instance all down to one spammer. MaineSail offered a suggestions for improved security , it will be discussed and if admin agrees then implemented.

While you suggest that as a commercial site SailNet should get on top of this more efficiently surely you can understand that the forums are managed largely by the Mods who are unpaid volunteers. We see a reported post, we see a spammer in action then we do something about it but there are those occasions when for various reasons, holidays as mentioned above being one of them, that a mod is not online 24 hours a day and even when on line if Spam goes unreported it make take time for us to see it.

In this instance I don't know exactly when the spam was first reported (some time last night my time) but I do note that of those 24 spam posts only five of them were reported, three by the same person.

To you Jonesy in particular , to anyone in general, if you see spam you have two options. The easy one is simply report the post and that will come to a Mod's attention quickly enough but it is subject to how often we check our mail. Slightly more time consuming perhaps, but you could also fire off a message to the mods which is likely to be seen a wee bit sooner.

Cheers

Andrew B

Jeff_H · #9 04-11-2012

Andrew is right. We are down by two moderators at the moment and with the recession real life happening, I have not had the time to be around as much as I would like.

There actually is a loose round the clock watch system. I try to clean up whatever happened between Andrew's Australian sign off time, and my US East Coast early morning, and lunch. Ron (Faster) comes on a little after me, and is generally keeping watch until Andrew is back on.

And actually, I was here this morning detecting and eliminating two- spammers before they were even reported.

And Joney, lastly, and Frankly, when you think that Ron's get another cup of coffee was probably made around 5-6:30 a.m. his time, it was actually a pretty nice suggestion at that hour of the morning. If I were commenting on your comment at at that time in the morning my time, my comment probably would have been a little more anatomically difficult to accomplish.

smackdaddy · #10 04-11-2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by bljones

Faster, I'm gonna work really hard at not being offended by your answer.

This is the only sailing forum I frequent with this kind of issue.
This is the only forum of any type that I frequent, with this kind of issue.
This has been an ongoing issue for as long as I have been here.
This is the first time I have brought it up.
Instead of "we're working on it," or "thanks for bringing it up" or "yeah, we know, it's ongoing, any ideas?"
I get "Have another cup of coffee."

How about "harden up ya nancy"?