The Auswine Forum

Is it just me but is this forum becoming overloaded with rubbish lately? If it's not Serge and his (at times) half-comprehensible and often inflammatory posts - although at least they are wine related of sorts... it's a mass of crappy spam messages. I'm trying my best to wade through to the concise, intelligent commentary that I believe characterises this forum... and it's getting harder and harder!

My rant. Thankyou.

Wayno wrote:Is it just me but is this forum becoming overloaded with rubbish lately? If it's not Serge and his (at times) half-comprehensible and often inflammatory posts - although at least they are wine related of sorts... it's a mass of crappy spam messages. I'm trying my best to wade through to the concise, intelligent commentary that I believe characterises this forum... and it's getting harder and harder!

My rant. Thankyou.

Couldn't agree more

Its driving me mental!!!!!!!!!!!

any one got a solution, I'd love to hear it?

Well, the issue of the first dilemma can be resolved quite quickly...

As for the spamming, can't we run with a personal check from yourself before someone can officially join Gavin? I know this was discussed in the past. Perhaps including an email to the moderator requesting memership to the forum, to be granted by you. This may be a little more time consuming, but perhaps no more time consuming than eradicating the crap that turns up here every day.

Cheers,

Maximus wrote:Well, the issue of the first dilemma can be resolved quite quickly...

As for the spamming, can't we run with a personal check from yourself before someone can officially join Gavin? I know this was discussed in the past. Perhaps including an email to the moderator requesting memership to the forum, to be granted by you. This may be a little more time consuming, but perhaps no more time consuming than eradicating the crap that turns up here every day.

Cheers,

I tried that

but 15-20 per day 'join'.

If I have to personally email each one, then wait for each response to activate them, then delete the others, then do the same next day and next day ...

well you get the idea!!!

If the forum takes up nearly all my day then ...

Appointed moderaters in different time zones with the ability to delete spam as soon as it appears should clean out most of it, as long as they are not authorised to edit/censor/delete other threads.

Is there any software you can install for PHP forums? I use one called spam karma and it gets everything and just about never drops a valid post..catches 100's a day..I have blocked a few IP address from some of the more annoying ones. I am sure it will get increasingly harder as the spamming morons get smarter. Google is a blessing and a curse in some ways with all this seeding. Apparently (Google) it is getting much smarter at working out what constitutes this sort of activity (sometimes it takes more organic forms but...)

GW

Davo wrote:Appointed moderaters in different time zones with the ability to delete spam as soon as it appears should clean out most of it, as long as they are not authorised to edit/censor/delete other threads.

I too have been getting annoyed by the increasing volume of spam every day. Being retired with lots of spare time I volunteered to help out with the spam posts. Gavin has given me moderator privileges on the main forum, I've promised him I'll only delete the spam and not interfere with other posts.

Gary's idea sounds good too, if there is a suitable product out there.

Red Bigot wrote:

Davo wrote:Appointed moderaters in different time zones with the ability to delete spam as soon as it appears should clean out most of it, as long as they are not authorised to edit/censor/delete other threads.

I too have been getting annoyed by the increasing volume of spam every day. Being retired with lots of spare time I volunteered to help out with the spam posts. Gavin has given me moderator privileges on the main forum, I've promised him I'll only delete the spam and not interfere with other posts.

Gary's idea sounds good too, if there is a suitable product out there.

Well it's about time you got started.

There is already spam present on your watch you slacker.

Brian,

Well get your bum of of bed and get rid of the 4 new ones that have come in overnight!

Make that 5, there is another one under Daz's thread on "which one."

Must be bypassing the logon somehow. How did that 'anonymous' post get in there.

TORB wrote:Brian,

Well get your bum of of bed and get rid of the 4 new ones that have come in overnight!

Make that 5, there is another one under Daz's thread on "which one."

All gone now, I think I did 5. Sorry about the late start guys, had a slightly rough night with introductions of a new 8-month old weimararner female to her new home and our 5-month old male who thinks he owns the place.

SueNZ wrote:Must be bypassing the logon somehow. How did that 'anonymous' post get in there.

'Anonymous' is what is left when Gavin deletes a spam user registration but not the actual post.

Gavin Trott wrote:
Couldn't agree more

Its driving me mental!!!!!!!!!!!

any one got a solution, I'd love to hear it?

I gave you solutions, and I don't think you are technically capable to implement them.

Do you see any spam on WT? No, you don't, and I am 4000 miles away from home. You are trying to fight technology and FULLY automated spam with human resources. This is 21st century for crying out loud, use technology built into the admin section to fight spam, it's all in there. There are more functions in admin section than bans and deletes. Learn them, if you can.

Wayno, it's Sunday and your report is due to tell everybody what were you drinking all week and find if anybody gives a rat's ass.

Serge wrote:

Gavin Trott wrote:
Couldn't agree more

Its driving me mental!!!!!!!!!!!

any one got a solution, I'd love to hear it?

I gave you solutions, and I don't think you are technically capable to implement them.

Serge
That sounds very insulting - did you mean it to be so?
Ian

Serge, it would be much more helpful if you could privately send Gavin some more detailed helpful information on how to use the available facilities based on your vast experience instead of slagging him on his own forum.

I think we've all been pretty fair in regard to you posts here, but if you want to keep posting insults I'm happy to cause Gavin some more work and escalate things until he nukes the threads and eventually bans you because it's just not worth the effort.

Sensible posts will get sensible responses, you seem to think you are smarter/better than most of us here, how about you demonstrate that by cutting the crap.

TORB wrote:Brian,

Well get your bum of of bed and get rid of the 4 new ones that have come in overnight!

Make that 5, there is another one under Daz's thread on "which one."

Huh?

Daryl Douglas wrote:

TORB wrote:Brian,

Well get your bum of of bed and get rid of the 4 new ones that have come in overnight!

Make that 5, there is another one under Daz's thread on "which one."

Huh?

Daryl
i.e. there was one (piece of spam) posted on the thread you started (it might well have been deleted by now). Ric would have been referring to that posting, not your thread
regards
Ian

Daryl Douglas wrote:

TORB wrote:Brian,

Well get your bum of of bed and get rid of the 4 new ones that have come in overnight!

Make that 5, there is another one under Daz's thread on "which one."

Huh?

It might be my fault, I deleted a spam post on your thread, but the whole thread has gone. I'll have to check with Gavin on the way this works, but that hasn't happened when I deleted spam posts in the Food&Wine section and there is no "Delete Thread" option that is visible to me.

Red Bigot wrote:

Daryl Douglas wrote:

TORB wrote:Brian,

Well get your bum of of bed and get rid of the 4 new ones that have come in overnight!

Make that 5, there is another one under Daz's thread on "which one."

Huh?

It might be my fault, I deleted a spam post on your thread, but the whole thread has gone. I'll have to check with Gavin on the way this works, but that hasn't happened when I deleted spam posts in the Food&Wine section and there is no "Delete Thread" option that is visible to me.

Brian
Reminds me of the Far Side cartoon with the guy sat in his seat on the plane, contemplating the 'Wings stay on' / 'Wings fall off' button
regards
Ian

Most of the spam posts to forums such as auswine that are hosted on PHPBB are delivered by bots or computer programs, though there is a disturbing trend toward using cheap labour in china/india... but thats another story.

One thing that can be done to trip up the bots is the use of a "captcha", or a task that is easy for a human to perform, but very hard for a computer program.

I cannot speak from personal experience with this particular mod, however here is one captcha solution for phpbb: http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=473222

The caveat is everyone needs to type a few characters into a box when registering/posting, thus its a tad annoying.

A slightly better solution is to stop spambots registering all together, so another plugin may well be the answer: http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=435694

Neither solution is perfect, however I hope this information is useful. If anyone has questions about such things feel free to shoot me a PM, I earn my bread as a software engineer.

Ian S wrote:

Red Bigot wrote:

Daryl Douglas wrote:

TORB wrote:Brian,

Well get your bum of of bed and get rid of the 4 new ones that have come in overnight!

Make that 5, there is another one under Daz's thread on "which one."

Huh?

It might be my fault, I deleted a spam post on your thread, but the whole thread has gone. I'll have to check with Gavin on the way this works, but that hasn't happened when I deleted spam posts in the Food&Wine section and there is no "Delete Thread" option that is visible to me.

Brian
Reminds me of the Far Side cartoon with the guy sat in his seat on the plane, contemplating the 'Wings stay on' / 'Wings fall off' button
regards
Ian

Murray,

You are right. The Human Verification System works marvels. When I had my guest book up, having to type in the word "shiraz" prior to posting, stopped 99% of spam.

winetastic wrote:Most of the spam posts to forums such as auswine that are hosted on PHPBB are delivered by bots or computer programs, though there is a disturbing trend toward using cheap labour in china/india... but thats another story.

One thing that can be done to trip up the bots is the use of a "captcha", or a task that is easy for a human to perform, but very hard for a computer program.

I cannot speak from personal experience with this particular mod, however here is one captcha solution for phpbb: http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=473222

The caveat is everyone needs to type a few characters into a box when registering/posting, thus its a tad annoying.

A slightly better solution is to stop spambots registering all together, so another plugin may well be the answer: http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=435694

Neither solution is perfect, however I hope this information is useful. If anyone has questions about such things feel free to shoot me a PM, I earn my bread as a software engineer.

Murray, maybe you could contact Gavin directly and see if you can help him implement one or both of these facilities.

I've deleted a couple already this morning and a few more yesterday after the initial burst...

I send Gavin an email as suggested, however checking the registration form for auswine just now I see there is a "captcha" implemented... dont recall that one from when I registered, is it new?

If it has been there for some time, then the issue is more complex as humans are likely being paid to create the accounts or the spammers have computer programs which can read/break that particular verification image.

Holding a posters first comment pending approval could be a good idea too.
GW

TORB wrote:Murray,

You are right. The Human Verification System works marvels. When I had my guest book up, having to type in the word "shiraz" prior to posting, stopped 99% of spam.

Not that marvellous, the forum has Human verification, has had for most of this year in fact.

The spam you see are those who register then post.

You don't see the 10-30 per day who register, by bot I guess, and never post.

winetastic wrote:Most of the spam posts to forums such as auswine that are hosted on PHPBB are delivered by bots or computer programs, though there is a disturbing trend toward using cheap labour in china/india... but thats another story.

One thing that can be done to trip up the bots is the use of a "captcha", or a task that is easy for a human to perform, but very hard for a computer program.

I cannot speak from personal experience with this particular mod, however here is one captcha solution for phpbb: http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=473222

The caveat is everyone needs to type a few characters into a box when registering/posting, thus its a tad annoying.

A slightly better solution is to stop spambots registering all together, so another plugin may well be the answer: http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=435694

Neither solution is perfect, however I hope this information is useful. If anyone has questions about such things feel free to shoot me a PM, I earn my bread as a software engineer.

Murray

Thanks very much for the offer of help, I'll get back to you shortly. (busy with real work)

>>I cannot speak from personal experience with this particular mod, however here is one captcha solution for phpbb: http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=473222

The caveat is everyone needs to type a few characters into a box when registering/posting, thus its a tad annoying.>>

Is the one installed for a long time.

>>A slightly better solution is to stop spambots registering all together, so another plugin may well be the answer: http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=435694>>

Does look most interesting

winetastic wrote:Most of the spam posts to forums such as auswine that are hosted on PHPBB are delivered by bots or computer programs, though there is a disturbing trend toward using cheap labour in china/india... but thats another story.

One thing that can be done to trip up the bots is the use of a "captcha", or a task that is easy for a human to perform, but very hard for a computer program.

I cannot speak from personal experience with this particular mod, however here is one captcha solution for phpbb: http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=473222

The caveat is everyone needs to type a few characters into a box when registering/posting, thus its a tad annoying.

A slightly better solution is to stop spambots registering all together, so another plugin may well be the answer: http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=435694

Neither solution is perfect, however I hope this information is useful. If anyone has questions about such things feel free to shoot me a PM, I earn my bread as a software engineer.

Murray

Thanks very much for the offer of help, I'll get back to you shortly. (busy with real work)

>>I cannot speak from personal experience with this particular mod, however here is one captcha solution for phpbb: http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=473222

The caveat is everyone needs to type a few characters into a box when registering/posting, thus its a tad annoying.>>

Is the one installed for a long time.

>>A slightly better solution is to stop spambots registering all together, so another plugin may well be the answer: http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=435694>>

Does look most interesting

Nice indeed, a topic on spam has been spammed