Spam restrictions

Lately we've been noting a new kind of "smart" spammers.

They are human and post a reply that is somewhat contextualized and hard to distinguish as spammy-like.

After a few days, they either change the content of their reply or add a spammy link on their signature.

To prevent these type of actions, two changes were made to the "Members" group.

- They cannot customize the signature space
- After making a post, it cannot be modified after 60 minutes.

These restrictions don't affect people in other member groups such as "Advanced Member", ".script developer" and so forth.

My apologies if this situation affects you as a member on Boot Land. I should also note that users in the regular members group are promoted to the advanced group after 100 posts on the forum.

Looks reasonable. I'm rather sure that this will help a bit!

Peter

that explains why I couldn't add a signature. It's neccessary, but annoying that you have to go to that length to slow spammers. (I'm sure spammers are hard at work on the next level of anti-antispam. )
I gotta say some spammers make some WIERD posts that only have 1-2 words relavant to a particular thread. think Monty Python- "the hovercraft HDD is full of MBR eels"

Looks reasonable. I'm rather sure that this will help a bit!

Yes, less worries as spammers can't change their own topics.

that explains why I couldn't add a signature. It's neccessary, but annoying that you have to go to that length to slow spammers. (I'm sure spammers are hard at work on the next level of anti-antispam

Yes, this is the reason why you can't add a signature. You still need 96 posts to get rid of this limitation but if you hang around our community for a week you should quickly get well above that number of posts..

Don't know what else spammers will come up next, we'll be here to react when the time calls for action.

May I ask why it's not possible to upload small pics or scripts anymore?
Is it because of "Spam restrictions"?

Yes, it is. We're reducing the range of what "normal" members can do and thus reducing the action of spammers. There was no other solution was we were seeing too many sneaky spam posts lately.

Nevertheless, all "normal" members get automatically upgraded after 100 posts on our forum which is reasonable for someone that likes our community and participates with some frequency.

So, within 30 posts you'll get promoted to "Advanced member" where no such restrictions occur.

Yes, it is. We're reducing the range of what "normal" members can do and thus reducing the action of spammers. There was no other solution was we were seeing too many sneaky spam posts lately.

Can you provide a link to one "sneaky spam post"?
I'm curious...because I have not seen any!
Maybe "hidden" for us "normal" users?

Edited by al_jo, 25 September 2010 - 02:43 PM.

No problem, just look at this one from a few days ago:
http://www.boot-land...?...st&p=109756

Jamec9889 created a perfectly normal reply inside a perfectly contextualized situation. His only flaw was adding his links to the signature space too soon and was caught/exposed as a spammer.

The problem is that links posted at boot land are worth money given our reputation and ranking on the search engines.

Often, these spammers get their posts relocated to our "spam vault" section that is kept outside of public eyes.

No problem, just look at this one from a few days ago:
http://www.boot-land...?...st&p=109756

The problem is that links posted at boot land are worth money given our reputation and ranking on the search engines.

Often, these spammers get their posts relocated to our "spam vault" section that is kept outside of public eyes.

Thanks. Understand more now.
I sometimes also put links in my messages.
Is that bad or good for Bootland?

Thanks. Understand more now.
I sometimes also put links in my messages.
Is that bad or good for Bootland?

Of course it is good.

The problem is not in putting a link in a post, as long as such link:

• is NOT to a Commercial site (unless for a specific reason explained in the post text) i.e. no pointless advertising
• is NOT to a direct download, expecially if multimegabyte, without a warning about the size and nature of the thing people will get when clicking on it (as a general rule always post a link to th ehomepage of the whatever AND - if needed/desired - a direct link to the download)
• has some reference of interest in the context of the thread

A signature is something different.

A link in it appears on ANY post you make, so it has to be linked more to your (eventual) programs or homepage or whatever you see fit as "linked" to the "personal image" you want to be represented by it.

If you check links in signature of members, they are normally pointing to:

• their home page
• the home page of a project/tool/program/whatever they are involved in
• a project, campaign or initiative they care about
• something else that they think represents their personality

The "old" kind of spammers (automated) simply posted wherever a message, often completely out of the context of the thread, usually very generic, containing one or more links (to a Commercial site or however to somewhere where money is asked) in the text.

They were easily spotted.

The "new" kind of spammers are a bit smarter.

They post something seemingly making sense, still of a very "generic" nature, that by itself doesn't raise any suspect, and add NO signature (and obviously NO links in it).

The post(s) goes unnoticed - at the most someone may raise an eyebrow because it is usually pointless, inconclusive or very "generic", but we have ten or hundreds of morons inexperienced users that post "legitimately" similar contents (though often in a full or partial violation of Rule #2):
http://www.boot-land...?showtopic=9101

Then after a few days, when it is likely that noone will read the "meaningless" post(s) as they will be not anymore "floating" as last post in result of "New posts since your last visit" or "Today's Active Topics", this new breed of spammers will re-access the board and, WITHOUT posting anything new, add their signature and link(s) in it , hoping that noone will notice.



Wonko

can i see sample links to spam posts or spammers? ohhh i am upgraded so nice. thank you. i was thinking i will ban soon it looks nice in red colour.

can i see sample links to spam posts or spammers? ohhh i am upgraded so nice. thank you. i was thinking i will ban soon it looks nice in red colour.

They are usually deleted (or moved to Admin/Mod only area, or heavily edited, and definitely with links - in post or signature - removed) but here are a few (not necessarily on boot-land):
(Arotlylit)
http://www.winimage.....php?f=7&t=3632

(lynctoonync)
http://www.winimage.....php?f=7&t=3695

(bukste87)
http://www.winimage.....php?f=3&t=3331

(Usman Shafiq)
http://www.boot-land...?showtopic=3394

(stp17)
http://www.winimage.....php?f=7&t=3337


Respectively:

• first two old, old school - starting a new thread completely unrelated to the board and forum with links to their site/product in the post
• old school - starting a new thread related to the board and forum with links to their site/product in the post
• old school - replying to a thread with an out of context or very generic thank you and with a link to their site/product in the post
• new school - replying to a thread with an out of context (but not much) question/problem and with a link in signature

Wonko

Of course it is good.


Wonko

Thanks Wonko.
You have explained very good.
Can we "normal" users do anything to help to make these "evils" stay away?

At the UBCD forums, I saw a new type of spammer:

• replying to an existing tread
• in their post they copy the text of a post of another replier of that topic ((but not the last added post), so it looks that they wrote it (not quoting)
• eventually adding links to that post after some delay

Those spam post hare harder to detect (you need to remember that the same text was posted before), because the copied content was written by a real user.

Can we "normal" users do anything to help to make these "evils" stay away?

Sure , you have a "Report" button on the left of each post.

It is intended to quickly notify the Admin or Mod of the Forum that the contents of a post is (according to you) somehow "objectionable":
http://www.thefreedi...m/objectionable
(not necessarily "spam") or that you find somehow the post or it's contents to be "inappropriate":
http://www.thefreedi...m/inappropriate

The Report will allow you to write a few lines of text explaining WHY you think the post "deserves" being reported.

Reports with empty contents are generally ignored (it is assumed that the button has been clicked by mistake or by a moron inexperienced user ).

Also you don't need to write a poem, just a short description of the reason why you reported the post (in the case of "spam" a single "spam" or "spammer" will be enough).

Please also note that the Report button is NOT a way to communicate with Admin or Mods (there are both public threads on the board and PM's if the matter is somehow confidential).

Normally (please read as ALWAYS) you will NOT receive feedback about the report you posted, nor news why (or if) your report led to ANY of:

• nothing
• editing of the post
• banning of the user
• whatever else

Compare with Rule #8:
http://www.boot-land...?showtopic=9101
AND read a few posts on the same "Rules" thread starting from here:
http://www.boot-land...?...c=9101&st=9


Also, usually playing "Mod", example here:
http://www.911cd.net...o...ic=7974&hl=
is NOT welcome by the Admin and Mods of the board.
(in the above the user posted accusing publicly - and in a highly debatable case - another user of being a spammer WITHOUT reporting the post).

@Icecube
Yes, I had a flood of them on Winimage Board some one year ago, then they seemingly disappeared, they are sneaky .



Wonko

I should also note that users in the regular members group are promoted to the advanced group after 100 posts on the forum.

A spammer can always promote himself/herself to Advanced group by making 100 small posts within one hour. Then?

I sometimes also put links in my messages.
Is that bad or good for Bootland?

Wonko explained our policy quite well. We like that members share links to places that are meaningful and interesting for our community.

And if Boot Land can help other smaller sites and blogs, the better. A lot of other sites also link back to our site and it is good that we can help.

Spammers are not part of our community, they just register with the purpose of getting people to visit their sites or rank higher on the search engine results without really bringing any benefit to our members. We might even get a bad reputation if we let them link to p*rn sites and the such.

In the past this could happen easily without any moderator noticing, now we're improving the conditions to prevent this from happening.

Those spam post hare harder to detect (you need to remember that the same text was posted before), because the copied content was written by a real user.

Yes, we still haven't had those around (yet). Guess it helps that our forum has a customized registration process. The default registration panel of the forum is closed and spam bots often assume that we don't accept new members around here.

A spammer can always promote himself/herself to Advanced group by making 100 small posts within one hour. Then?

Don't worry.

He would be noticed within a very short time span then I'd just log onto the administration console and click on "Delete all posts made by this member" right after banning him for 30 000 days.