BlackListedB Posted November 22, 2013 Share Posted November 22, 2013 I started a GTA site with a friend who's more offline then I am these days, by far, I was always concerned with the site itself, but we were happy to have members join, really, help us get started in viewership, if not posts. However, today I'm finding a massive influx of Russian Pro-Spam-Bots, and I can't tell if anyone is really legit, some list age and hobbies on their join criteria, and one jokingly asked in English about travel tips outside the USA, highjacking a thread. Rather then ban IP though, I did the easiest tact as a Moderator and banned user names. I think this tends to be the Wack-A-Mole approach and not too productive. I'm the only one doing daily observations to keep things in check and I have a personal life too. It's all a bit too much negativity trying to second guess the new joins, so if things don't look right, I take action right away. Wonder if staff on this site have some suggestions, experiencing an uptick in this type of attack perhaps, on GTA based sites related to it's popularity? For instance, one posted in Russian with reference to Battlefield 4, but I still couldn't allow it, because only a small fraction if even that, would understand such a post, and it's likely just not informative. I was leary just posting a music site one could stream from, being based in Russia, but I even wonder if doing that had an effect like what I'm seeing now? When we started it was people attacking our effort who knew me previously, and it was entirely unwarranted types of attack, so having to deal with undesirables on a site you want to enjoy, nothing more, nothing less, it's a massive headache to deal with this type of thing. I'd love to have help dealing with these matters, but it doesn't seem possible being the way fringe sites operate, We initially had a struggle electing and keeping moderating and Admin staff around, and those folks grew tired of it long before me I guess! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaurieX Posted November 23, 2013 Share Posted November 23, 2013 What's the address of the forum? I'll copy/paste your post to him with the address and see what he comes up with. Our site (his, but I help enough that I consider it mine too!) had the same problem when it first opened. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trevor_Philips Posted November 23, 2013 Share Posted November 23, 2013 What software did you build it on? Some hosts have better spam filters than others. I use Jcink for my site and I rarely have to worry about such things because the filter automatically blocks them all and doesn't allow them to register. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackListedB Posted November 23, 2013 Author Share Posted November 23, 2013 My friend Mike built the site, so he knows how to manage archival backup copies, and things more technical, I'd been trying to find the right options in ACP without any real expertise. So far I'm just banning peeps left and right, but they come back with new names, eventually if it's a single person 'bot', wouldn't they run out of email available account options to register with? I really appreciate any help because I lost contact with Mike since he's offline mostly. I'm just a forum user who got Admin powers to help manage, but doing it alone sucks! Let me tell you, I was afraid of rampant abuse from the get-go Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trevor_Philips Posted November 23, 2013 Share Posted November 23, 2013 Ban each one by name, email address, and most importantly IP address. That should keep them away longer. Not necessarily permanently, but longer. I'd offer my help as I've quite a lot of experience as both a moderator and administrator, but right now my table is full with positions on multiple forums. As far as running out of email accounts, no, one can make any amount of them they want with any host. Me personally, I use a plugin that randomly generates dummy accounts that link to my primary account whenever I'm commenting anonymously on most blogs, registering at some forums, and whatnot. Now obviously I don't use this to nefarious ends, but I could easily see spammers using the same plugin for such nefarious ends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackListedB Posted November 23, 2013 Author Share Posted November 23, 2013 (edited) It's enough trouble just initiating bans and then deleting the offending content, but let me know where the required info you might need is, so I look in the right place. I was told by Trip Mills that because they are relatively cheap, you get budget performance from our host, including up to the last minute billing invoice we were plagued with! The criteria we have for members lists past time hobbies, age, occupation, and location, I check these and a lot of them are in English but don't relate to gaming, or seem to adhere to a gamer's lifestyle. The postings were in Russian or similar type font, and one had posted nude photography which is a clear violation. Some links we have for keywords underlined are part of the budget nature of our site. GTAChronicles that I helped start, we never had this level of difficulty in the two plus years other then members who were in-fighting and it stemmed in part from PBM allowances. I was open to giving people a second chance if banned elsewhere, but my patience is pretty much eroded by now! hahaha Edited November 23, 2013 by BlackListedB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackListedB Posted November 24, 2013 Author Share Posted November 24, 2013 They still keep coming, my ACP lacks what's mentioned here, but it is the phpBB board we have, all help greatly appreciated as this is driving me nuts, and adding to my lack of sleep! https://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=2116083 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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