Polk Audio Forums need's a spam registration blocker....

disneyjoe7

Patrick,

Sir you need something to block spammers from registering... ie(letter between abc_efg). Anything to trip up a computer spammer program from getting in.

disneyjoe7

Sounds stupid but I know it can work. Would clean up this forum rather quickly.

The Sandman

The amount of fourm spam has risen dramatically lately. The spam comes in many forms, some automated, some human generated, and some a combination of both to get past security measures. I run a forum for forum administrators, so I am quite familiar with the issue. I'd say them quantity of forum spam has at least tripled in the past 4 to 6 months. It's quite a chore for forum staff to deal with, even with several levels of security in place. This forum actually does a very good job of keeping it under control.

disneyjoe7

Ran a forum once myself and needed to do something, as spammer after posting causes more issues and time killing them. The human one's yes are a bigger issue but the auto ones are easy to stop.

The Sandman

disneyjoe7 wrote: »

The human one's yes are a bigger issue but the auto ones are easy to stop.

Well, yes and no. Yes, because since they are automated you can find a "weakness" and use it to block the bot. Capcha for instance, or "questions and answers". But no, because the bots are programmed by humans, who analyze the currently available defenses and program in countermeasures. That's why Capcha hardly works anymore, even though humans can barely read them now. And there are frequently updated databases of answers for the questions asked at registration at most of the larger forums. It's an ongoing battle.

disneyjoe7

Sorry but feel any fence they need to jump over could help and Polk Audio doesn't have anything like that.

The Sandman

disneyjoe7 wrote: »

Sorry but feel any fence they need to jump over could help and Polk Audio doesn't have anything like that.

I'm not disagreein' with you, just trying to give additional background on the current state of affairs in the forum world.

disneyjoe7

So the user "voxedime" is a robot IMHO, and this could be stopped at the start. Before this starts posting, and saving someone time stopping and deleting them later.

Just saying there maybe a better way.

The Sandman

disneyjoe7 wrote: »

So the user "voxedime" is a robot IMHO, and this could be stopped at the start. Before this starts posting, and saving someone time stopping and deleting them later.

Just saying there maybe a better way.

Maybe it could have been stopped but maybe not so easily - on my forum we have at least 5 different modifications in place for preventing spam registrations and spam posting but some of them still get through. It's not as easy as you think, which was the point of my previous posts in this thread. I know that when I registered here I had to fill out a Capcha that was so hard to read I had to refresh it 3 different times before I could reproduce it. Theoretically, that should stop a bot, but the bots keep getting smarter.

That's not to say that the administrators here should institute whatever modifications are available if they aren't already doing so.

Jstas

Well, disneyjoe, with your spelling and grammar errors so prevalent in your posts, you come off as a spammer sometimes too.

But these ones that usually do get through, the account registration is not usually done by bots. The registration is done by human hands. Once the account is registered and verified, the account info is then plugged in to a bot or someone some where posts cut and pasted ad info into the posts.

There are already many measures against spam here. But spam is a mutli-billion dollar a year business and it will continue to adapt and exploit things. The only way that will change is when the money goes away. The only way that changes is when the spamming no longer brings in profits from the ads. But it's so cheap to get a spammer to advertise for you that it'll fit even most failing business model in need of advertising.

Until then though, it is a never ending battle.

HHStuart

I know I can set my email up so that it looks at titles and can send anything with a key word to a particular folder. Couldn't something be set up like that with the word DVDrip? Just a thought.

treitz3

Hey fellas, this may be a crazy idea or maybe not. Never tried it before....

With all of the folks that are frustrated with the spam on this forum, there may be something we can collectively accomplish. I have no idea whether or not this will work but it may be worth a shot. This latest spammer has been at it for over 2 and a half hours. What if we were all to send the spammer PM's? One, right after the other. Yes, we can individually only send one per minute but if everybody who is frustrated enough with the spammers gets on board? My thought process is that we will frustrate the spammers as much as they frustrate us, perhaps to the point to where they will move on.

Just a thought. I'm willing to give it a try just to see what happens. A "Polk Army", if you will.

Tom

halo71

Jstas wrote: »

There are already many measures against spam here. But spam is a mutli-billion dollar a year business and it will continue to adapt and exploit things. The only way that will change is when the money goes away. The only way that changes is when the spamming no longer brings in profits from the ads. But it's so cheap to get a spammer to advertise for you that it'll fit even most failing business model in need of advertising.

Until then though, it is a never ending battle.

Not arguing with you here. But I am a member at several other forums....audio and music related. And I never see the amount of spam on those sites as I see here. There ARE ways to cut down on the amount here.

BlueFox

Let me repost my idea to reduce this nonsense. Granted, it will take a little effort for mod's to approve the first 5 posts by a new user, but it works. I still have no idea why that thread was locked. Ideas for controlling this spam should be encouraged, not stifled.

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?140592-Possible-spam-solution

jim 249

Are there no mods monitoring today? This clown has been at this for quite a long time now.

Jstas

halo71 wrote: »

Not arguing with you here. But I am a member at several other forums....audio and music related. And I never see the amount of spam on those sites as I see here. There ARE ways to cut down on the amount here.

You've also likely never seen the amount of traffic that PolkAudio.com sees. You search for "speakers" and Polk Audio pops up on the first two pages of results. Search for the topic of whatever your other forums are about and see exactly where you pop up. If your forum is about Acura Integras, enter "cars" as the search term. Or even Acura as the search term and see where you pop up.

What you're not understanding is that the ways that you claim are out there to stop these things...they are already being used here. Even with your forums, you probably do get the occasional spammer to break through. Statistically, it's going to happen. The problem with Club Polk is that for every visit, a small percentage is going to have some level of malicious intent. So if Polk gets, say, 1000 hits per day and 10 percent are going be spammers, that means, 100 visits are spammers. If your spam software is capable of filtering out 85% of those spammers, that means 15 out of 100 have the potential to get through, daily.

If your piddly little forums in comparison only see 100 visits a day and you are using the same environment that means that only 1.5 spammers have the chance to get through daily.

Your odds of hitting a spammer on Club Polk, daily are MUCH better than you seeing one on your much smaller forum.

If a single user is doing the bad stuff and nobody does anything about it, if the account is registered then a spam filter will not stop it. An admin or a mod has to stop it. Then that's on the people running the forum. But spam filters and blockers are not 100% effective and if an exploit is found, they are 0% effective until patched or upgraded. For a commercial site like Polk Audio, that can be cost prohibitive.

Jstas

jim 249 wrote: »

Are there no mods monitoring today? This clown has been at this for quite a long time now.

It is Sunday, you know. There are also very interesting NFL Playoff games on TV.

Do you expect moderators, who volunteer their time at no financial benefit to themselves to monitor this forum 24/7? They do have interests, families and lives outside of Club Polk.

ken brydson

Jstas wrote: »

It is Sunday, you know. There are also very interesting NFL Playoff games on TV.

Do you expect moderators, who volunteer their time at no financial benefit to themselves to monitor this forum 24/7? They do have interests, families and lives outside of Club Polk.

^This^

BlueFox

Wait until the spammers realize the "What are you listening to" thread is linked to the main web-site. Then their spam will be seen by everyone, not just those who read the forums.

halo71

Just for comparisons sake Jstas. Am I missing something here?

http://www.quantcast.com/polkaudio.com
https://www.quantcast.com/audiokarma.org

treitz3

Jstas wrote: »

What you're not understanding is that the ways that you claim are out there to stop these things...they are already being used here....<snip>....For a commercial site like Polk Audio, that can be cost prohibitive.

First off, no they are not. There is no cost to implement some spam blocking measures. Why the Polk forum chooses to ignore an obvious issue? Got me. I would think that it would be in their best interest to inhibit this from happening. The end result? It's their forum, their business and while it may be frustrating to the member who uses this forum.....it's still their forum after all is said and done. Perhaps one day they will actually address the issue. Well, at least one can hope.

Tom

treitz3

The Sandman wrote: »

The amount of fourm spam has risen dramatically lately. The spam comes in many forms, some automated, some human generated, and some a combination of both to get past security measures. I run a forum for forum administrators, so I am quite familiar with the issue. I'd say them quantity of forum spam has at least tripled in the past 4 to 6 months. It's quite a chore for forum staff to deal with, even with several levels of security in place. This forum actually does a very good job of keeping it under control.

I would beg to differ. The spammer today has made more spam in a couple of hours than other high traffic audio forums have seen on the public front in 6 months or longer. The issue is quite simple to fix and if this is considered "keeping it under control", I'd hate to see what you consider a forum rampant with spam. Just for comparison's sake on another audio forum.....within one year span, the most a spammer has ever made it up to was I believe 9 posts before they were axed. Done correctly, a spammer should never make it to the public front to begin with. Even with no moderator approval needed prior to making a post. We have actually gone weeks without seeing any spam whatsoever. Two different websites.

With that said, do you still think this forum has things under control?

Tom

[Deleted User]

Guys, just this week Ken and I voiced our concerns over this issue to Patrick. I brought up the 10 post limit among some of your other ideas, please PM him with your concerns. Meanwhile we are doing the best we can.

ken brydson

nap wrote: »

Guys, just this week Ken and I voiced our concerns over this issue to Patrick. I brought up the 10 post limit among some of your other ideas, please PM him with your concerns. Meanwhile we are doing the best we can.

You guys rock!

disneyjoe7

Why?

pitdogg2

treitz3 wrote: »

Hey fellas, this may be a crazy idea or maybe not. Never tried it before....

. This latest spammer has been at it for over 2 and a half hours. What if we were all to send the spammer PM's? Just a thought. I'm willing to give it a try just to see what happens. A "Polk Army", if you will.

Tom

Tom I have done this. i haven't got any replies and we know they get 10 posts in about 15min hell the way they go they could sell in 25min. maybe we should ask if they have anything for sale just to get a reply....

disneyjoe7

Well at least isn't not ****.... But maybe it is I'm not checking

deronb1

95% of the spam are movie rips. What do these people have to gain by putting this stuff on the forum?

gdb

WTH is a movie rip anyway?

disneyjoe7

Why does Polk Audio allow these Spammers in this forum.


It bugs me.


Doesn't bug you?

[Deleted User]

disneyjoe7 wrote: »

Why does Polk Audio allow these Spammers in this forum.


It bugs me.


Doesn't bug you?

Did you PM Patrick ? :cool: