Too many advertisement posts!

[Ned]

Lately we have seen a rash of posts merely to advertise! We've also seen a rash of posts in the last week which are incomprehensible!

These posts have come from both registered and unregistered users. Some people have obviously registered for the quick hit and run advertisement.

These posts are a waste of time and effort and a pain in the neck at the least. A couple of the posts, if you've clicked on the links in the post cause your computer to get lots of popups which isn't good or right.

So what suggestions can we give John and the rest of the gang running Tripso to curb this problem? Let's see what solid practical suggestions we can come up with which won't harm Tripso's growth and use potential.

[sardine]

Originally posted by Ned@May 3 2006, 08:51 PM
Lately we have seen a rash of posts merely to advertise!* We've also seen a rash of posts in the last week which are incomprehensible!

These posts have come from both registered and unregistered users.* Some people have obviously registered for the quick hit and run advertisement.

These posts are a waste of time and effort and a pain in the neck at the least.* A couple of the posts, if you've clicked on the links in the post cause your computer to get lots of popups which isn't good or right.

So what suggestions can we give John and the rest of the gang running Tripso to curb this problem?* Let's see what solid practical suggestions we can come up with which won't harm Tripso's growth and use potential.
25554



I think Tripso members should verify their links as safe, and if a link turns out to be a trap, the member should dropped.

I use software from siteadvisor.com to alert me to Web sites that are problematic. The software is free, and I have been warned not to enter sites that appear to be safe but are not; for example, those "trap" sites that masquerade as .org's (which are usually safe) but are "commercial" sites whose mission is to load your computer with malware.

Let's put a stop to spam invading this forum, whatever it takes. :angry:

[stephen_s]

As everyone else has suggested, we should maybe have the mods delay the post.

Of course the other alternative, which, probably won't work, is to not allow Hyperlinks (I don't know whether this is even possible). If it is possible, it'll be bad for the legitimate hyperlinks that come from the regular members, but we have to do something drastic to stop these advertisements.

Another solution, as someone else has suggested (sorry I can't remember who), is to not allow unregistered users to post (I thought we were doing this) and to send a verification e-mail to make sure it's legitimate and not one of those bots.

[Kairho]

It's pretty easy to profile the bad guys: first or second time posters. Registration seems not to matter.

The good guys are all those who have demonstrated a committment to the site, as evidenced by some minimum number of posts.

Why not just moderate new users until they have demonstrated non-spammerness, which should be only 3 or 4 posts? That shouldn't be too onerous on anyone.

[AaronK]

I don't know what the options this board has in terms of moderation, etc. To the best of my knowledge, one must be registered to post, except in the polls/surveys.

Maybe the solution is to have additonal moderators?

[Ned]

Originally posted by AaronK@May 3 2006, 09:41 PM
I don't know what the options this board has in terms of moderation, etc. To the best of my knowledge, one must be registered to post, except in the polls/surveys.

Maybe the solution is to have additonal moderators?
25562

More moderation may be part of the answer, but so can requiring registration for all posts. Neither will fully stop this nonsense.

I've been pretty reactive to these posts complaining to the posters, warning our members, etc. One thing I think we should be doing is not react to these posts which only goes to feed these jerks. I for one am not going to answer these posts any longer, not even negatively. I will probably continue to message Tripso moderators about them to point out they're posted, but that's it.

I do think our moderators need to continue to patrol these posts and completely delete them and the poster's account quickly. That's what other boards do.

I belong to Nikonians. It's a huge forum for Nikon camera users. They have a team of moderators for each forum area which review posts almost 24x7 and delete or move posts whenever necessary. Many of the moderators are volunteers who just want to keep that community going well. Maybe that's what we need.

[Annette]

Simple registration can't be enough to stop these guys because you'll notice that the last three or four have all been registered users.

They've also all been users who have only one post and registered on the same day as the spamming.

I don't think that full-out moderation is necessary for this board - the vast majority of the posters are decent and cordial and I haven't seen anything degrade into pointless name-calling yet (or maybe I'm just not reading those threads!). However I do think that some kind of a probationary period might be an idea for new members. Hi there, welcome to the forum, by the way any of your postings for the next 2 weeks will appear on the forum after review by a moderator - strictly a spam prevention measure I we assure you. After those 2 weeks your posts will no longer be screened.

I can't imagine a spammer waiting 2 weeks between signing up and spamming. But at the same time you don't want to prevent people from posting at all because that penalizes legit new members who have something to contribute.

[AaronK]

That might work, if the board software allows it.

I'll just keep hitting the "report" button and reporting the spam to the moderators, unfortunately, I think John is the only person that gets those messages.

[tdew]

I agree that something needs to be done. We should stop responding to them at all - and definitely NOT clicking on anything they post.

Many forums require you to submit a working email address when you register.
You are then sent a link to that email address to make sure it's a good one.
When you respond to the email message, you also have to read one of those coded boxes and type the correct letters and numbers in to prove that you are a real person. All those steps should cut down on the number of these types of posts getting through, but will not hamper the rest of us who enjoy using the board without restrictions.

Maybe - John could give a couple of the regular members the ability to delete a post right away if it's a problem post - or else he'll just not be allowed to travel himself, only read about others' adventures.

Terry

[tdew]

After looking through the new messages this morning, I thought of one more thing we can do.
Maybe John can set up a topic that stays at the top of the board. If you want to report a particular posting as a bad one, put it there. That way, everyone will be warned, we won't be responding to the original poster, and when John has the opportunity to delete them he'll have a quick list of which ones to do.

[ebob]

I've seen this problem in other forums. One only has to look at what happened to the old Usenet Newsgroups to see what happens when the spammers are allowed to post to forums without moderation. Requiring registration to post is a start, but services like BugMeNot make it possible for people to post using accounts that are available to everyone. (By the way, I just checked BugMeNot and there are no accounts for Tripso.) Putting new users in a "probationary" period where their posts are under review for a length of time may slow down the problem, but will not stop it. Spammers can wait a week or two after registering to post. There are too many tricks that spammers can use to get around these systems. The only thing that I've ever seen work is conscientious moderation or retro-moderation (the post will appear, but if it is spam it will be quickly deleted by a moderator).

The thing to remember about spammers is that most of them think that they are legitimate marketers. They are looking to "get the word out on new and exciting products and services" to as many people as possible. What makes it profitable is that a few people will usually respond, and those responses alone will make it worthwhile. How many of you actually clicked those links? Even if only a few did, the spammer made money.

[BYOFT]

I agree to ignore the new posts, and not reply. This way, they will quickly move to the bottom of the screen, and out of sight. (Sorry, I got mad yesterday, and posted that "Go Away" on the car dealership topic.)

This seems to be a very recent problem. Maybe it will be short lived, and if these spammers get no response from any of us, they might give up and go away for good?

[Annette]

I don't think it will go away. I think it's a recent problem because we've only recently been discovered by them.

Now I haven't looked at the links posted in the spam but I suspect they're of the "pay per click" variety, so that the poster frankly really doesn't care what the content of the site you're going to is as long as you click on the link they get paid.

Someone had mentioned (sorry to be too lazy to go back and see who) that perhaps only John gets the messages from "reply to moderator". I know that when Anita was first introduced as one that she received some of the reports - I don't think they told her that she would because she didn't really understand why I was sending them to her. In any case they need to do something about them.

[Ned]

Originally posted by Annette@May 4 2006, 12:00 PM
I don't think it will go away.* I think it's a recent problem because we've only recently been discovered by them.

Now I haven't looked at the links posted in the spam but I suspect they're of the "pay per click" variety, so that the poster frankly really doesn't care what the content of the site you're going to is as long as you click on the link they get paid.

Someone had mentioned (sorry to be too lazy to go back and see who) that perhaps only John gets the messages from "reply to moderator".* I know that when Anita was first introduced as one that she received some of the reports - I don't think they told her that she would because she didn't really understand why I was sending them to her.* In any case they need to do something about them.
25613

Yes, action needs to be taken, and the sooner the better. Since these posts are still around, I must assume John is away. I'm dissapointed that no one else is monitoring and deleting these posts. There are many of these in "Tips and Tricks".

Anita and Chris, since John is apparently away, can you chime in here?