Spam attack

[Leigh]

Major spams from at least two different sources.
One posted new threads in Business with gibberish using multiple new user names, 9 threads that I found.
The other posted replies to at least 25 existing threads.

When you delete a user, is there an option to delete all that user's posts, including threads started by the user?
That would make cleanup much simpler.

I'm a mod on another BBS running vBulletin, and we have that option.

Also, it seems unreasonable to wait 30 seconds between reporting spams, since that only takes about 5 seconds.

Just a suggestion.

- Leigh

[Ken Lee]

Yes, we can remove all of them in one stroke - as long as it's the same user. This person appeared as several users, so it took a moment to get them all, but I think they're gone now.

[photobymike]

Spammers image that here on LF.... i get at least 50 a day in my email.... i am a nobody... with no money ....and no job....

[BrianShaw]

... and no need for ED medications!

[rdenney]

Ken and I (and the other mods) have different ways of dealing with spam attacks.

This morning, Ken deleted about eight threads, using the "deleted as spam" control that the mods have but without marking them for permanent deletion. That leaves a record of the deletion that you can all see.

The rest of us (me, Neil, and Ralph) check the box for "permanent removal", which makes the post (and the threads if they are the OP) vanish from the database. Any link that points to that post after that operation will show "Invalid Thread". We all get the same reports, and if the post is still there but deleted, then it's Ken that got there first. If it shows "invalid thread", then I know that Neil or Ralph got their first. This is just a matter of style--Ken's approach is reversible and mine is not, so those of us using the permanent removal have to be more careful.

The "delete as spam" control allows us to delete all the posts by the deletee, and also ban them, in one operation. We then report them to Stop Forum Spam through our moderator control panel.

For yesterday morning's big attack, I got there first, and I just checked off the spam threads, which were obvious on looking at the Business subforum, and used the delete-as-spam control for all of them in one operation. With that approach, only the first poster in each of the selected threads gets named as the spammer and banned, and all their posts are permanently removed in one operation. One of those posters had made about 25 posts, and I reviewed all of them quickly to make sure they were all spam (they were). So, it took longer to make the 25 or so email reports as "read" than it did to remove the spam and the spammers. About five minutes. I did it from my iPhone.

The delete-as-spam control allows us to delete all the posts from the spammer, and also ban that user permanently, in one operation.

Rick "providing a peek behind the curtain" Denney