Digerati Posted April 11, 2011 Report Share Posted April 11, 2011 I keep getting new thread notifications that are something like:[username] posted topic Welcome to the [place] Online Newspapersz I have them various users, often zswnewsxxx where xxx is some number. Obviously, these spam messages are related as they all Welcome me to some Online Newspapersz. My concern is this has been going on for sometime. 18 in my MailWasher recycle bin since 3/21. Surely they have some common top level domain or IP address you can block to keep this badguy from joining and posting? If nothing else, key in on the word newspapersz or zswnews. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rong Posted April 11, 2011 Report Share Posted April 11, 2011 Quite persistent isn't he, I was wondering why he hadn't been blocked as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted April 11, 2011 Report Share Posted April 11, 2011 Each post has a completely different, unrelated IP and email address so we are unable to carry out a blanket ban.I've tried wildcard settings for a ban but these don't work.I should point out that most of them don't reach as far as the general membership, being deleted before that stage so you can imagine how many of these cursed things are being posted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digerati Posted April 11, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2011 I appreciate the insight to this problem. If only a few are making it through, then I bet it is even more frustrating on your side. I participate on many of the popular supports site and this seems to be the primary, if not only target. I wonder if it is an individual (which would make it personal) or a small bot army of compromised systems conducting a small DDoS attack? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb Posted April 12, 2011 Report Share Posted April 12, 2011 I have seen this individual (from Pakistan) being banned on other forums too. He seems to be able to use an inexhaustible number of IP addresses, possibly by using compromised systems or other methods.We may need to invoke a different method of validation for a while, e.g. manual approval by moderators instead of automatic approval via email reply. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MANEMAN Posted April 12, 2011 Report Share Posted April 12, 2011 Good idea Pat.The timewaster posters get to me personally more than outright spam. Do they have some sort of covert plan going on, or is it that they really do get their kicks from being stupid ?Am I perhaps becoming paranoid when I think they are looking for little cracks and holes into which they can crawl to go about their dastardly deeds ?Yep, I do agree that paranoia can quickly grab hold of a person, but reading the following article does little to quell the fears of many, when we see large security corporations being caught in the net also.Is Your Computer Listed “For Rent”? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb Posted April 13, 2011 Report Share Posted April 13, 2011 Good link, John.Do they have some sort of covert plan going on, or is it that they really do get their kicks from being stupid ?This question really just about sums it up!The "covert plan": most forum spammers have no interest to promote anything to us forum users. Their activities are solely for the "benefit" of search engines, to improve the ranking of their spam sites. Techniques range from openly promoting a site, posting hidden links in apparently legitimate posts, to adding spam links to signatures.About "being stupid": most search engine spiders do not pick up signature links, so this method is a 100% time waste on both spammers and forum moderators sides. Spiders also recognize hidden links and ignore them. Well-moderated forums like this one also have spam posts deleted within a short time - before any search engine can pick them up, so here again there is no practical result.So while spammers in general are very crafty in their approach, the end result is that 99% or more of their activities are a complete waste! If that is not stupid, I don't know what is... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digerati Posted April 13, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 13, 2011 Well, spammers work with shear numbers too. If they send out 1,000,000 spam messages, even if 99% are deleted, if that remaining 1% get responses, that's still 10,000 possible "marks" or suckers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rong Posted April 14, 2011 Report Share Posted April 14, 2011 He/she is slipping up, I haven't seen one today Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digerati Posted April 14, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 14, 2011 Oh? I've had one for Aruba Online Newspapersz, Cayman Online Newspapersz, and Haiti Online Newspapersz. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanHo Posted April 14, 2011 Report Share Posted April 14, 2011 Oh? I've had one for Aruba Online Newspapersz, Cayman Online Newspapersz, and Haiti Online Newspapersz.This was the script in the spam messages - with the link obliteratedWelcome to the best Online Newspapers fromthe entire world, Information on local issues, all politics, Main events, Worldcelebrations, people and all business on xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. Online Newspapersif you are looking for best accommodation, shopping, in free Online Newspapers.Bargains and about the weather then this is the place to start. Informationabout Online Holidays, vacations, Online Resorts, real estate and propertytogether with finance, stock market and as well as investments reports in OnlineNewspapers, also look for theater, movies, culture, Online Entertainment,activities and events all covered in Online Newspapers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted April 15, 2011 Report Share Posted April 15, 2011 Something else which is getting on my gongler are the posts which are entirely pointless - examples: "thanks for sharing" and (worse) "I don't know the answer to this".A lot of them lately. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb Posted April 15, 2011 Report Share Posted April 15, 2011 ...especially when they put it into topics that have been dormant for more than a year... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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