TAoM Invasion of the Spambots
Re: TAoM Invasion of the Spambots
Haven't heard from Michael unfortunately...
I'll be out of town this weekend. Hopefully I'll have the time to drop over and chuck out some stuff.
I'll be out of town this weekend. Hopefully I'll have the time to drop over and chuck out some stuff.
Re: TAoM Invasion of the Spambots
Checked in just before going to bed and ended up deleting over a hundred topics. I hope there won't be any other legitimate topics in the bunch.
Haven't heard back from Michael. He hasn't been on the forum since October.
Haven't heard back from Michael. He hasn't been on the forum since October.
Re: TAoM Invasion of the Spambots
Thanks. It was bad this afternoon.
Re: TAoM Invasion of the Spambots
Spambots are pretty vile. Some of them have went past the stage of poor grammar and post a coherent line as a reaction to a topic.Later this post is altered to contain malicious links.
This often happens to topics that are years old. A good example was the kitchen remodeling topic, which was revived by one spamming user. Since it's not always easy to tell in advance if they are bots (or even a spamming human), I had locked this post to insure it couldn't be altered later to contain something evil.
But there's another way around it - and that's the signature that will appear on the bottom of every post. I can't remove that since that's an admin function only. Nor can I delete the user.
So I just deleted several newer posts to topics that I suspected were spam - at least there were links that were unsafe.
This often happens to topics that are years old. A good example was the kitchen remodeling topic, which was revived by one spamming user. Since it's not always easy to tell in advance if they are bots (or even a spamming human), I had locked this post to insure it couldn't be altered later to contain something evil.
But there's another way around it - and that's the signature that will appear on the bottom of every post. I can't remove that since that's an admin function only. Nor can I delete the user.
So I just deleted several newer posts to topics that I suspected were spam - at least there were links that were unsafe.
Re: TAoM Invasion of the Spambots
I have a feeling the days of TAoM forums are numbered.... trying to go back and save the threads I care about.
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Re: TAoM Invasion of the Spambots
Only if Michael pulls the plug, of course.
If you find old threads missing, from before last September when I started doing this, it's probably the move to PHPBB that caused it going missing.
Jonathan - nice find but since I'm a mod and the only admin is Michael, it's not applicable. Except for the banning and IP banning, but unfortunately the banning hasn't properly been implemented in PHPBB interface.
If you find old threads missing, from before last September when I started doing this, it's probably the move to PHPBB that caused it going missing.
Jonathan - nice find but since I'm a mod and the only admin is Michael, it's not applicable. Except for the banning and IP banning, but unfortunately the banning hasn't properly been implemented in PHPBB interface.
Re: TAoM Invasion of the Spambots
Went to bed - everything okay. Woke up to find a spammer had added a new post to some 50 topics.
Banned his butt and chucked them all out, but unfortunately that has to happen manually. Took half an hour.
Banned his butt and chucked them all out, but unfortunately that has to happen manually. Took half an hour.

Re: TAoM Invasion of the Spambots
We've all received a letter (and you had a letter, and you had a letter, and you had a letter...) from a spammer in our PM inbox.
Please DO NOT CLICK THE LINK AND THROW IT AWAY IMMEDIATELY!
Please DO NOT CLICK THE LINK AND THROW IT AWAY IMMEDIATELY!
Re: TAoM Invasion of the Spambots
Thank you!!! They're getting nastier.
Re: TAoM Invasion of the Spambots
They were always nasty. I've reached the point where I'm doing this in my break time at work. Hope they don't get worried if they see I visit "the art of murder" regularly. 

Re: TAoM Invasion of the Spambots
Has anyone heard from Michael lately? It's been half a year since I last heard from him...
Re: TAoM Invasion of the Spambots
I emailed with him back in early March. Want me to reach out to him and let him know you're trying to get a hold?
Re: TAoM Invasion of the Spambots
Yes please. I'm doing my best here but it's no good since I cannot prevent spammers from posting.
Re: TAoM Invasion of the Spambots
I emailed but so far have heard nothing back...
Re: TAoM Invasion of the Spambots
Sorry to hear that, I hope he's okay...
Re: TAoM Invasion of the Spambots
I had to delete over 60 topics today due to two vicious spammers. If you happen to miss a topic, please let me know.
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Re: TAoM Invasion of the Spambots
I talked to him last week on Facebook but didn't talk about anything Clue or Forum related
Re: TAoM Invasion of the Spambots
OK, good to hear he's at least still around...
Re: TAoM Invasion of the Spambots
Deleted 50+ topics again. Please let me know if you miss something.