Winboard Forum

Since a few days there appear mindless, Eliza-like posts from newly registered users in the forum. Is this a new way for spam-bots to prepare their assault?

H.G.Muller wrote:Since a few days there appear mindless, Eliza-like posts from newly registered users in the forum. Is this a new way for spam-bots to prepare their assault?

Hi hgm, I'm just back from a blind tourney, not checked yet. I'll have a look and I'll take care of it if needed.

Olivier

Olivier Deville wrote:

H.G.Muller wrote:Since a few days there appear mindless, Eliza-like posts from newly registered users in the forum. Is this a new way for spam-bots to prepare their assault?

Hi hgm, I'm just back from a blind tourney, not checked yet. I'll have a look and I'll take care of it if needed.

Olivier

I see nonsense post in another (not chess related) forum where i waste some of my time.
In all these posts there are links,I guess the idea is to make the reader curious enough to click on them.

Well, that definitely betrays 'arcyonline'. His signature is a link, and he periodically changes it in his profile, so that his existing posts link to a different advertizements all the time.

H.G.Muller wrote:Well, that definitely betrays 'arcyonline'. His signature is a link, and he periodically changes it in his profile, so that his existing posts link to a different advertizements all the time.

Just checked his posts, there is no signature at the moment (possibly he removed it).

I let it to our mod.

Olivier

The guy made several unrelated to chess posts one minute apart of each other.

I DEAL with people like this in a weekly basis in a forum where I am a co-admin...easy to spot this spammers...My solution is to ban a range of ip's from the same region.

Of course This is just my opinion, but the 5 posts this guy made in 5 minutes, useless...with no insight input or valuable information are definitely a clue of his spamming intentions,

Regards

By the way...I bet 5 Euros...tha his IP is from PAKISTAN....any takers?

matematiko wrote:By the way...I bet 5 Euros...tha his IP is from PAKISTAN....any takers?

You lost 5 Euros

I of course agree that his posts are useless. Let's see what Andrés will do.

Olivier

Olivier Deville wrote:

matematiko wrote:By the way...I bet 5 Euros...tha his IP is from PAKISTAN....any takers?

You lost 5 Euros

I of course agree that his posts are useless. Let's see what Andrés will do.

Olivier

How can I pay my debt?

And sorry about my post mentioning a particular country (Please delete if you think is best, including this one). I guess I got emotional and assumed the same "bad thing" was going on here. This is a public apology.

Best regards,

matematiko wrote:

Olivier Deville wrote:

matematiko wrote:By the way...I bet 5 Euros...tha his IP is from PAKISTAN....any takers?

You lost 5 Euros

I of course agree that his posts are useless. Let's see what Andrés will do.

Olivier

How can I pay my debt?

And sorry about my post mentioning a particular country (Please delete if you think is best, including this one). I guess I got emotional and assumed the same "bad thing" was going on here. This is a public apology.

Best regards,

It's OK. I have posted something myself about accounts from China and Viet Nam. It is true that accounts from Pakistan are usually fake ones.

Olivier

Olivier Deville wrote:

H.G.Muller wrote:Well, that definitely betrays 'arcyonline'. His signature is a link, and he periodically changes it in his profile, so that his existing posts link to a different advertizements all the time.

Just checked his posts, there is no signature at the moment (possibly he removed it).

I let it to our mod.

Olivier

User has been warned. Next time he'll be banned.

BTW : May I delete all useless posts ? wow, what a hard work is this!. Olivier you fooled me

We used to have a lot of spam in another forum. The solution we now use is premoderation of first two posts of new members. This means: when a newly registered member posts a message, a mod has to approve it before anyone else can see it. After the first two messages are approved, the newcomer can post freely. This totally solved the spam problem. All previous measures that we tried (various captchas, banning by email, banning by IP or IP range) were much less effective. We use phpBB3 as well, so this method should be easy to set up here.

Andres Valverde wrote:User has been warned. Next time he'll be banned.

BTW : May I delete all useless posts ? wow, what a hard work is this!. Olivier you fooled me

Hmm, since you ask...

What exactly do you consider a 'nex time'? His posts still contain a link to a pet-insurance site.

Do you really think it is a good idea to give users that obviously have no knowledge nor interest in computer Chess and only registered here for advertizing a second chance? (Second chance for what? Do you expect them to develop an interest in computer Chess?)

H.G.Muller wrote:

Andres Valverde wrote:User has been warned. Next time he'll be banned.

BTW : May I delete all useless posts ? wow, what a hard work is this!. Olivier you fooled me

Hmm, since you ask...

What exactly do you consider a 'nex time'? His posts still contain a link to a pet-insurance site.

Do you really think it is a good idea to give users that obviously have no knowledge nor interest in computer Chess and only registered here for advertizing a second chance? (Second chance for what? Do you expect them to develop an interest in computer Chess?)

Sorry, I don't see those links you mention. Apparently they were removed. Every one deserves a chance IMHO.

Kirill Kryukov wrote:We used to have a lot of spam in another forum. The solution we now use is premoderation of first two posts of new members. This means: when a newly registered member posts a message, a mod has to approve it before anyone else can see it. After the first two messages are approved, the newcomer can post freely. This totally solved the spam problem. All previous measures that we tried (various captchas, banning by email, banning by IP or IP range) were much less effective. We use phpBB3 as well, so this method should be easy to set up here.

I do like this method. If it can be set up here no problem by my side.

Andres Valverde wrote:Sorry, I don't see those links you mention. Apparently they were removed. Every one deserves a chance IMHO.

That is really incredible. Have I so much more rights on this board that I can see things that are even hidden to the moderator? Or do you have the option to see people's signatures switched off in your profile? Can you see your own signature ("Un saludote, Andrés")? Well for the posts of that guy it says "Pet Insurance", and it is a link to a .co.uk page. At this very moment.

This is weird. I could not see the signature either in the posts, but when I went to the Administration panel, I did see the Pet Insurance stuff, and killed it.

I agree with hgm : this guy does not belong here.

Olivier

Kirill Kryukov wrote:We used to have a lot of spam in another forum. The solution we now use is premoderation of first two posts of new members. This means: when a newly registered member posts a message, a mod has to approve it before anyone else can see it. After the first two messages are approved, the newcomer can post freely. This totally solved the spam problem. All previous measures that we tried (various captchas, banning by email, banning by IP or IP range) were much less effective. We use phpBB3 as well, so this method should be easy to set up here.

Risking being wrong (as usual ) I think those mods can only be applied by an admin or co-admin.

Regards,

matematiko wrote:

Kirill Kryukov wrote:We used to have a lot of spam in another forum. The solution we now use is premoderation of first two posts of new members. This means: when a newly registered member posts a message, a mod has to approve it before anyone else can see it. After the first two messages are approved, the newcomer can post freely. This totally solved the spam problem. All previous measures that we tried (various captchas, banning by email, banning by IP or IP range) were much less effective. We use phpBB3 as well, so this method should be easy to set up here.

Risking being wrong (as usual ) I think those mods can only be applied by an admin or co-admin.

Regards,

This option is built-in and does not need installing any modifications. Probably still only those with admin rights can toggle it though. (The "mod" in my previous post referred to "moderator").

Yes you are correct, by "mods" I was referring to changing php behavior.

Regards,