New Member 'Spam', Avatars, and HTML links in Signature

[Vortex Wake]

Every day this week we have had new 'members' sign up to Tenerife forum. Out of these new 'members' we have had the following;

1/ Total meaningless and irrelevant comments posted.

2/ HTML links and advert in signatures.

3/ Identifiable usernames and avatars of 'real' people.

And that's not to mention the typical 'spam' that is removed by vBulletin itself.

I have 'reported' a few of these members to mods, but find it disappointing that new 'member' sign up every day for their own reasons that have nothing to do with Tenerife or making this a better Tenerife forum community.



What are the rules on signatures for new members? Can vBulletin be configured to block html and signatures for new members? Could future new members be forced to introduce themselves first allowing easier moderation of obvious 'spam' posters.

[KirstyJay]

Everything that can be done, is. Believe me. Everything you have mentioned HAS been looked at already.

[Vortex Wake]

Everything that can be done, is. Believe me. Everything you have mentioned HAS been looked at already.

And??????

Could basic moderating be granted to certain regular members to moderate new posts i.e. all new members posts are blocked until they are reviewed?

[Dodger]

I have to say as someone who joined yesterday that postings like that are,IMO, quite off putting for potential new members .surely obvious spammers etc will be found out soon enough and can be dealt with accordingly
Sorry to make my first posting a bit of a rant
To annaalfredo that was i've forgotten your new name
And??????

Could basic moderating be granted to certain regular members to moderate new posts i.e. all new members posts are blocked until they are reviewed?

[Vortex Wake]

I have to say as someone who joined yesterday that postings like that are,IMO, quite off putting for potential new members .surely obvious spammers etc will be found out soon enough and can be dealt with accordingly
Sorry to make my first posting a bit of a rant
To annaalfredo that was i've forgotten your new name

I somewhat doubt that you are really new to this forum if you know Annaalfredo ;)

Added after 1 22 minutes:


I have to say as someone who joined yesterday that postings like that are,IMO, quite off putting for potential new members .surely obvious spammers etc will be found out soon enough and can be dealt with accordingly
Sorry to make my first posting a bit of a rant
To annaalfredo that was i've forgotten your new name

And to illustrate my point http://www.tenerifeforum.org/tenerife-forum/showthread.php?8722-IMPORTANT-Duplicate-account-information-needed-for-old-and-new-forum-merge&p=133648&viewfull=1#post133648

Added after 3 minutes:

New member writes

' there are many different ways this could have been done. they may had made a request for a new card and sat out your mail and got it from there. also check the places where you use the card. check the atms around there . the perpetrators may have rigged the atm to duplicate your card and record your pin presses. next time go you go use your card make sure that you inspect the atm for any loose pieces or that the number pad looks different. also look at the area for any new displays pointing at the atm. one more thing make sure you know where you are making your purchases. card phishing is common at shady mom and pop stores where the staff themselves rig their card readers to duplicate cards. also if you are doing your banking from home make sure ur computer is virus free and your wifi is secure with a wpa2. set the router to filter out mac adresses that dont belong to your devices'

[CIM]

Its automated forum spam. In most cases this is all done by a dedicated machine with a load of different proxies and a captcha breaker. The phrases and paragraphs are randomly generated, spun content or can be generated using something as simple as Excel to output different sentences in different order.
I have the software to do this myself but I find I dont use it for spamming (has other good uses though...)
The reasons for it is generally to insert a link back to a website for SEO purposes. Sometimes this is done as a "double pass" where the sign up is made, a random profile generated and then 24 or 48 hours later a link is inserted into the signature of simply in the profile box. The delay stops accounts from being deleted straight away.
It´s a constant battle for forum and blog administrators against the spammers. Forums install and upgrade software, spammers create and use better software etc etc.
For every 5 or 6 accounts that are deleted, one is left alone which gives one link. Tis software can quite easily generate tens of thousands of accounts per day which is what makes it so attractive to spammers. Google has devalued blog comment spam and forum account spam recently so it is no longer as advantageous but it still works to some extent.

[Tom & Sharon]

Its automated forum spam. In most cases this is all done by a dedicated machine with a load of different proxies and a captcha breaker. The phrases and paragraphs are randomly generated, spun content or can be generated using something as simple as Excel to output different sentences in different order.
I have the software to do this myself but I find I dont use it for spamming (has other good uses though...)
The reasons for it is generally to insert a link back to a website for SEO purposes. Sometimes this is done as a "double pass" where the sign up is made, a random profile generated and then 24 or 48 hours later a link is inserted into the signature of simply in the profile box. The delay stops accounts from being deleted straight away.
It´s a constant battle for forum and blog administrators against the spammers. Forums install and upgrade software, spammers create and use better software etc etc.
For every 5 or 6 accounts that are deleted, one is left alone which gives one link. Tis software can quite easily generate tens of thousands of accounts per day which is what makes it so attractive to spammers. Google has devalued blog comment spam and forum account spam recently so it is no longer as advantageous but it still works to some extent.

WTF, Just what i was finking :ashamed:

This has to be the "REPLY" of the year 2012? :bootyshake: ;)

Tom :tiphat:

[warbey]

Thankyou V.W. for bringing this to My attention.

I too would be willing to help if required at some point.
This is a great Forum and I want it to remain so.

[Ian55]

Or a easier way VW just report it and we will spamomatic it :D

[slodgedad]

Duhhhh. Couple of days off and Kaka Hitus Fanus.....:hello:

[Vortex Wake]

Or a easier way VW just report it and we will spamomatic it :D

I already do report them but since there is no feedback from the 'report post' feature , Its impossible to know the effectiveness.

No mod has answered my question about new member signatures

[Ian55]

Links in Signatures are allowed even for newbies, unless its blatent advertising ie inane posts on threads where the OP makes no input to the topic, as for feedback on reported post's usually when its been reported its sorted out, The Admin team are grateful for members reporting 'Spam etc' please keep it up :hello:

[Ecky Thump]

And??????

Could basic moderating be granted to certain regular members to moderate new posts i.e. all new members posts are blocked until they are reviewed?

As an idea that seems OK, but as the forum is not actively moderated and a post could be made many hours before a mod can attend to it, so what would happen when the new members first post is a urgent cry for help, which is something we have seen on this forum quite a few times over the past few years.

[Vortex Wake]

As an idea that seems OK, but as the forum is not actively moderated and a post could be made many hours before a mod can attend to it, so what would happen when the new members first post is a urgent cry for help, which is something we have seen on this forum quite a few times over the past few years.


How many times do we get an 'urgent cry for help' ?

Admin may be able to tell us when the forum is at its least active , although 2am to 7am may be a good guess .

Todays nonsense poster ;

reiidlynch

'It is not difficult to get better information that directly. It increase well surround and make own-self most known easily if its most famous. That all depend on its work and services. '


spam poster reported

[Ecky Thump]

How many times do we get an 'urgent cry for help' ?

Admin may be able to tell us when the forum is at its least active , although 2am to 7am may be a good guess .

Todays nonsense poster ;

reiidlynch

'It is not difficult to get better information that directly. It increase well surround and make own-self most known easily if its most famous. That all depend on its work and services. '


spam poster reported

You beat me to it as reiidlynch's posts as you say are blatantly nonsense and can only be posted to advertise his signature.
We shall wait with abated breath to see how long the posts remain.

Added after 1 6 minutes:




Todays nonsense poster ;

reiidlynch

'It is not difficult to get better information that directly. It increase well surround and make own-self most known easily if its most famous. That all depend on its work and services. '
spam poster reported


Offending posts now removed!:thanx: