Spammers and this forum section

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Zarel
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Re: Spammers and this forum section

Post by Zarel »

KukY wrote: :hmm:
You disable links at all!
...and how do you disable links?
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XboxJosh
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Re: Spammers and this forum section

Post by XboxJosh »

I'm not terribly familiar with the PhpBB software, but would -1 work by any chance? Just a thought.

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Mysteryem
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Re: Spammers and this forum section

Post by Mysteryem »

http://www.phpbb-seo.com/en/phpbb2-foru ... le411.html looks like it might have some useful information on this matter.
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KukY
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Re: Spammers and this forum section

Post by KukY »

XboxJosh wrote:I'm not terribly familiar with the PhpBB software, but would -1 work by any chance? Just a thought.
It is quality software, so I think it wouldn't allow it.
And that setting would make any post invalid, since it has 0 links and that is bigger then -1.
Mysteryem wrote:http://www.phpbb-seo.com/en/phpbb2-foru ... le411.htmllooks like it might have some useful information on this matter.
It doesn't. It is about changing the style links are parsed in.
Zarel wrote:...and how do you disable links?
You're an admin, so you could go to ACP, do some search (HINT: look under "Post settings") and find that option. :hmm:
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Mysteryem
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Re: Spammers and this forum section

Post by Mysteryem »

KukY wrote:
Mysteryem wrote:http://www.phpbb-seo.com/en/phpbb2-foru ... le411.htmllooks like it might have some useful information on this matter.
It doesn't. It is about changing the style links are parsed in.
Some of the later posts in that thread by "dcz" seemed to be more focused on what we want to achieve here, but I'm not sure since I don't understand it fully.
"...If pure awesomeness were bricks, this would be the Great Wall of China...
The glory of this has collapsed on its self so far, that even the neutrons have collapsed."
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Crymson
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Re: Spammers and this forum section

Post by Crymson »

How about run the text through a php script, just for this section?
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Christheturtle
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Re: Spammers and this forum section

Post by Christheturtle »

The issue is... It would take work to disable links globally on the forums, and it would make no difference. They would still spam.

(go to example.com for the best things ever known to man
go to example.com for the best things ever known to man
go to example.com for the best things ever known to man
go to example.com for the best things ever known to man)

I seriously doubt that it would stop them at all.
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JDW
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Re: Spammers and this forum section

Post by JDW »

Guest postings should be held back from being displayed on the forum until they are approved by one of the moderators.

Possible flaw: Spammers start taking the trouble of creating new accounts and thus leading to spam postings in any section, magnifying the current problem.
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zydonk
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Re: Spammers and this forum section

Post by zydonk »

Obvious question: Why allow guest postings at all? I usually expect to register before posting to a forum.
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JDW
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Re: Spammers and this forum section

Post by JDW »

zydonk wrote:Why allow guest postings at all?
Some people who have some good feedback, may not really like to take the trouble to register, since they may not feel like checking their email for the confirmation email, and remembering another password for a new account.

These people usually have just one good thing to say for a long time, and find it a hassle to maintain another account. Hence a possibility of the project missing out on some useful feedback.
"Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will ever regret."
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Zarel
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Re: Spammers and this forum section

Post by Zarel »

We haven't had very many guests in a long time. :(
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JDW
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Re: Spammers and this forum section

Post by JDW »

Zarel wrote:We haven't had very many guests in a long time. :(
So, I have noticed :( At least we got them spammers :D
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Saberuneko
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Re: Spammers and this forum section

Post by Saberuneko »

zydonk wrote:Obvious question: Why allow guest postings at all? I usually expect to register before posting to a forum.
Well, guest posting "saved" me, not very long ago. :3

Anyway, my first post here, was done like that too. I told about misplaced tiles on a map. I would had kept posting as guest, but I felt like wanted to help.

If I hadn't been able to post as guest first, I'd maybe not registered here. :D
zydonk
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Re: Spammers and this forum section

Post by zydonk »

Fair enough. It looks like a trade off between a convenience and a nuisance. So what about limiting links to 1 (one)? That might make the forum less attractive to spammers. It would at least reduce the nuisance without affecting the advantage to us.
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Re: Spammers and this forum section

Post by cybersphinx »

This section seems to be mostly the target of bots - those posts are easy to identify (and will probably not be affected by limiting the link count). More annoying are those poor idiots who spam forums manually - create an account, plant a few basically meaningless posts in random topics, and then add a signature with spam links later. (Some new members had links in their signature, but not posted anything...)

The only effective thing would be to put users into a "trusted users" group after e.g. five posts, and completely strip out anything that looks like a link from posts of others. Well, "effective" as in "posting here won't increase their Google ratings", not as in "preventing them to post here" - to keep the forum tidy, the posts would still have to be cleaned up. Hm, is there a list of "good forums to spam", like those lists of "bazillions of guaranteed to exist email addresses"? Though I guess a search engine will find new forums faster than any manually assembled list.
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