Spam, spam, spam, spam! Spam, spam, spam! How do we stop all this stinkin’ spam????

[cvcalhoun]

I reported it all (which turns out to be much faster on a phone than on a computer, as the phone doesn’t have a 60-second pause before it will allow you to report again). But I presume that someone actually has to read those reports. I have no idea whether that person is even around on weekends.

[peterw_diy]

Thank you to whoever has been knocking that junk down.

[cvcalhoun]

@peterw_diy 116719 wrote:

Thank you to whoever has been knocking that junk down.

What, you’re not in need of a black magic specialist in India?

[Starduster]

NNNNNNNNNNNNNNobody expects the Spamish Inquisition!!!

[PotomacCyclist]

The administrators aren’t here on the weekends or holidays. That’s precisely why the spammer timed it on the Friday of Memorial Day weekend.

That’s also why I bumped up a non-spam thread yesterday. At least the top thread will be a non-spam thread, unless the spammer returns. We’ve had a few bad waves of spam in the past, but too much this year. I have noticed a couple new spammers over the past month. Maybe they are starting to figure a way around the latest anti-spam defenses. I hope not. Then the vBulletin people will have to come up with new spam countermoves or filters. Then the spammers will adapt. It’s an ongoing process. It works most of the time, but not this weekend.

If you look toward the bottom left of the main Index page, you’ll see a box with a link to Spam-O-Matic Statistics. That’s an anti-spam feature or plug-in (or whatever the exact term is) that was added to the vBulletin software about a year ago. It’s supposed to block spammers from registering. The box shows that 598 spammers were prevented from registering. I don’t know if that shows all-time stats or stats from the past week/month/year. It helped quite a bit, after the flood of spam in 2013 or 2014. But now a few of the spammers are finding a way around the spam blockers.

I thought there were limits on how many new threads a new account can start on the first day or in the first week, but maybe not. Or maybe the limit is too high. In addition to the other anti-spam tools, couldn’t they have an auto-limit on new threads for new accounts? Maybe only one new thread per day for any new account in the first week? I don’t know why a new forum member would need to open multiple threads on their first day on the forum. Some people start up an account to ask a specific question (about a bike route, bike equipment or witness of a bike crash). Those people would still be able to start up the thread, but only that one thread. They would still be able to post multiple times in that thread. A spammer might take advantage of this and post multiple messages in a new spam thread. But at least they wouldn’t be able to fill up the entire forum index with multiple spam thread entries.

As for this weekend, the only thing we can do is report the spam posts, note that it is a spam account, and wait until the threads get deleted on Tuesday.

[kwarkentien]

Where is the “report” function? I’m glad Carol reported this but I was looking and looking in vain to try to do the same.

[mstone]

@kwarkentien 116730 wrote:

Where is the “report” function?

In the Web version of the page there is and exclamation point in a triangle at the bottom of each post; clock that to report. In tapatalk you click a post to highlight it, then report is a menu item.

[Henry]

Spam deleted. User banned. Now I have to go cut the grass and start the ribs before my wife gets back from her walk. Henry

[rcannon100]

@Henry 116734 wrote:

Spam deleted. User banned. Now I have to go cut the grass and start the ribs before my wife gets back from her walk. Henry

The massive power of the Bicycle Lobby!

[KWL]

@Henry 116734 wrote:

Spam deleted. User banned. Now I have to go cut the grass and start the ribs before my wife gets back from her walk. Henry

Note to self: Be nice to Henry.

[Author]

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