Spambots etc.

[Martijn Meerts]

Every once in a while we get visited by a spambot, leaving weird posts with links to some obscure site selling (mostly fake) merchandise. We try to ban these users, and delete posts asap, but at times it can take a while.

 

There's really nothing to do against these spambots, considering they're not really bots at all, but people hired to visit forums, create accounts, and post spam. We could block IP ranges, but that might leave potential real members to not be able to login, so that's not really an option.

 

I just wanted to make a quick post about it, so you all know we are going to delete the posts eventually, so keep on reporting them ;)

[keitaro]

no worries i know that sonia london is gooooone haha

[cteno4]

Martijn,

 

you didnt know ive been a spambot all along? ive been placing subliminal messages in all my posts!

 

jeff (getting richer with every keystroke!)

[Martijn Meerts]

Oooh..

 

*goes looking for the ban button* ;)

[cteno4]

dude i was born to be banned!

 

ok no more thorogood.

 

jeff

[Guest ___]

n00bs r on here posting sites to getz rich by $elling pr0n 2 traaain buffz. frree da b0ston twinzzzzzzzzzz

[Martijn Meerts]

Quick note.. Some of you may have noticed a rise in spam posts the past days (I managed to get rid of a lot of them pretty much while the spammer was still on the forum posting more crap :)). The reason is.. Well.. Our software license expired :)

 

I got an email about it not that long ago, and added renewing the license to my to-do list. I usually pay many recurring bills somewhere right after I got my pay check. Little did I know that it's only a matter of days after they send the email to actually close down your account. There is a spam prevention service (which while not flawless, did manage to weed out lots of registrations) which is deactivated when your license is expired, so well, you get where this is going ..

 

 

I've now reactivated and we once again have a valid license for the coming 6 months. I just hope I'll remember to renew quicker next time around ;)

 

 

Funny stats:

June 22: 0 new registrations

June 23: 1 new registration

June 24: 3 new registrations

June 25: 57 new registrations

 

I wonder when exactly our license expired  :BangHead:

Edited June 26, 2013 by Martijn Meerts

[bill937ca]

Its OK.  We all have bad days.  With technology they just get bad so fast...

[Densha]

Little did I know that it's only a matter of days after they send the email to actually close down your account. There is a spam prevention service (which while not flawless, did manage to weed out lots of registrations) which is deactivated when your license is expired, so well, you get where this is going ..

What's that for crappy customer service?

[Martijn Meerts]

What's that for crappy customer service?

 

Yeah, seems a bit over the top to deactivate accounts just a few days after sending an email to say your license is about to expire... If I'd have been on holiday for like a month without any sort of internet access it would've been pretty bad, considering the amount of new spam accounts registered when the spam service was disabled.

 

On the upside, the forum seems to be doing well if it's considered popular enough for spammers to register 50+ accounts in a day :)

[Densha]

On the downside, now we also know that all those spammers/bots visiting the website even without registering use a big load of bandwidth.

[Martijn Meerts]

We have lots of bandwidth though, it's cheap these days :)

[VJM]

Martijn,

 

I can't remember if we have it here, but one many forums, they ask a question during the signup process that effectively proves you are not a bot and that you actually have some interest in the forum topics (not just a simple CAPTCHA thing).

 

Perhaps if we had such a feature, we can weed out people who are not genuine.  It doesn't need to be hard... something any Japanese rail enthusiast can answer, eg

 

What is the name of the famous circular train line around Tokyo?  Select from the choices below

 

- Chuo

- Sobu

- Yamanote

- Keihin-Tohoku

- Saikyo-Rinkai

[Martijn Meerts]

The problem is that they're not traditional bots, but regular people getting paid to sign up to forums and post spam. So asking a question doesn't actually work at all, especially considering you need to keep the question simple in order not to scare off potential real members ;)

 

The forum software's spam service does a check on known spam IP address and hosts and the like, so it actually stops a large amount of spammers from getting in, but there's no stopping all of them.

[VJM]

I understand that these are regular people, but as I said, simply ask a question that just about any Japanese rail enthusiast would know.  If someone was keen on joining and did not know the answer, it seriously only takes a 10 second web search to come up with the answer to the sample question above.

 

Someone who is interested in the topics on this forum; I reckon at least 90% would know the answer to the sample question, and spammers simply would not.

[Martijn Meerts]

A simple question that takes a few seconds to find the answer to isn't going to stop spammers either though. After all, they get paid for it, they have plenty reason to spend 10 seconds finding an answer ;)

 

Also, a lot of spammers who get "contracted" by a spamming company will have access to a backend with a ton of information about sites worth spamming. It wouldn't take long for the answer (or multiple answers if you go for a random question) to appear on there.

[KenS]

Another problem with the "simple question" approach is that it might keep out people who are really interested, but are just getting started and might not know the answer. When I first got interested in Japanese trains I knew the name "Yamanote" simply because that was the train I first bought.  I had no idea it was a circular line.  I don't think I knew that until after I'd bought a couple more trains in fact.

 

A fan who is interested in steam logging railroads also might not have a clue about the Yamanote's location or design, even if they could quote chapter and verse on Japanese logging systems.

 

And some of us are just in it for the shiny new trains, so different from what I see on the tracks near me. Who cares what line they run on? :)

[Ochanomizu]

Hello,

 

This problem exist on all forum, yes.  I think it best to have one section open for posting by new member and only allow posting to other section after 10 posts.  New member can post any question in one section.  It give genuine new user access to forum but limit posting of spammer to the new user section.  Easy to monitor.