Spamtastic

[MikeFishcake]

I've noticed that the last few days has been particularly bad for spammers selling their stuff - what 'precautions' does this forum have for preventing bots signing up?

One forum I use is based on the Manchester Phoenix ice hockey team - they have a question that you have to answer before it lets you register - asking who the team coach is. Only people interested in the sport would know this, or at least know how to find out. Is it worth putting something on here that only RG readers would know (i.e. what's the first name of the RG editor or something?)

It's obviously not infallible, but it would certainly stop the bots and the more casual manual spammers.

[thevulture]

Logged on, 1st 3 new posts i saw? Bloody chinese spam, All reported, but last few days? Flood gates seem to have been opened.

[retrogarden]

Is it worth putting something on here that only RG readers would know (i.e. what's the first name of the RG editor or something?)

I must admit I'd probably struggle with that :S.

As a web monkey myself, the best forms of spam protection are the following:-

- ReCAPTCHA: Google owned spam checker that uses words from books
- Asking some silly question (such as "Which of these is an animal: Europe, Horse, Table, Findus Crispy Pancakes").

Both of those - specifically the former - does stop a LOT of spam!

[TMR]

Is it worth putting something on here that only RG readers would know (i.e. what's the first name of the RG editor or something?)

I must admit I'd probably struggle with that :S.

That's the problem with those questions, i have a few phpBB boards and they're all set up to ask an extra question at sign up but it took a lot of browbeating to come up with something i thought wouldn't stump too many legitimate users - in the end i resorted to having a welcome thread with the answer and a comment next to the question about where to look but there's still the occasional user who stumbles at that point.

As a web monkey myself, the best forms of spam protection are the following:-

- ReCAPTCHA: Google owned spam checker that uses words from books
- Asking some silly question (such as "Which of these is an animal: Europe, Horse, Table, Findus Crispy Pancakes").

Both of those - specifically the former - does stop a LOT of spam!

This board used to do the latter but with pictures if memory serves, that doesn't appear to be in place right now though.

[Edwards80]

The daft but obvious question method seems the best choice at the moment. Genuine users don't need to have any prior knowledge and spam bot's can't tackle the question.

That said, even if they did work out how to tackle it, I would be happy knowing that someone somewhere in China/Russia had to spend some time getting his computer to understand the difference between Findus Crispy Pancakes and a Horse.

[Fred83]

Does this place get spammed most,rarely seen much of it on other sites

[thevulture]

Does this place get spammed most,rarely seen much of it on other sites

The one`s i reported yesterday morning on here, cropped up on Gamestm site by the afternoon.

[Megamixer]

Logged in tonight and practically every sub-forum is rammed with bloody spam. F*ck off!

Spammers definitely stepping it up a notch over the last few days.

[Fred83]

Logged in tonight and practically every sub-forum is rammed with bloody spam. F*ck off!

Spammers definitely stepping it up a notch over the last few days.

I said it in another post yesterday that they would strike when the mods are gone to the events

[Megamixer]

Logged in tonight and practically every sub-forum is rammed with bloody spam. F*ck off!

Spammers definitely stepping it up a notch over the last few days.

I said it in another post yesterday that they would strike when the mods are gone to the events

That was a possibility I just thought of (only just remembered that everyone is at Replay).

Wonder when these f*ckers will realise that they gain absolutely nothing from these spam posts. Nobody on here goes "ooh, mobile phones - I'll have ten!". This is a retro forum for pete's sake - we don't know what mobile phones are!

[Fred83]

Wonder when these f*ckers will realise that they gain absolutely nothing from these spam posts. Nobody on here goes "ooh, mobile phones - I'll have ten!". This is a retro forum for pete's sake - we don't know what mobile phones are!

I assume they do really,getting paid for the work,as for the spam proof questions,surely tea or coffee will make them explode in confusion

[thevulture]

Reported 5 or 6 this afternoon in under 10 mins.

[Bub&Bob]

Yes, loads of spam recently - and still loads of people who respond to spam despite numerous requests for our mods not to

[RichL]

I've just ordered about 20 phones from the latest one - what is this spam you speak of?

[MikeFishcake]

Seriously, I'm sure I've noticed about 5 new ones in the last hour