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***nigelgatherer*** · 08-05-2010, 06:41 AM

We've had an unprecedented amount of new people signing up to this forum, so I'm expecting a sharp increase in the amount of bogus posts. I will deal with them as soon as they appear. Trouble is, they all seem to have gmail accounts; I'd like to exclude all gmail accounts, but I'm pretty sure there are some legit members who use such addresses, so I can't issue a blanket ban. Oh, the troubles of a forum administrator!

ian · (This post was last modified: 08-05-2010 09:24 AM by ian.)

I've just had a look, and see what you mean. Some very odd usernames.

In a BB I used to run, we got loads of spam registrations. I think they do it in order to be able to add a link to thier website so that they get more attention from search engine robots (though there are no URL's in the ones I looked at who registered today).

I can remember ... is there not some obfuscated text that needs deciphered when you register? You might also be able to add some sort of question that might weed these out, e.g. a musical question?

It might be worth checking out the myBB mods for anti-spam measures. I had a quick look and found two ...

http://mods.mybboard.net/view/stopforums...m-for-mybb
http://mods.mybboard.net/view/akismet-%2...tection%29

Ian

10-05-2010, 02:36 PM

If its of any interest, the Santa Cruz Guitar Player's Forum board does not accept Gmail (or Hotmail or Yahoo for that matter) registrations presumably for the same reasons. They seem to get along fine although I appreciate that some may be disagree. How about a member's poll?
Ray

Eric Renshaw · (This post was last modified: 10-05-2010 05:13 PM by Eric Renshaw.)

(10-05-2010 02:36 PM)Ray(T) Wrote: If its of any interest, the Santa Cruz Guitar Player's Forum board does not accept Gmail (or Hotmail or Yahoo for that matter) registrations presumably for the same reasons. They seem to get along fine although I appreciate that some may be disagree. How about a member's poll?
Ray

Hardly a statistical exercise I know, but out of around 24 people currently on the EMGO email list the count is:
yahoo 2
google 4
hotmail 1
which suggests that implementation of such a policy might well rule out a substantial proportion of the current forum users.

Brian McClory · 10-05-2010, 03:57 PM

Bogus posters will commonly use popular account providers like Gmail, Yahoo etc. because that is where most people have their email accounts. These are also the places where most hacking attacks are aimed and spam attacks originate.
I think the decision not to ban Gmail etc is the right one. Good luck Nigel.

Ursula · 11-05-2010, 08:39 AM

(08-05-2010 06:41 AM)nigelgatherer Wrote: We've had an unprecedented amount of new people signing up to this forum, so I'm expecting a sharp increase in the amount of bogus posts. I will deal with them as soon as they appear. Trouble is, they all seem to have gmail accounts; I'd like to exclude all gmail accounts, but I'm pretty sure there are some legit members who use such addresses, so I can't issue a blanket ban. Oh, the troubles of a forum administrator!

There will always be people whos pleasure is to spoil other peoples pleasure. They really just want the attention so although it is time consuming for you Nigel the quiet no fuss approach is probably best and continue to exclude them individually as they appear. It may well be just one person with too much time on their hands.
Good luck
Ursula

***nigelgatherer*** · 13-05-2010, 11:42 AM

Deleting them quietly isn't an option, because I can only delete one at a time, and I had 100 join in just a few days, so it's rather time-consuming. I've discovered that they're putting links in their signatures, so I've managed to set it up so that you can only set up a signature after youi've posted three times. That will at least give me morte time, and it may cut it down considerably.

JAJ · 16-05-2010, 10:48 AM

I've been having trouble with my AOL account lately with many people not receiving my EFC mail shots. So, I've created a Google mail account.

Unfortunately, many people's e-mail accounts are over zealous and can filter out e-mails before the receiver can see them. Sometimes, they don't even get shown in the spam box. For instance, my AOL account can't receive e-mails from The Session.org and I use a Hotmail account for this!

I think it's probably a problem for many to find a good e-mail provider that is inexpensive and efficient and which is freely available. For many, you have to be a member of an organisation.

***nigelgatherer*** · 24-07-2010, 01:19 PM

I've been away for a week, and there are almost 200 people signed up, and almost all of them will be bogus. This has become a huge problem. It's difficult deleting them (I have to do it one by one), and it's difficult finding genuine ones (I know I deleted one person who turned out to be genuine). It will have to be fixed, but I don't know how to do it. I'll research when I'm back after the summer schools...

alistair · (This post was last modified: 26-07-2010 04:45 PM by alistair.)

(08-05-2010 06:41 AM)nigelgatherer Wrote: We've had an unprecedented amount of new people signing up to this forum, so I'm expecting a sharp increase in the amount of bogus posts. I will deal with them as soon as they appear. Trouble is, they all seem to have gmail accounts; I'd like to exclude all gmail accounts, but I'm pretty sure there are some legit members who use such addresses, so I can't issue a blanket ban. Oh, the troubles of a forum administrator!

Nigel, You could always ask legit members who initially registered with a Gmail address (like me) to re-register with a different email address. For me that would not be a problem, but maybe would be difficult for others who have Gmail as their only address.
Alistair.

(24-07-2010 01:19 PM)nigelgatherer Wrote: I've been away for a week, and there are almost 200 people signed up, and almost all of them will be bogus. This has become a huge problem. It's difficult deleting them (I have to do it one by one), and it's difficult finding genuine ones (I know I deleted one person who turned out to be genuine). It will have to be fixed, but I don't know how to do it. I'll research when I'm back after the summer schools...

Just another thought, Nigel: couldn't you just close the forum to new members for a while? I guess there's a trade-off: you want the forum to be as widely read as possible, but you want to stop "spoilers" joining. Everyone would still be able to read the forum if you barred new members for a while, and you could legitimately argue that the right to post is a privilege that you need not, and maybe should not, grant automatically to all comers.
Alistair.