What is the chance of success reporting spam to either the web site owner (for spammer "obd4u.fr", this would be KEY-SYSTEMS GmbH, Im Oberen Werk 1, DE-66386 ST. INGBERT, Germany, info@key-systems.net) or their URL registrar (in this case, GoDaddy.com, cctldinfo@godaddy.com)?
As a side effect: surely finding names and e-mail addresses mentioned in a thread about spam will not be good for business! Unless they proscribe to the old adage, "A bad reputation is better than no reputation at all”.
Well, folks could always return to the newly updated Type Design Forum which has been available for a little over a month, type-design dot p90 dot net. Steven has done a great job of reworking it and former members are welcome to go back if they wish.
Or perhaps Steven could just take over this mess and clean it up.
Switching from one terrible Drupal board to another terrible Drupal board? ;-)
Setting up a new board is not the problem. Anyone can do that within minutes.
The point is that Typophile.com is a huge knowledge base and an archive of important discussions from well over 10 years. This archive needs to be maintained and kept accessible.
I wonder what Punchcut guys think of making Typophile archives public. Even if it's just through not objecting the site to be scraped by a crawler rather than providing a copy of the database.
We appreciate your attention to this issue. It is a shared concern and frustration that we at Typophile are continuing to investigate on a daily basis. We are considering several options, and will post an update within a week’s time.
It is a shared concern and frustration that we at Typophile are continuing to investigate on a daily basis.
Awesome that you'd make an effort to edit the title of this thread and keep spam alive right straight across the forum Jared.
Keep up the good work ;)
And if you get serious about having a moderator around who absolutely hates spam/spammers and loves to see it/them get nuked to hell ... give me a shout.
neil at graphicdeclaration dot com
You need at least a half dozen moderators. Ideally it would be great if they were located in different times zones around the world. Poor Chris must be fried /insert sinister laughter here/
Neil, you know we shut down any spam as soon as we spot it. But the Typophile has many more eyes than we do. If you're seeing spam on the site right now that we aren't addressing, post the link here and watch it and the spammer disappear.
Jared, I've moderated some of the hottest most meanest nasty messg boards out there and I'm not questioning what spam you've spotted. I'm more concerned about mods that sit around and let spam live. All forums are to be checked/scoured at least every 4-6 hours by your current Mod squad.
I'll pick up the slack from Prince Dean, and post linkage as you suggest.
Technically speaking you're right. But, you can contain it, and then nuke it! Also, setting a time limit between posts really helps to slow down bots. Another technique I'd like to try is to run a duplicate site where content is automatically up loaded to a replica site off-line. So when bots strike simply upload a copy of the replica site.
Blocking whole blocks of IPs gets out of hand, and dynamic IPs come with the territory, so vigilance is our most effective weapon.
Stopping spambots with humans is totally a losing battle, but it's a stop gap.
Exactly, that's why …
If you're seeing spam on the site right now that we aren't addressing, post the link here and watch it and the spammer disappear.
… sounds like a strange suggestion.
If I click »track« in my account and have 15 threads with new content and then read each of them, just to find out all 15 new posts are spam, this just doesn't work anymore. And reporting these 15 threads each and every day is no solution.
My suggestion would be to migrate that old system to a “real” full-fledged discussion board software, which comes with tons of options to fight spam.
Or they can be as simple as: New users would be added to a "validating group" until they have a certain amount of approved post. Before that, their posts will have to be manually approved by a moderator. Hardly any spam would come thru this way …
Just add the damn "Flag as spam" link to each post.
Add a database table to track per-post flags. Once the count goes over 3, move post to a mod-only section of the forums for review. You already have a function for that.
Done. All existing spam will be cleaned up in a matter of days. All new spam will be flag and removed as it appears.
---
Once you have this in place, contemplate other options. But this one is dead simple and very effective. Just let your annoyed users help you.
> New users would be added to a "validating group"... their posts will
> have to be manually approved by a moderator.
A group I used to help moderate worked that way and it eliminated spam BEFORE it appeared.
Almost all spam here is 1) from new accounts and 2) contains external links. Can't the software be configured to hold such posts for manual approval before they appear?
Almost all spam here is 1) from new accounts and 2) contains external links. Can't the software be configured to hold such posts for manual approval before they appear?
Some kind of Bayesian filtering would probably work even better. Anything marked as spam gets sent to a moderation queue; if it's confirmed as spam it gets added to the database. (It would need some training with a large sample of legitimate and non-legitimate posts before being put into production, of course.)
Since I participated in this thread, it will show up in my track function each day now and I can't unsubscribe.
So I am not so happy that this is now a report spam thread.
A quick update on this front. As you've probably seen from this thread, we've “deputized” @5star and @apankrat to help us out on the spam front. Please join me in wishing them a warm welcome to this new duty.
We're also looking at enlisting a few new moderators from around the world to help try and keep eyes on the boards 24/7 as we've had in the past. In the meantime, new account creations are passing through a vetting process, and that's already been instrumental in helping us see which accounts are humans and which are clearly bots. I'm also bringing in some local Drupal experts into my office during the next two weeks to get a sense on cost & effort to better block spam and fix bugs moving forward... hopefully allowing our esteemed moderators to focus on more fruitful efforts, like making Typophile a better place to hang out.
Message me if you've got inputs you'd like me to consider. Thanks-
29 Jan 2013 — 11:51pm
Man I'm tired of this shit.
n.
29 Jan 2013 — 11:53pm
Sorry, just tellin' it ike it is.
n.
30 Jan 2013 — 1:17am
The website is neglected and abandoned. Punchcut should really let someone else take over it.
30 Jan 2013 — 4:22am
Punchcut should really let someone else take over it.
Agreed.
30 Jan 2013 — 7:13am
What is the chance of success reporting spam to either the web site owner (for spammer "obd4u.fr", this would be KEY-SYSTEMS GmbH, Im Oberen Werk 1, DE-66386 ST. INGBERT, Germany, info@key-systems.net) or their URL registrar (in this case, GoDaddy.com, cctldinfo@godaddy.com)?
As a side effect: surely finding names and e-mail addresses mentioned in a thread about spam will not be good for business! Unless they proscribe to the old adage, "A bad reputation is better than no reputation at all”.
30 Jan 2013 — 9:09am
Sad to say, also agreed.
Choose wisely though, lest we get bigger problems than spam...
hhp
30 Jan 2013 — 10:12am
> reporting spam to ... the web site owner
{Comment editted by moderator. C'mon, James,
you know better.}
1 Feb 2013 — 1:10pm
Well, folks could always return to the newly updated Type Design Forum which has been available for a little over a month, type-design dot p90 dot net. Steven has done a great job of reworking it and former members are welcome to go back if they wish.
Or perhaps Steven could just take over this mess and clean it up.
1 Feb 2013 — 3:06pm
Wow, I had no idea! Thanks for the good news.
And that suggestion isn't half bad...
hhp
2 Feb 2013 — 1:22am
Switching from one terrible Drupal board to another terrible Drupal board? ;-)
Setting up a new board is not the problem. Anyone can do that within minutes.
The point is that Typophile.com is a huge knowledge base and an archive of important discussions from well over 10 years. This archive needs to be maintained and kept accessible.
2 Feb 2013 — 5:05am
I wonder what Punchcut guys think of making Typophile archives public. Even if it's just through not objecting the site to be scraped by a crawler rather than providing a copy of the database.
Has this been discussed before?
2 Feb 2013 — 7:30pm
Guys,
We appreciate your attention to this issue. It is a shared concern and frustration that we at Typophile are continuing to investigate on a daily basis. We are considering several options, and will post an update within a week’s time.
2 Feb 2013 — 7:39pm
We'll be waiting.
hhp
2 Feb 2013 — 8:19pm
Awesome that you'd make an effort to edit the title of this thread and keep spam alive right straight across the forum Jared.
Keep up the good work ;)
And if you get serious about having a moderator around who absolutely hates spam/spammers and loves to see it/them get nuked to hell ... give me a shout.
neil at graphicdeclaration dot com
You need at least a half dozen moderators. Ideally it would be great if they were located in different times zones around the world. Poor Chris must be fried /insert sinister laughter here/
n.
2 Feb 2013 — 9:03pm
@Spam: “Poor Chris must be fried /insert sinister laughter here/”
Caldwell, N . (2013, February 3 ). Re: F—ck spam! [Online form comment]. Retrieved from http://typophile.com/node/100191#comment-541979
2 Feb 2013 — 9:05pm
You're alive! Awesome, we thought the spam bots knocked you down for the count!
n.
2 Feb 2013 — 9:09pm
Neil, you know we shut down any spam as soon as we spot it. But the Typophile has many more eyes than we do. If you're seeing spam on the site right now that we aren't addressing, post the link here and watch it and the spammer disappear.
2 Feb 2013 — 9:09pm
@Spam: And while we’re at it…
2 Feb 2013 — 9:37pm
Jared, I've moderated some of the hottest most meanest nasty messg boards out there and I'm not questioning what spam you've spotted. I'm more concerned about mods that sit around and let spam live. All forums are to be checked/scoured at least every 4-6 hours by your current Mod squad.
I'll pick up the slack from Prince Dean, and post linkage as you suggest.
Let the hunt begin ...
n.
2 Feb 2013 — 9:43pm
The most efficient way is to post user URL of the bot’s Typophile ID.
2 Feb 2013 — 9:56pm
But you can't fight bots with humans.
hhp
2 Feb 2013 — 10:08pm
Just a first look on every pg.1 of every forum...
General Forum
http://typophile.com/node/100031
http://typophile.com/node/100074
http://typophile.com/node/100112
http://typophile.com/node/100127
http://typophile.com/node/100129
Build
http://typophile.com/node/21034
Bitmap Display / Script
http://typophile.com/node/32527
Blackletter / Uncial
http://typophile.com/node/92919
http://typophile.com/node/89331
Display
http://typophile.com/node/90440
http://typophile.com/node/96874
Logos / Corporate ID Design
http://typophile.com/node/55722
http://typophile.com/node/98556
http://typophile.com/node/96064
http://typophile.com/node/99331
http://typophile.com/node/94608
http://typophile.com/node/91614
...fry em' up lads!!!
In the immortal words of the Mr. James Brown ... I FEEL GOOD!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Mz6SfBhA1g
n.
2 Feb 2013 — 10:15pm
Technically speaking you're right. But, you can contain it, and then nuke it! Also, setting a time limit between posts really helps to slow down bots. Another technique I'd like to try is to run a duplicate site where content is automatically up loaded to a replica site off-line. So when bots strike simply upload a copy of the replica site.
Blocking whole blocks of IPs gets out of hand, and dynamic IPs come with the territory, so vigilance is our most effective weapon.
n.
2 Feb 2013 — 11:09pm
Stopping spambots with humans is totally a losing battle, but it's a stop gap.
2 Feb 2013 — 11:53pm
Stopping spambots with humans is totally a losing battle, but it's a stop gap.
Exactly, that's why …
If you're seeing spam on the site right now that we aren't addressing, post the link here and watch it and the spammer disappear.
… sounds like a strange suggestion.
If I click »track« in my account and have 15 threads with new content and then read each of them, just to find out all 15 new posts are spam, this just doesn't work anymore. And reporting these 15 threads each and every day is no solution.
My suggestion would be to migrate that old system to a “real” full-fledged discussion board software, which comes with tons of options to fight spam.
Or they can be as simple as: New users would be added to a "validating group" until they have a certain amount of approved post. Before that, their posts will have to be manually approved by a moderator. Hardly any spam would come thru this way …
3 Feb 2013 — 4:30am
Just add the damn "Flag as spam" link to each post.
Add a database table to track per-post flags. Once the count goes over 3, move post to a mod-only section of the forums for review. You already have a function for that.
Done. All existing spam will be cleaned up in a matter of days. All new spam will be flag and removed as it appears.
---
Once you have this in place, contemplate other options. But this one is dead simple and very effective. Just let your annoyed users help you.
3 Feb 2013 — 6:35am
> New users would be added to a "validating group"... their posts will
> have to be manually approved by a moderator.
A group I used to help moderate worked that way and it eliminated spam BEFORE it appeared.
Almost all spam here is 1) from new accounts and 2) contains external links. Can't the software be configured to hold such posts for manual approval before they appear?
3 Feb 2013 — 8:19am
Some kind of Bayesian filtering would probably work even better. Anything marked as spam gets sent to a moderation queue; if it's confirmed as spam it gets added to the database. (It would need some training with a large sample of legitimate and non-legitimate posts before being put into production, of course.)
3 Feb 2013 — 2:48pm
Just a first look on every pg.2 of every forum...
Logos / Corporate ID Design
http://typophile.com/node/47796
Typography / Composition
http://typophile.com/node/56717
Hebrew Typography & Type Design
http://typophile.com/node/59833
...fry em' up lads!!!
Too much fun :)
n.
3 Feb 2013 — 6:19pm
Quick spam grab...
Logos / Corporate ID Design
http://typophile.com/node/55722
kaney2021
31 Jan 2013 — 1:09am
...nuke it like you can!
n.
3 Feb 2013 — 6:28pm
Simply posting the user ID should take care of it = http://typophile.com/user/208124
3 Feb 2013 — 7:38pm
Go find yourself some spam Prince Dean... all hands on deck.
n.
3 Feb 2013 — 10:27pm
Got a hungerin' for some more spammer...
Logos / Corporate ID Design
Search Marketing Logo - something missing?
http://typophile.com/node/77762
baermhares
23 Jan 2013 — 11:51pm
sellylohan
3 Dec 2012 — 3:04am
express delivery company logo
http://typophile.com/node/16302
john-curtter
6 Jan 2013 — 8:56am
Sidecar Sticker
http://typophile.com/node/2510
Gardner
24 Dec 2012 — 3:18am
Mallard Signs
http://typophile.com/node/4561
MichaelCalkins
11 Nov 2012 — 6:31pm
...fry em' up nice and toasty like!!
n.
3 Feb 2013 — 11:47pm
x_x
4 Feb 2013 — 9:28am
:)
Couldn't help but to sneak a wee spam grab...
Design
Psd to Html issue.
http://typophile.com/node/89589
shandy-spammer
14 Nov 2012 — 2:31am
Autodiagnose
24 Jan 2013 — 10:26pm
...pop it like a zit on prom night!
n.
4 Feb 2013 — 11:41am
x_x
4 Feb 2013 — 7:33pm
Hrant: But you can't fight bots with humans.
Not a Mann vs Machine fan?
4 Feb 2013 — 7:35pm
I meant in real life. :-)
hhp
4 Feb 2013 — 8:33pm
But you can't fight bots with humans.
Can we fight bots with bots?
4 Feb 2013 — 10:33pm
Slam spam party grooves on...
Build
Fontlab errors when modifications are made to font
http://typophile.com/node/99737
azxs
19 Jan 2013 — 12:43am
Chinese Fonts & Adobe Software
http://typophile.com/node/19200
demondthomas193
29 Jan 2013 — 3:46am
demondthomas193
29 Jan 2013 — 11:47pm
mack_non
30 Jan 2013 — 2:29am
mack_non
30 Jan 2013 — 11:56pm
ryancrabe
31 Jan 2013 — 12:09am
Release
Quicksand, a free sans serif typeface
http://typophile.com/node/50437?page=1
sulumanca
2 Jul 2012 — 11:48am
Transferring ownership of a typeface currently distributed as free
http://typophile.com/node/96297
gordonabigail
17 Dec 2012 — 12:06am
...slice and dice em' like you can!!
n.
5 Feb 2013 — 2:44pm
Almost went hungry until I smelt this little tasty nibblet...
Display
Tourism Seems To Be Growing Every Year
http://typophile.com/node/99741
..fry until crisp!
n.
5 Feb 2013 — 3:26pm
Figure 1: Fried Spam™
5 Feb 2013 — 9:49pm
...put it in context ;)
n.
6 Feb 2013 — 8:31pm
Spampire in me sniffled out festering yet tasty nibble...
Fashion Logo
http://typophile.com/node/97190
athlascrish
28 Jan 2013 — 10:15pm
...kill!
n.
6 Feb 2013 — 11:20pm
Spamalot has sent forth a victim...
http://typophile.com/user/208046
...kill!
n.
6 Feb 2013 — 11:35pm
Lovin' the new Submit spam option :)
n.
7 Feb 2013 — 5:11am
Lovin' the new Submit spam option :)
Since I participated in this thread, it will show up in my track function each day now and I can't unsubscribe.
So I am not so happy that this is now a report spam thread.
8 Feb 2013 — 3:59pm
Hey guys,
A quick update on this front. As you've probably seen from this thread, we've “deputized” @5star and @apankrat to help us out on the spam front. Please join me in wishing them a warm welcome to this new duty.
We're also looking at enlisting a few new moderators from around the world to help try and keep eyes on the boards 24/7 as we've had in the past. In the meantime, new account creations are passing through a vetting process, and that's already been instrumental in helping us see which accounts are humans and which are clearly bots. I'm also bringing in some local Drupal experts into my office during the next two weeks to get a sense on cost & effort to better block spam and fix bugs moving forward... hopefully allowing our esteemed moderators to focus on more fruitful efforts, like making Typophile a better place to hang out.
Message me if you've got inputs you'd like me to consider. Thanks-
//jared
8 Feb 2013 — 4:10pm
Sounds good.
And thank you Neil and Alex!
hhp
8 Feb 2013 — 10:03pm
Thanks lads! I look forward to the following months of development. Hopefully we'll also have some official merch available soonish like :)
n.