... Just playing along, Christopher! Usually I follow the above line with a suggestions of what the poster can do with his Typophile account, but in this case I'm gonna make an exception :-)
Spam posts generally have 2 things in common — 1) they are new accounts, and 2) they contain a URL. If there was a way to screen posts that share those 2 characteristics, we'd eliminate most of the spam.
Today's outpouring may not have been from accounts at all (new or otherwise). There were hundreds of posts by the same poster into multiple topics at exactly the same time. This led me to the conclusion that the site has been hacked; someone is going directly into the website, accessing the server files directly and loading up new content without having to go to each topic separately. I've expressed this view to Chris.
I have a theory that a bot makes an innocuous post without being noticed, lies in wait targeting other threads, and then hits them all at once. I don’t have access to any sort of analytics to help me investigate this theory, or the sources, but in the short time I have been helping cleaning up, I have certainly noticed some patterns and am actively looking into this. Best deal on shoes.
Is a user name such as "Gary000-spammer" and/or "test003-spammer" a hint (and not too subtle), or was this added to their name by a mod? I still see posts by both.
And to prevent bots from bombin' spam ... simply increase the allotment time between posts. Somewhere in this forum's board control panel there should be an option to set the amount of time between posts.
I advise 2 minutes between posts.
I've noticed that these spam bots bomb all within a minute or two.
One other thing, is there any way to reset the top typophiles in the last 10 days list?
2 Dec 2012 — 12:19pm
Moderators, please remove this thread.
... Just playing along, Christopher! Usually I follow the above line with a suggestions of what the poster can do with his Typophile account, but in this case I'm gonna make an exception :-)
2 Dec 2012 — 5:19pm
I’m trying to see if certain words — iPhone — attract spam.
2 Dec 2012 — 6:15pm
Can I add a word too, can I can I can I ...peas.
Chris, if the pattern holds the spam bots should be posting sometime around 1:00 - 3:00AM EST.
n.
2 Dec 2012 — 7:12pm
That seems about right by my watch as well. Tonight has to be an early night for me though. We’ll see what I wake up to.
2 Dec 2012 — 9:24pm
My favourite recent experiment in this sub-category:
http://typedrawers.com/discussion/comment/2378/#Comment_2378
I wanted to quote it here too but thought it might detract from your experiment or unduly effect the outcome.
2 Dec 2012 — 9:35pm
I have a few other key-words I am saving for future experiments. Thanks for being mindful. Flex, rex, hex… Lets see of you clever bots can rhyme!
3 Dec 2012 — 5:24am
Dammit! Why don’t the stupid bots like my thread? Do they not work weekends?
3 Dec 2012 — 5:42am
it needs to be five years old.
iPhone
3 Dec 2012 — 8:33pm
Sex
3 Dec 2012 — 8:38pm
Maybe the page needs to be in the Google database before the spambots are aware of it.
4 Dec 2012 — 2:37pm
Haven’t fount a timing pattern yet, but I do know that once a thread has been hit, it has a waaay higher chance of getting hit again.
4 Dec 2012 — 5:44pm
Going with the flow. Web design is awesome but tough. How to make my website more visible?
7 Dec 2012 — 5:14pm
Thanks for posting! I like very much to hear your thoughts a good idea. Extremely sharp knives.
26 Dec 2012 — 10:31am
Finally. Only took 23 days.
29 Dec 2012 — 8:08am
Umm ... Chris, I think it's safe to say your little honey trap works.
Now -- what's your plan again on removing all those spam mails?
29 Dec 2012 — 9:01am
Spam posts generally have 2 things in common — 1) they are new accounts, and 2) they contain a URL. If there was a way to screen posts that share those 2 characteristics, we'd eliminate most of the spam.
29 Dec 2012 — 11:54am
Today's outpouring may not have been from accounts at all (new or otherwise). There were hundreds of posts by the same poster into multiple topics at exactly the same time. This led me to the conclusion that the site has been hacked; someone is going directly into the website, accessing the server files directly and loading up new content without having to go to each topic separately. I've expressed this view to Chris.
- Herb
29 Dec 2012 — 12:59pm
I have a theory that a bot makes an innocuous post without being noticed, lies in wait targeting other threads, and then hits them all at once. I don’t have access to any sort of analytics to help me investigate this theory, or the sources, but in the short time I have been helping cleaning up, I have certainly noticed some patterns and am actively looking into this. Best deal on shoes.
;)
29 Dec 2012 — 1:28pm
Is a user name such as "Gary000-spammer" and/or "test003-spammer" a hint (and not too subtle), or was this added to their name by a mod? I still see posts by both.
29 Dec 2012 — 1:58pm
I’m removing them now. There’s hundreds of them.
29 Dec 2012 — 3:06pm
Oh the irony of all your previous whining about how this forum is so poorly moderated.
Rookie!!
n.
29 Dec 2012 — 4:04pm
Dean = user 15065, 6 years 9 weeks
Caldwell = user 52527, 2 years 50 weeks
Dean > Caldwell ∴ Caldwell = rookie
That’s right, I just went mathematical on you :P
29 Dec 2012 — 8:33pm
LOL!
I've been a member here as Hiroshige since 2005 ... that's 7 years 11 weeks.
My offer still stands, anytime you need assistance just email me the instructions Probie.
:)
n.
22 Jan 2013 — 9:20am
Nice spam control Chris ... ;)
n.
22 Jan 2013 — 10:03am
And to prevent bots from bombin' spam ... simply increase the allotment time between posts. Somewhere in this forum's board control panel there should be an option to set the amount of time between posts.
I advise 2 minutes between posts.
I've noticed that these spam bots bomb all within a minute or two.
One other thing, is there any way to reset the top typophiles in the last 10 days list?
n.