Spam Account

[Irisado]

http://secondsphere.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1825

Looks like a spam account to me.  Just brining it to your attention in case you want to ban/purge it.

[Cammerz]

They appear every now and again, as long as they don't start posting it doesn't really make any difference to the site. As soon as a new member joins we never see them again anyway.

[Chris]

They appear every now and again, as long as they don't start posting it doesn't really make any difference to the site. As soon as a new member joins we never see them again anyway.

Why is that I wonder... We don't bite... much....

[Cammerz]

They appear every now and again, as long as they don't start posting it doesn't really make any difference to the site. As soon as a new member joins we never see them again anyway.

Why is that I wonder... We don't bite... much....

The bottom of the main page shows the newest member, I'm pretty sure that this is where Irisado found this account. Once another person joins the spam account fades into total obscurity, these spam accounts rarely post anything and if they do it gets clamped down on very quickly.

[Chris]

My bad... I was talking about the wider spectrum. How come most of new genuine users don't tend to hang around so much...

I guess that's a different conversation for another place.

[Irisado]

The fact that spam accounts have links to all sorts of sites, some of which can be less than safe, is a very good reason for banning them.  The spam account I referred to is an example of this.  A way around this in the future would be to stop new members being able to modify their account until they have made at least one post.

[Sorck]

The 0 post group is set to deny some profile permissions... I've now gone and just flat out stopped them doing anything in their profiles.

It's never seemed to work in the past though.


Our policy is to ban rather than delete... else they can come back ever so slightly more easily.

[Irisado]

Yep, banning is much better.

The permissions should be able to be set to stop them being able to modify their profiles.  I've seen it done elsewhere, and we both know it's possible.  Trying to work it out though can be a bit of a minefield, owing to the way in which SMF's permissions system works .

[Narric]

Sorry for necro-ing this thread. Its a bit better to not have multiples I think.

We've had a few sapmmy accounts crop up recently.

So far we've had:
- tomjibjib
- SalomBaoBao
- DarkPureLight
Posting into random threads, and there replies have added nothing. quite literally one line of text which doesn't really make much sense in the context of the thread.

While they have nudged a few threads back into the Unread page, they're not exactly adding anything.

I've split the replies out of threads and deleted them in the contest board. The accounts don't seem to get used beyond the initial two post spam, so I'd assume they're spam-bots, of some kind. Not sure what can be done though.

Something to note in the Members list is that there are tonnes of accounts set up with zero posts, from as far back as January. Is it possible to set-up a cleanup program to automatically delete/ban a profile if it isn't posted from? I can understand if that can't be done however.

[Sorck]

Sorry for necro-ing this thread. Its a bit better to not have multiples I think.

We've had a few sapmmy accounts crop up recently.

So far we've had:
- tomjibjib
- SalomBaoBao
- DarkPureLight
Posting into random threads, and there replies have added nothing. quite literally one line of text which doesn't really make much sense in the context of the thread.

While they have nudged a few threads back into the Unread page, they're not exactly adding anything.

I've split the replies out of threads and deleted them in the contest board. The accounts don't seem to get used beyond the initial two post spam, so I'd assume they're spam-bots, of some kind. Not sure what can be done though.

Something to note in the Members list is that there are tonnes of accounts set up with zero posts, from as far back as January. Is it possible to set-up a cleanup program to automatically delete/ban a profile if it isn't posted from? I can understand if that can't be done however.

I can delete based upon post count but there may be lurkers that just never post that we don't wish to delete.

I could create a lurker group that people could apply to join, then send out an email saying you have 2 weeks to join the lurker group and then, after that, delete anyone with no posts and not in the lurker group?

[Narric]

That sounds good. I'm tempted to say make sure its mention at account creation, but that could lead to spammers joining so they're not deleted.

I have considered adding some warning % to spam accounts, maybe that could be used to differentiate between the true lurkers and spam accounts?

Also, I'd assume that once your Lurker group is set-up it will notify everyone without any posts to their name? If the accout is genuine they should move right?

[Irisado]

There are a whole bunch of mods available on SMF to stop these spam accounts registering in the first place if that's an avenue you'd be interested in pursuing.  There is also a directory of known spammers where these accounts could be checked if you're looking to distinguish spam accounts with 0 posts from genuine ones.

[Narric]

The problem is the Spam accouts that actually appear when they post into random topics, thus eliminating being identified by having 0posts. they also seem to just signup, spa, then disappear again.

[Sorck]

We do use one major anti-spam mod. We used to have another but our files became a little out of sync at one point causing issues with that mod... I suppose I'll have to rebuild the 2S codebase again over Christmas.

[Irisado]

The problem is the Spam accouts that actually appear when they post into random topics, thus eliminating being identified by having 0posts. they also seem to just signup, spa, then disappear again.

In that case definitely need to get the mod Sorck is referring to working again, or install a different one.  Some of the ones at the end of this article could be useful, but it's up to Sorck.

We do use one major anti-spam mod. We used to have another but our files became a little out of sync at one point causing issues with that mod... I suppose I'll have to rebuild the 2S codebase again over Christmas.

Sounds like a plan to me .