Stealth spam

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acknak
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Posts: 22756
Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2007 1:25 am
Location: USA:NJ:E3

Stealth spam

Post by acknak »

FYI ...

I just banned this user: memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=79587
and moved all five of posts to quarantine. [Oops. I just noticed that one of the posts started a topic with a number of significant replies. Oh well. The topic title still gives the needed context. I thought all the posts were orphans.]

Notice the spam links in the profile (links disabled now).

This sort of pattern--making vague/borderline posts and later adding spam links to the profile--can be hard to catch. I see probes for it regularly (the "me too" type of first post).

My feeling is that the bar should be somewhat higher for a first post: it should have something directly relevant for the forum. Otherwise, I just disapprove the post but not ban the user. If the user is "serious" they can ask about it or try posting again. A disapproved post just means that if they post again it will trigger the moderator review again.

In fact, I remember now that *I* approved the first post "what advantage of OO?". I almost disapproved it--now I wish I had. Well, maybe the replies will help someone else. I hate to see spammers waste other people's time.
AOO4/LO5 • Linux • Fedora 23
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RoryOF
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Joined: Sat Jan 31, 2009 9:30 pm
Location: Ireland

Re: stealth spam

Post by RoryOF »

acknak wrote:This sort of pattern--making vague/borderline posts and later adding spam links to the profile--can be hard to catch. I see probes for it regularly (the "me too" type of first post).

My feeling is that the bar should be somewhat higher for a first post: it should have something directly relevant for the forum. Otherwise, I just disapprove the post but not ban the user. If the user is "serious" they can ask about it or try posting again. A disapproved post just means that if they post again it will trigger the moderator review again.
OK, acknak. I'll adopt the same policy

Rory
Apache OpenOffice 4.1.15 on Xubuntu 22.04.4 LTS
thomasjk
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Posts: 4451
Joined: Tue Dec 25, 2007 4:52 pm
Location: North Carolina

Re: stealth spam

Post by thomasjk »

I concur. I generally err on the side of banning the user if he's the least bit suspicious. They can always complain. Acknak's approach will work also.
Tom K.
Windows 10 Home version 1803 17134.165
LibreOffice 5.4.7.2
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floris v
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Location: Netherlands

Re: stealth spam

Post by floris v »

+1
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