bobs12
Saint Petersburg Crusty Tech Support Veteran Posts: 914
Private Messaging Spam 14th Mar '07 1:19 AM
The level of spamming going on around here has gotten to a pretty mad level.
So I'm about to take pretty drastic masures.
Too much is getting through the current filter (now over 50%), and pressures of work are just too much for me to devote as much time as I would like to developing the new filter. It's been pretty good in tests, but putting it into proper use will take time and a lot of real spam before it begins to work effectively.
The PM system is getting an authorisation requirement slapped on it as we speak.
These are the options for future until the spam filter works better, I'd like your feedback:
[quote]Option 1: The most effective way is if all new users' first messages get queued for live moderation (i.e. someone will read them) without sending any alert emails. If they don't look like spammers, the user can then continue to write PMs without interference.
However, this creates a privacy issue - not for existing users per se, but for new users. We would have to really put up a notice saying something like 'your message may be read by administrators', which could well put people off using the system at all.[/quote]
[quote]Option 2: Alternatively, new users could be made to write to an admin explaining why they want to use the PM system. This definitely puts a lot of people off - most of the people I give forum authorisation to never come back to use the forum It completely removes spontaneity[/quote]
[quote]Option 3: Minimum time between sending PMs, with a bit of fancy calculation to limit the number that can be sent in the first 'session'. This would give time to report spam via a link in the PM system. Not foolproof though, as it couldn't be set to stop people from sending PMs after just one 'spam report' otherwise it would be open to abuse.[/quote]
[quote]Option 4: (Poss. in combination with the above) - ban certain won't-name-them-here countries from using the system without going through the authorisation hoops.[/quote]
[quote]Option 5: Ban certain countries from even getting access to the site in the first place without giving a reason. Very sensitive issue, though we have to protect the privacy of legitimate users.[/quote]
___________________________________________________ I demand a shrubbery.
I think that is the choice that is most effective...and OK as long as it's a temperary solution.
And I don't think people will mind too much if you tell them that there were some recent spamming issues and that you are working toward a seperate filter for later.
(And with a little ingenuity, country filtering wouldn't really work anyway. Plus it's like PayPal filtering us out because we're in Russia...even those of us who have had accounts for years.
I think that is the choice that is most effective...and OK as long as it's a temperary solution.
And I don't think people will mind too much if you tell them that there were some recent spamming issues and that you are working toward a seperate filter for later.
(And with a little ingenuity, country filtering wouldn't really work anyway. Plus it's like PayPal filtering us out because we're in Russia...even those of us who have had accounts for years.
bobs12
Saint Petersburg Crusty Tech Support Veteran Posts: 914
14th Mar '07 7:06 PM
True...
True...
Must also stop the forum from double-posting
Must also stop the forum from double-posting
Yes, the country thing is a bit of a dinger. There are definitely certain countries that most of the spam originates from. But then there might well be real teachers there too.
Both the PM system and the forum aer now set up to allow users to be banned mid-stride, so to speak. Before they could only be banned from the site or from the forum, and the ban would only work when their session expired and they logged in again.
Now the site checks the database on every new page load to see whether anything has changed.
And I can also display a fun message on the screen to tell people why they've been banned I think a nice animated gif like "formatting drive C:\" with a moving progress bar would be fun for the amateur spammers...
I think you'd like the exhibition here - lots of gadgets.
Will hopefully get connected to the free wireless LAN in the hotel and get some work done on the spam filter this week. Otherwise I'm very bored already.
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It completely removes spontaneity[/quote]
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