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Please, whoever you are - STOP SPAMMING MY FORUM!

by shayman
31 replies
  • SEO
    • |
You see to be honest there is so much garbage goes on with a lot of SEO that I'm not surprised Google takes out his big stick occasionally and starts whacking a few arses!

I have a very simple innocent little forum that is constantly being bombarded by pathetic automated software used by pathetic people. I mean in all honesty, would you activate an account who's user name is this: aj31c19i12 and has an email address of aj31c19i12 at 126 dot com and wants to post 'This is a very nice forum thank you'.

Seriously people, If you do this kind of rubbish then for everyones sake please find something better to do!

Rant over

#forum #spamming #stop
  • Profile picture of the author Nelapsi
    In the time it took you to rant.. you could of made a few changes to your form validation and never get another spam user again.
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    • Profile picture of the author shayman
      Originally Posted by Nelapsi View Post

      In the time it took you to rant.. you could of made a few changes to your form validation and never get another spam user again.
      Yes I can change it and will do but I would imagine many people who run forums or blogs won't know how to.

      My point is that it's no wonder most SEO is looked upon as scurge. Way too much garbage and automated cr*p been going on for way too long.

      I'm actually beginning to get won over by Google's attempt to clean it up.
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      • Profile picture of the author yukon
        Banned
        Originally Posted by Nelapsi View Post

        In the time it took you to rant.. you could of made a few changes to your form validation and never get another spam user again.
        Originally Posted by shayman View Post

        Yes I can change it and will do but I would imagine many people who run forums or blogs won't know how to.
        That's like having a boat with holes in the hull, might want to figure out how to fix the problem (plug the holes).
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      • Profile picture of the author Nelapsi
        Originally Posted by shayman View Post

        Yes I can change it and will do but I would imagine many people who run forums or blogs won't know how to.

        My point is that it's no wonder most SEO is looked upon as scurge. Way too much garbage and automated cr*p been going on for way too long.

        I'm actually beginning to get won over by Google's attempt to clean it up.
        I realized a long time ago I can't change the world, so I don't even get caught up in it. I run my site, it makes me money and my users are happy.
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      • Profile picture of the author Jesse L
        Originally Posted by shayman View Post

        Yes I can change it and will do but I would imagine many people who run forums or blogs won't know how to.

        My point is that it's no wonder most SEO is looked upon as scurge. Way too much garbage and automated cr*p been going on for way too long.

        I'm actually beginning to get won over by Google's attempt to clean it up.
        Some things never change. If there is a way to scam the system, someone is going to do it. If it works, then A LOT or people are going to do it.

        I've tried yelling at them, they just point and laugh...

        Leave the garbage out there and let it run its course. It just makes the legit people look all the better.

        JL
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  • Profile picture of the author breactiv
    Did you solve it, taking Nelapsi's example?
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    • Profile picture of the author Nelapsi
      Originally Posted by breactiv View Post

      Did you solve it, taking Nelapsi's example?
      You posted 1 minute after me
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  • Profile picture of the author Joseph Then
    Install Recaptcha at registration page, you will have a lot of fake registrations gone.
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  • Profile picture of the author dcary13
    I do not allow registration from an china based IP or email on most of my sites.
    That cuts of like 80% of all spam.

    There is even not much value for that traffic, these people want make money - not spending.
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  • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
    Cut out all IPs from India, Pakistan, and the Philippines. This is where a large percentage of the low quality link builders originate. Toss on recaptcha and ask for a volunteer moderator or two to help remove spammers.
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    • Profile picture of the author gotlinks
      Originally Posted by MikeFriedman View Post

      Cut out all IPs from India, Pakistan, and the Philippines. This is where a large percentage of the low quality link builders originate. Toss on recaptcha and ask for a volunteer moderator or two to help remove spammers.
      Agreed. This is what I did when I ran my webmaster forum and it was a whole lot better.
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    • Profile picture of the author MarcCPASAW
      Originally Posted by MikeFriedman View Post

      Cut out all IPs from India, Pakistan, and the Philippines. This is where a large percentage of the low quality link builders originate. Toss on recaptcha and ask for a volunteer moderator or two to help remove spammers.
      Where's the best place to find IP lists for these countries?
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      • Profile picture of the author TheProgrammer
        Originally Posted by PooFinger View Post

        Where's the best place to find IP lists for these countries?
        You should use this service "cloudflare" (it has free option) to block the full access of the specific countires.
        You have to just enter the country names that you want to block, no need to enter the ip ranges.
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        • Profile picture of the author paulgl
          Require a clickbox for TOS terms.
          Require captcha.
          Require a question as well.
          Require email validation.

          Require the question for each post.

          The best to avoid spam, is YOU must add each new user.

          Every forum has updates and plugins to avoid spam.

          Get a bunch of global moderators.

          Google has nothing to do with people spamming forums.

          Maybe you will get on my side, and when you see a thread about
          some long list of forums to spam, join me in ratting that person out.
          They are the scourge of the internet. Useless fleas.

          You may think it's too much trouble and people won't join, but
          they will. Real users who want to join will have no problem
          with you approving them.

          Better to have a few users, then boatloads of spam.

          If they are just spamming profile links, that's not much of
          a problem. Just check each one to make sure it does not
          violate the law. Ban pharmacy, weight loss, gambling, drugs,
          etc. sites.

          Add a twitter and facebook plugin, so you can tweet posts
          and FB like them. Try and drum up traffic, if not new users.

          Create a bunch of fake profiles, and I mean dozens. Use them
          daily to post. Sounds crazy? Not really. If your forum gets
          crawled, the posts will too. Put your links in the sigs.

          Now that is something you could farm out to fiverr if you do
          it right.

          Don't give up on it. Use the forum for your advantage.

          Paul
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        • Profile picture of the author MarcCPASAW
          Originally Posted by TheProgrammer View Post

          You should use this service "cloudflare" (it has free option) to block the full access of the specific countires.
          You have to just enter the country names that you want to block, no need to enter the ip ranges.
          Thanks for the info.
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        • Profile picture of the author damoncloudflare
          Originally Posted by TheProgrammer View Post

          You should use this service "cloudflare" (it has free option) to block the full access of the specific countires.
          You have to just enter the country names that you want to block, no need to enter the ip ranges.
          Just a quick note that our country block is not a full block per se (it challenges visitors from those regions with a captcha, which is very effective at stopping most spam bots and other bad bots).

          The logic here is that you still want human visitors to be able to access the site.
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  • Profile picture of the author n0tr3v3
    Lol.. These persons using tools to automate the commenting/posting are dumb as shit...

    I had a number of websites that got hit by emd update but before you would see some stupid comments like;
    A weight loss website
    "Who design your websites?"

    Six pack abs website
    "Where can I get traffic for free"

    Lol.... 100% of the comments are from Desperate attempts to get backlink.
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  • Profile picture of the author Suir1980
    Originally Posted by shayman View Post

    I mean in all honesty, would you activate an account who's user name is this: aj31c19i12 and has an email address of aj31c19i12 at 126 dot com and wants to post 'This is a very nice forum thank you'.
    Not every forum is as strict as yours. Some don't need manual approval at all. It's a numbers game.
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    • Profile picture of the author dburk
      Originally Posted by Suir1980 View Post

      Not every forum is as strict as yours. Some don't need manual approval at all. It's a numbers game.
      Hi Suir1980,

      So you are one of those persons that shayman refers to as "pathetic people"?

      Do you see how you are pissing people like shayman off? Do you even care?
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  • Profile picture of the author ragstworiches
    I guess the fools don't realise if they actually took the time to make a real comment that added value it would probably get approved. But that's actual "work"
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    • Profile picture of the author shayman
      Originally Posted by ragstworiches View Post

      I guess the fools don't realise if they actually took the time to make a real comment that added value it would probably get approved. But that's actual "work"
      Spot on! Is that too much to ask because I would happily put a relevant post on, even with a small amount of effort and even if I assumed they were doing it for a backlink. ADD VALUE and ye shall prosper!
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      • Profile picture of the author paulgl
        Originally Posted by shayman View Post

        Spot on! Is that too much to ask because I would happily put a relevant post on, even with a small amount of effort and even if I assumed they were doing it for a backlink. ADD VALUE and ye shall prosper!
        That, Shayman, is some of the best, solid SEO advice anyone can give when
        it comes to forums. If people realized that forum mods probably cull the forum
        and delete members who aren't active, well, they would stop spamming
        forum profile links. The chances of google indexing a profile link without
        any activity on the forum to keep it going, are slim. And almost zilch
        for google to KEEP counting it. People are just suckered in to some
        auto program. And spend good money after bad on that junk.

        The mentality of spamming forum profile links is rampant here. One more
        reason there are so many fail threads. People just keep on promoting the
        same crap from 2005...they are too lazy for anything real.

        Join an active forum. Make posts weekly. And yes, ye shall (may)
        prosper.

        Paul
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  • Profile picture of the author Steve50000
    Blocking IP ranges has limited benefit when people can easily use a proxy or VPN to give themselves an IP from somewhere that you haven't blocked.
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  • Profile picture of the author shakti2u
    Scamming and spamming are just part of what we have to deal with. Thanks for the pointers on what to do to limit them, but it's just part of the internet that we all love-grin!
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  • Profile picture of the author gustoking
    Ya gonna have to invest some moolah like facebook did... just depends how bothered you are. you could take it to the next level... I mean, warrior forum for example.. you know they got shit tight and we are kind policing ourselves as a community, but there is only so much you can do. 'First comes the disease and than comes the cure'
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  • Profile picture of the author JamesColin
    Banned
    I've found the best captcha is a paypal button. No more spam.
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    • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
      Originally Posted by JamesColin View Post

      I've found the best captcha is a paypal button. No more spam.
      LOL... That's the easiest way to deter them there is.
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  • Profile picture of the author masterjani
    Which forum script are you using. There must be a plugin to set manual questions, which needs to be answered before posting.
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  • Profile picture of the author ArranWood
    Hi Shayman,
    You say "Very simple innocent little forum". I have two questions for you.

    1. If the forum is so small and innocent, then you should manually accept new members. This would completely eliminate any spam issues.

    2. What's the URL so I can add it to my list

    Obviously the second question was a jest, but really SEO is not spamming, the people who are spamming you are simple minded folk who don't understand SEO at all.

    Pulling down SEO because of spammers is like banning music just to stop Justing Bieber releasing another song (I know 50% of you will think that's a worthwhile compromise by the way). Use a good forum software that you PAID for, and increase the security settings to as high as possible.

    "    captcha" as mentioned above by several persons is not too bad an idea, however that is just a walk in the park for some software.

    I hope you get yourself sorted soon and have a thriving and profitable forum in the not to distant future.

    Best regards
    Arran Wood
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  • Profile picture of the author satrap
    Originally Posted by shayman View Post

    You see to be honest there is so much garbage goes on with a lot of SEO that I'm not surprised Google takes out his big stick occasionally and starts whacking a few arses!

    I have a very simple innocent little forum that is constantly being bombarded by pathetic automated software used by pathetic people. I mean in all honesty, would you activate an account who's user name is this: aj31c19i12 and has an email address of     aj31c19i12 at 126 dot com and wants to post 'This is a very nice forum thank you'.

    Seriously people, If you do this kind of rubbish then for everyones sake please find something better to do!

    Rant over

    Wouldn't it make more sense to post this on your actual forum?...
    It's not like people who spam your forum come to wf to read your rant!
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