Comicgenesis in Spam Apocalypse?

[Ahaugen]

Wow, the forum is actually looking pretty good right now. The only type of spam around is the kind that comes in a tin.

Do you think it's too early for the "Mission Accomplished" banner and photo-ops?

it only looks good because I've been nuking spam posts by the dozen a day

[Terotrous]

Wow, the forum is actually looking pretty good right now. The only type of spam around is the kind that comes in a tin.

Do you think it's too early for the "Mission Accomplished" banner and photo-ops?

it only looks good because I've been nuking spam posts by the dozen a day

Just because the fighting isn't over doesn't mean we can't declare that we've won.

[Laemkral]

Wow, the forum is actually looking pretty good right now. The only type of spam around is the kind that comes in a tin.

Do you think it's too early for the "Mission Accomplished" banner and photo-ops?

it only looks good because I've been nuking spam posts by the dozen a day

Just because the fighting isn't over doesn't mean we can't declare that we've won.

That's the exact definition of "haven't won". No banner, no embarrassment when ahaugen steps away for a day and we're suddenly overrun because Charlie's in the wire and trip flares are going off and the radios aren't working even though we're broadcasting out in the open for air support or artillery fire and the mortars are running low and OH NO WE'RE SURROUNDED ON ALL SIDES!!! FIX BAYONETS AND PULL BACK TO THE FDL!!

Sorry. I'm cool. I'm cool.

[Ti-Phil]

It's always the same two accounts that send spams, bibiscuit and walek. Alas, I can't erase them.

[Jim North]

You may have to nuke the site from orbit.

[VeryCuddlyCornpone]

I wonder what it is that caused the sudden influx. It was like a few posts here and there and then suddenly a whole barrage of them.

MAYBE THEY ARE REAL POSTERS BEING HELD HOSTAGE OH THOSE POOR POOR PEOPLE WHY DOESN'T SOMEBODY DO SOMETHING

[siguyva]

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[Jim North]

[Terotrous]

We really need much more liberal banhammering. I don't think anyone would be against an instaban for anyone who signs up a new account and spams even once.

[McDuffies]

It's always the same two accounts that send spams, bibiscuit and walek. Alas, I can't erase them.

I turned the mod panel upside down and now I believe that I haven't actually gained power to ban anyone. Still, I asked Kelly to ban the most offensive accounts.

[Terotrous]

We have a new spammer who needs to be nuked. Where's Kelly when you need him?

[Risky]

We have a new spammer who needs to be nuked. Where's Kelly when you need him?

Twitter? Assuming PMing didn't work...

[McDuffies]

It didn't. Tweeter might work, but I don't use that stuff.

[Kisai]

As I said in the help forum, the ban system bans users completely from the forum, so it's possible to ban *everyone and anyone* by accident.

The way you ban a user is by clicking on the user's name in the post, click "administrate user" beside their name, then go to the bottom of the page, there are two parts:
Basic Tools (from the drop down, select BAN by IP)
then under
Delete User (delete all posts)

That's 100 times faster than trying to delete every post individually. But you have to be absolutely sure the user is only a spammer, as it's a point of no return.

The workaround for this was for moderators to pitch the spam posts into the "trash" folder and let the forum auto delete them. This does nothing to ban them though.

I'll give McDuffies access to the ban and delete function and we'll see what happens.

[Ahaugen]

thank you, oh great and glorious Kisai

[Kisai]

BTW, the phpBB3 admin panel only works in firefox... it won't let you login to it in Chrome.

[Terotrous]

That's 100 times faster than trying to delete every post individually. But you have to be absolutely sure the user is only a spammer, as it's a point of no return.

With great power comes great responsibility.

[McDuffies]

Thanks, Kisai. I'll try to be extra careful with admin panel (which btw seems to work in Opera as well).

What do I do with spammers who post from dozens of different IP adresses, though? Do I ban them all or what?

[Terotrous]

Thanks, Kisai. I'll try to be extra careful with admin panel (which btw seems to work in Opera as well).

What do I do with spammers who post from dozens of different IP adresses, though? Do I ban them all or what?

If they don't fall into a specific range, it's probably pointless to try banning them all. I'd just nuke the account and any further ones they try to create.

[VinnieD]

Something a little more powerful you can do if you see the same spammer coming back is to ban their dynamic range (essentially every IP address their ISP can assign them). Click "Administrate User," then click "Who is" Under their IP. You'll see two numbers with a dash between them. Copy those.

Click "users and groups" at the top tab, then "Ban IPs" on the left side. Then paste that number in there. Be VERY sure you got it exactly right and that there are NO SPACES in it. Leaving in a space can break the board.

Click submit and you've now banned an entire group if IP addresses. Now this is a rather scorched earth approach, so I wouldn't do it with any spam coming out of North America or Western Europe. I mostly use this for Russian and Eastern European spammers, who are typically non-English speakers who's neighbors are very unlikely to be using my own boards.

Sadly this is going to get MUCH harder to do when IPv6 rolls out and IP addresses become more plentiful.