JOHNNY, HELP WITH SPAM

ladytonya · Post by **ladytonya** » Tue Jul 18, 2006 12:25 pm

The most spam-free online forums that I read are ones where guests are not allowed to post and where you have to either confirm your membership by clicking on a link in an email or type in the numbers and/or letters in a graphic (not sure what that's called). Since it seems that many people on here feel strongly about guests being allowed to post (which I still don't understand, but I've expressed that in another thread and been slammed so i won't bring that up again), why not have some sort of verification before a post can go through such as the graphic letters/numbers that you have to type in. I don't think a spambot could get through that.

Another suggestion for the Powers that Be (just in case you're reading).....

It would be nice if before clicking on a topic you could tell when the topic was created. It's nice to be able to see who it was created by, but I would rather see when it was created. Most forums that I am a member of show this information. If this is possible with your software, it would be a real help!

Another nice thing would be if there was a way to see which threads I have posted too. Other forums have an indicator next to the name of the thread that either tells me by a little symbol or a different color to the icon if it's a thread that I have posted too. I find this board a little overwhelming sometimes when I log on and there are two pages of threads with new messages.

Back to sleep, uh, I mean work.... Yeah, that's it. Back to WORK!

Tonya

RedThunder94 · Post by **RedThunder94** » Tue Jul 18, 2006 4:34 pm

hey guys, i think it might start up again, i'm sorry i couldn't help with the second wave of spam this morning i had to work, but i just nuked another message that seemed alot like the ones from earlier, be on your guard.

snoozie_suzy · Post by **snoozie_suzy** » Tue Jul 18, 2006 6:47 pm

Some of the posts that crop up from months, or even up to a year ago, its hard to tell whether some of them are SPAM or not. I don't dare hit the "spam" button if it is a new member pulling up and old thread by the search method and responding to it. but it seems there are SOOOO many old threads the past few weeks so I'm unsure which are legitimately spam.

Suzy

RedThunder94 · Post by **RedThunder94** » Tue Jul 18, 2006 6:53 pm

they are the ones that have pornographic links, or that have a large number of clickable links that have things to do with buying prescription drugs or tickets or for gambling purposes, i.e anything that does not have at least some little thing to do with the forum, most of the time they are posted by guests.

birdshell · Post by **birdshell** » Tue Jul 18, 2006 7:10 pm

ladytonya wrote: (snip)
Since it seems that many people on here feel strongly about guests being allowed to post (which I still don't understand, but I've expressed that in another thread and been slammed so i won't bring that up again.
(snip)

I was one who was expressing opinions about guests, but I have had a chance to re-think. Several guest postings seem to be important, but sensitive, information. Are there some of our regular members using guest postings to protect their identities? This would allow them the anonymous freedom to truly inform the rest of us about these issues, such as the ResMed online price increase, without jeopardizing their careers.

ladytonya wrote: (snip)
It would be nice if before clicking on a topic you could tell when the topic was created. It's nice to be able to see who it was created by, but I would rather see when it was created. Most forums that I am a member of show this information. If this is possible with your software, it would be a real help!

I agree, but it isn't the highest priority for me. I think because of the spam bumping up a comment last night, I answered a post over a year old. That thread was dead, more or less. I'd like to avoid that, if possible. Snoozie_suzy expressed it well just a post or two up the line.

ladytonya wrote:Another nice thing would be if there was a way to see which threads I have posted too. Other forums have an indicator next to the name of the thread that either tells me by a little symbol or a different color to the icon if it's a thread that I have posted too. I find this board a little overwhelming sometimes when I log on and there are two pages of threads with new messages.
Tonya

I'm with you on the two pages of messages, but would they not be there anyway? I know that having a notice on the listing page would be great, but can one not search for one's name in the search feature and get nearly the same information? Maybe it would not show what you are asking about--am I misunderstanding?

ladytonya · Post by **ladytonya** » Tue Jul 18, 2006 10:08 pm

Birdshell, you are correct. It is possible to just search for posts made by me. Sometimes, I go crazy posting and can't remember everywhere I've posted. Right now, that search would not be a bad thing and wouldn't be too time consuming. But what about someone who has thousands of posts? That would be virtually impossible!

I do understand what you are saying about the confidential information. I guess if it were something that was that confidential, I just wouldn't post it in an open forum. I know that would probably mean that we wouldn't get some of the inside info, so I honestly don't know the answer. All I know is that this is an awesome forum and I don't want it to start losing posters because of spammers.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Jul 18, 2006 10:27 pm

ladytonya, I'm not sure this is what you're after, but you can enable the feature that sends you an email anytime a thread you've posted on gets another entry. That way you would always know if a thread you have posted to has any further information. If you don't get an email on it then you know no one posted after you did.

birdshell · Post by **birdshell** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 9:25 am

Lady Tonya,

Isn't the most important thing about this forum that we do all share our thoughts? Whether we all agree or disagree is an issue equal to, "What mask is best?"

Just as there are many, many masks out there does not mean that we all have to settle for the same one. And just because there are many opinions, we need not agree. We do need to appreciate input as a way of expanding the parameters of our thinking.

To me, IMHO, this is sort of like long-distance brainstorming. Throw out those ideas, springboard off each other's concepts and let the adaptations begin!

Sleepless on LI · Post by **Sleepless on LI** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 9:29 am

birdshell wrote:Lady Tonya,

Isn't the most important thing about this forum that we do all share our thoughts? Whether we all agree or disagree is an issue equal to, "What mask is best?"

Just as there are many, many masks out there does not mean that we all have to settle for the same one. And just because there are many opinions, we need not agree. We do need to appreciate input as a way of expanding the parameters of our thinking.

To me, IMHO, this is sort of like long-distance brainstorming. Throw out those ideas, springboard off each other's concepts and let the adaptations begin!

Well said.

Snoredog · Post by **Snoredog** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 1:24 pm

it seems the SPAM we get here is not signed by Guest but signed with an email address like this one:

'6ab39me@rocketmail.com'

Pretty easy to see the last post when it is happening from the index page as the SPAMMER will show up there as the last post.

birdshell · Post by **birdshell** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 2:46 pm

I believe you brought that up before, and it is an excellent point.

As a start, maybe just shut out the e-mail addresses of spammers? It may be a bit tricky to filter out with those having just one letter different.

I have rarely had spam through my ISP for the past several months. It used to be a regular occurrence of 8-10 messages a day. What astounded me was: these would have the first few characters of my e-mail address correct and that was all. The rest of the address would vary.

The ISP had to have a better sorting program than just the first few letters of the e-mail address; otherwise, everyone with those characters would be getting each other's mail constantly.

Maybe they have finally gotten a better anti-spam version of software; if so, can something like that be used here?

Come on some of you who do this for a living! (I read that thread, "What's Your Job"!) Is there a way to help Sir Spamalot (Johnny) to shield us from spam, even if he cannot spear them with his lance?

If it is an anti-competition clause in your contract that keeps you from contributing, perhaps you could just post ideas as a "Guest"?

Sleepless on LI · Post by **Sleepless on LI** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 2:57 pm

Snoredog wrote:it seems the SPAM we get here is not signed by Guest but signed with an email address like this one:

'6ab39me@rocketmail.com'

Pretty easy to see the last post when it is happening from the index page as the SPAMMER will show up there as the last post.

Snoredog,

The only problem with that is, yes, you can see that by looking at the last post to a thread on the page which lists the topics. But if you have your preferences set to deliver an email link when someone posts on a thread you're watching, when you click on that link inside the email, it automatically takes you to the new post, which is spam. You don't know until you get there who posted it or that it's going to be spam, unfortunately.

JOHNNY, HELP WITH SPAM

old posts

Spam

Finding postings

Re: Finding postings

Anti-Spam Program?