Spam attack overwhelming this time. Gave up swatting them.

dsm · Post by **dsm** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 2:43 am

At approx 4:30 am New York time, spam was coming in so fast that I was not able to hold it back.

I am guessing this comes in at this time because there are few people to help block it.

DSM

kteague · Post by **kteague** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 4:19 am

Ditto.

I'm not advocating actually DOING anything wrong, but I got a private chuckle at the juvenile thought of the repeated spammer that snoredog has exposed getting "flamed". You know - burning bag of dog poop on porch then ring doorbell and run.

Or, since he has a thing for spam, it would be funny to gift him with a slice of Spam in the mail - ought to be real yummy by the time it arrives. Let him get rid of some unwelcome junk mail.

Ok, I'm over it now.

Kathy

christinequilts · Post by **christinequilts** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 4:44 am

Some of the threads were hit really bad- one about Encore & XP had 10 pages of spam! I don't know how many I took out, but I've been clicking continously for over 1/2 hour and all is clear as of 6:43amEST...

tomjax · Post by **tomjax** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 4:55 am

I get criticized every time I say something.

If the changes take place tomorrow, then hopefelly the problem will be lessened.

I stopped zapping them.
Why is is no problem on other forums?
Even on yahoo, there seems to be no problem.
None at sleepnet, but no postings eiher.
Is it possible it is someone here who enjoys the game?
Probably not a true OSA person, but one who enjoys such.
But what will happen to those who have turned to full time spam zappers?

Oh well, RIP, Steve the crocodile man

christinequilts · Post by **christinequilts** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 5:01 am

I would think even if they would block unregistered users from posting links, it would cut down on a lot of the spam and it wouldn't prevent a new user from posting. Or even if there was a way to automaticly lock a post after a certain number of spam are deleted from it to prevent the rediculous number the one post thread was getting this morning. I agree something has to change, as ocassional spam here and there is one thing, but hundreds every night is crazy- they even spammed Johny's post on dealing with spam-lol

Offerocker · Post by **Offerocker** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 5:06 am

The following is an excerpt (context kept intact) from a PM to me re SPAM,
and I'm not advocating this by any means, just passing it on,
unnamed, as I do not have this person's permission to 'reprint'

Please don't direct comments to me!!!!!

Here's what was sent TO me:

"...deleting the SPAM does NOTHING TO STOP it. When the SPAM is all deleted johnny doesn't think there is a problem. It is a BAD idea to delete the SPAM, it is better to IDENTIFY the SPAMMERS and then BLOCK them than it is to delete their dirty work and do NOTHING."

Me again...
shall we let the spammers have fun for a day and see what happens to OUR FORUM?
Will this person then have enough fodder for Mr. Goodman.... Or....???
..not my call

tomjax · Post by **tomjax** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 5:17 am

This is precisely the point I made in a posting that soon got the reply that they would continue zapping it because it made the forum appear to be spam free.
I simply suggested letting it stay for 1 HOUR to get an appreciation for the magnitude of the problem.
They resent the suggestion that it is an obsession and I will gladly change the characterization if someone comes up with a better term.

I can just imagine them sitting at the screen and hitting refresh and zapping the posting with in a minute of posting.

Then they act like you are depriving them of their right to bear arms.

But hopefully, Johnny will have results with the controls that start tomorrow(6th)

But my postings may be an obsession with zappers.

NightHawkeye · Post by **NightHawkeye** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 5:47 am

tomjax wrote:If the changes take place tomorrow, then hopefelly the problem will be lessened.

I would propose that is exactly why the problem is so bad today. If game's up tomorrow, then they want to do as much damage today as possible.

tomjax wrote:Why is is no problem on other forums?
Even on yahoo, there seems to be no problem.
None at sleepnet, but no postings eiher.
Is it possible it is someone here who enjoys the game?

We know that the spammers have reacted to the changes which have been made here. It seems unlikely to me that these are normal spammers. It seems more likely that these guys are intentionally trying to disrupt this forum. They've been unable to do it by clutter, so now there is this massive final push to annoy as many people as possible.

tomjax wrote:Oh well, RIP, Steve the crocodile man

Indeed! The sad thing is that he apparently wasn't doing anything perceived as particularly dangerous at the time. It was merely a freak accident.

Regards,
Bill

oldgearhead · Post by **oldgearhead** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 6:06 am

Uh, what happens tomorrow? I must have missed something. I noticed
the 'remove spam' link is now gone from the postings. do we have a
new spam control in place this morning?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 7:07 am

oldgearhead wrote:Uh, what happens tomorrow?

Johnny has indicated he will be implementing new anti-spam tactics on Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2006.

In case you missed it, the following was posted on Friday, Sept. 1, 2006 at 2:46pm
Post subject: The Next Step In CPAPtalk.com Spam Control

johnnygoodman wrote: Greetings CPAPtalkers,

We've been getting hit hard the last few days. Some have said that it is to the point where it is taking away from the forum and I'm inclined to agree. As I went through all the reported spam and deleted it, I saw that the same few IPs were big offenders.

It has been suggested before that we bad IPs of repeat offenders. On Wednesday, we're going to be upgrading our spam guard to allow us to choose a "restrict this IP from visiting CPAPtalk.com".

I think this will improve the situation, if not, we're going to have to consider "type the characters in the image" style spam prevention.

Johnny

tomjax · Post by **tomjax** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 9:21 am

I just zapped one, breaking my no zap policy, to see if the delete spam works.

Some say it does not, but mine does.

ALso looks like some activity is directed to the spam because it is gone quicker than usual, but seems to be picking up again.

I hope Johnny is doing something in the background and not sharing his battle plan to tip the spammers on his tactics.

oh well

Snoozin' Bluezzz · Post by **Snoozin' Bluezzz** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 9:32 am

NightHawkeye wrote:We know that the spammers have reacted to the changes which have been made here. It seems unlikely to me that these are normal spammers. It seems more likely that these guys are intentionally trying to disrupt this forum. They've been unable to do it by clutter, so now there is this massive final push to annoy as many people as possible.

How do we know this? I am curious. I am skeptical that this is true. I see SPAM increasing everywhere, penetrating areas never penetrated before in volumes I have never seen before. I don't think CPAP.COM is special other than our "open door" policy and I am skeptical that it is being targeted specifically unless some person or persons that want to see changes made are attempting to teach us a lesson and even I don't subscribe to that degree of paranoia.

I have one e-mail account that gets absolutely no spam to speak of and is not used in any circumstances I consider insecure and it just got nailed with 15 spam messages today. Up to today, after 2 years of use, it never got more than 1 or 2 a day. My work account had neglible spam until the last few months when it began to explode, again with me leaving few or no footprints so I think they are getting even more persistent and innovative.

David

kteague · Post by **kteague** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 9:48 am

Maybe I misunderstood. I thought the site administrators have been evaluating every deleted posting to confirm it is indeed spam and to handle the remaining valid posts in the thread. If so, they are painfully aware of the magnitude of the problem. If I spotted a recent spam within a topic of interest that had not been posted to yet, I deleted it to prevent someone half asleep (like me) inadvertently posting to it. I doubt that even those who ardently delete will go thru any withdrawal without the spam. They have given of their own time providing a service to this forum as requested, trying to make it a little less irritating for other members. I say "Thanks".

And thanks to Johnny for moving beyond this stop-gap measure to apply solutions, since member delete has turned out to be about as pleasant as spitting in the wind. A technology based attack requires a technology based defense.

Let's hope the worst is over.

Mikesus · Post by **Mikesus** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 10:02 am

Spammers have one goal. Get their product out on as many sites as possible period. Efforts to stop that are ALWAYS met with resistance. The key to to raise the bar high enough so it is not worth their effort to continue.

The only effort here per se has been reactive, not proactive. This does nothing to curb their efforts to spam, just turned it into a spam squashing game.

The only effective solutions are proactive ones, and I can say this with authority as I also admin a PHPBB board. The stock spam restrictions are very weak, and requires a bit of creativity and layering to stop it.

We were getting about 5 posts a day when I started my efforts. We now get MAYBE 2 a week. (and as far as I can tell, those are humans, not scripts that are spamming)

Again, I will offer assistance as I think this board is a GREAT resource to those with OSA. The discussions should be revolving around OSA, NOT spam and efforts to stop it.

Goofproof · Post by **Goofproof** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 10:07 am

It looks like the Spammers won, my button has went away, and my bucket was only half full. No problem the fridge is full. Good luck on you continued spam patrol, I will clean this mess and retire. Jim

Spam attack overwhelming this time. Gave up swatting them.

Spam attack overwhelming this time. Gave up swatting them.

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To Delete or Not to Delete