Why so much spam per day? It's easy to create an account!

Rastaman · Post by **Rastaman** » Tue Jun 27, 2006 9:21 am

Why do we have so many spam messages per day when it's easy as pie to create an account. I did it in seconds and was posting away. We could even post a link on HOW to sign up so that it's completely a no-brainer. We seem to get alot of spam and alot of INAPPROPRIATE words that most shouldn't see. (Unless they're looking for it.)

Any thoughts and ideas? My guess is we've opted to put up with the spam so that people can post as guests. I could be wrong but it doesn't seem like the best choice in this situation.

Wulfman · Post by **Wulfman** » Tue Jun 27, 2006 9:30 am

Rastaman,

Some of the spammers actually DO create accounts. That won't stop them.
Just keep making them noticable and click on the "Report Spam" item with the post.

If you don't believe me, just go look in the "Memberlist" at the top of the page. Sort it in "joined date" in decending order and look at all the members with a "WWW" site on the right-hand side.

Den

Rastaman · Post by **Rastaman** » Tue Jun 27, 2006 9:56 am

Ahhhh, how do spam bots create accounts? Interesting.

I will continue to report spam. Ofcourse someone else always beats me to it. It just seemed like there was a simple solution but apparently NOT
Good times!

Goofproof · Post by **Goofproof** » Tue Jun 27, 2006 11:22 am

To keep the forum open to guests.

Also the forum software is not the latest and greatest.

But the people here ate great as is the site sponser CPAP,COM.

So we put up with a few fools, we've been puting up with fools for year, some of them even bill us.

On the Internet of Life A little Spam must Fall.

We do badly need people in control that can remove the spam instead of marking it. That won't stop Spam Bots, But i will slow down Sub-human Spammers.

Jim

gecko1977a · Post by **gecko1977a** » Tue Jun 27, 2006 4:00 pm

the software is PHPbb and can be configured to thwart spammers. since most use automated scripts you can stop them by doing the following

- configure the board to REQUIRE the visual confirmation code
- configure the board to REQUIRE e-mail activation (gotta provide a valid e-mail address and click a link in the e-mail to be acivated)

the first one will require anybody registering to enter an alphanumeric case-sensitive code to get the registration to go through. This will cause major problems for those who are blind and use a screen reader as the code is rendered as a graphic.

Goofproof · Post by **Goofproof** » Tue Jun 27, 2006 4:31 pm

But if our guests, can't even do the simple register, however could they jump through those extra hoops? We are sick people here, give us a break.

Although some of us are SICKER than others. Me Included! Jim

nomad · Post by **nomad** » Tue Jun 27, 2006 5:22 pm

gecko1977a wrote:the software is PHPbb and can be configured to thwart spammers. since most use automated scripts you can stop them by doing the following

- configure the board to REQUIRE the visual confirmation code
- configure the board to REQUIRE e-mail activation (gotta provide a valid e-mail address and click a link in the e-mail to be acivated)

the first one will require anybody registering to enter an alphanumeric case-sensitive code to get the registration to go through. This will cause major problems for those who are blind and use a screen reader as the code is rendered as a graphic.

^ I'm with gecko. It's true, there will be spam almost anywhere you go online. But if you can take a step or two to to protect your own back yard from this mess, then why not do it (unless it's a funding issue or is EXTREMELY time consuming to do)? I personally don't believe that if there's a problem (such as this one) you should just ignore it and bury your head in the sand. If it only happened once in a blue moon, I could see not caring. BUT, this is happening several times a day, everyday and seems to be getting worse.

If you want to have a little pride in a site such as this, be proactive and do something about it. Don't just be reactive and type "SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM" every time... what good does that do?

Just say no to GUESTS.

Bookbear · Post by **Bookbear** » Tue Jun 27, 2006 5:58 pm

Well, SOMEone must be listening, because when I logged in about 10 minutes ago, there were 5 messages tagged as SPAMSPAMSPAMSPAM , and now there is only 1.

I agree with the idea of not allowing guests to post, since it is so easy to set up an account. And since (if?) the software allows such a configuration, the two suggestions made by Gekko seem to be a workable solution.

I suspect that someone at cpap.com has charge of maintaining this board in addition to all their other duties, and I want them to know they and their work are truly appreciated by us hoseheads. (Titrator, is that you?) But the spam is really getting annoying.

gecko1977a · Post by **gecko1977a** » Tue Jun 27, 2006 8:21 pm

nomad wrote:^ I'm with gecko. It's true, there will be spam almost anywhere you go online. But if you can take a step or two to to protect your own back yard from this mess, then why not do it (unless it's a funding issue or is EXTREMELY time consuming to do)? I personally don't believe that if there's a problem (such as this one) you should just ignore it and bury your head in the sand. If it only happened once in a blue moon, I could see not caring. BUT, this is happening several times a day, everyday and seems to be getting worse.

If you want to have a little pride in a site such as this, be proactive and do something about it. Don't just be reactive and type "SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM" every time... what good does that do?

Just say no to GUESTS.

It is no more cost than the software that runs the board is (Which is FREE), and not hard to setup, just about 2 minutes

Darth Vader Look · Post by **Darth Vader Look** » Tue Jun 27, 2006 11:24 pm

There are some guests who only want some answers and don't expect to stay long so they just don't feel the need to register. I'm okay with that, not that it matters what I'm okay with. Other guests just feel their anonymity is important and by posting as guest it may be more difficult to track them down should that need ever occur. I prefer to be registered.

There was a survey of users on the TAS (talk about sleep) forum about this and they made it mandatory to register if you wanted to post. One person actually snagged the profile name "Guest" just to make a point of this. Anyway, the end result was the postings there dropped by about 90%. I don't think that would happen here as this is one great group. Out of all the message boards I believe this is the most popular forum for a lot of reasons. One of those reasons is that quest posting is allowed. Am I wrong about this

Goofproof · Post by **Goofproof** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 9:21 am

I don't have a problem with what people know about me. I openly post on six Forums as Goofproof, before I went by Goofproof on C.B. for 10 years, talking to people from Canada, Europe and Other points over the World.

As far as someone wanting to steal my identity, have at it they may not like the trade. Jim

Wulfman · Post by **Wulfman** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 9:39 am

Darth Vader Look wrote:I don't think that would happen here as this is one great group. Out of all the message boards I believe this is the most popular forum for a lot of reasons. One of those reasons is that quest posting is allowed. Am I wrong about this

DVL,

It might happen to some degree.....don't know how much....
All you have to do is look at the dates on the postings and you can plainly see that this one is far more prolific (more topics per day) than any of the others. And, yes, I think that has to do with allowing "Guest" posting.
There's also more and better information on this forum, too.
(even though there are several of the members here that post on the others)

Den

littlebaddow · Post by **littlebaddow** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 3:54 pm

The spam thing is annoying. Whilst I don't understand the technology, it would be good if it could be reduced.

As for allowing people to post as guests, I do find it hard to understand why people choose to do this. Doesn't the choice of user name give you sufficient anonimity and what is the risk? As I recall, the only requirement to register a user name was to provide cpap.com with an email address.

WillCunningham · Post by **WillCunningham** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 8:57 pm

With all the free email systems out there that shouldn't be a huge problem. personally I am a huge fan of dodgeit.com. @dodgeit.com is great for avoiding potential spam (not that cpap.com would spam us, just never know about that stuff till you use the site for a while). It is open email so anyone can check it, but who cares for stuff like verifiying accounts and whatnot. You can use any username at dodgeit.com and then check it whenever you are expecting something from a site.

Darth Vader Look · Post by **Darth Vader Look** » Thu Jun 29, 2006 12:07 am

littlebaddow wrote:Doesn't the choice of user name give you sufficient anonimity and what is the risk? As I recall, the only requirement to register a user name was to provide cpap.com with an email address.

Yes it does. If they really wanted to find you they could but would it even be worth all the time doing it. When you post anonymously you don't see the new post flags, can't pm someone and have no profile. To me the first is the most important because of the other forums I visit. I don't like to waste time hunting down new posts but that's just me.

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