Thanks and a random question

[CM]

Just wanted to post a big Thank You to the WSB for dealing with what seems like an endless stream of spammers. Maybe it’s just me, but it really seems between online spamming and phone scams, it’s getting a lot worse lately? I even got a call from myself today on caller ID.

Anyway, WSB (don’t know which or both of you is dealing with it) just want you to know I appreciate your efforts.

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[JanS]

a call from yourself, huh…in another dimension, perhaps?

I used to get emails from myself on Yahoo and (sorry to say)AOL (it was a long time ago – lol)

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[CM]

Well, that’s always possible Jan, given my normal state of mind, but looky here:

https://www.google.com/#q=call+from+my+own+number

This just gets old really fast for me.

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[bertha]

I got a call from myself a couple of weeks ago. Didn’t answer because I figured I would leave a message if it was important.

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[SG]

My email was put on here to get help for a friend in need, and now I am being flooded with email from Africa trying to get money. At least 10 a day. I don’t know what to do. I have had my email for 15 years and don’t want to change it . Any suggestions?

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[JanS]

forward the emails back to where they came from? Send them to the FCC?

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[WSB]

CM, thanks. Sorry a bunch sat here for too many hours today, it’s been an intense week, with hours and hours of meetings, but that was no excuse for me not to take time to check here and there. They come and they go. Spammers seem to get through the filter in waves … past couple days, more extensive than the week or two before that … then it’ll quiet down again. Thank you all for your patience. – TR

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[wsn00b]

WSB / TR:

For the forum spam cleanup, IMHO, you need to take a step back from the cleanup and look at fundamentally how the forum accounts are managed. You are currently running a WordPress forum for which automated spamming tools are readily available that often bypass some of the WordPress anti spam plugins.

Registration/signup is insecurely done over plain HTTP (and not secure HTTPS) and without technical measures like CAPTCHAs or email-based confirmation/activation to prevent automated spammers from signing up and spamming.

Unless you do atleast that, you will continuously be playing whack-a-mole with forum spam.

Switching the forums to some other purpose-built system versus wordpress might also be a better long term option.

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[WSB]

Thanks. We installed CAPTCHA a while back. Didn’t help. Rather than recount everything we’ve done over the years (actually the technical people we’ve paid), long story short, yes, we know all the shortcomings. The overhaul project has been under way for weeks and will be under way for some weeks more. Nothing we can do right now (believe me, we have spent a painful amount of money and time the past couple years TRYING to get something done) but whack the moles until we lift the site entirely out of this gnarled old shell.

Our friends at MyBallard, who also launched with bbPress in 2007 and who have more technical savvy under their personal roof than we do, were hit so hard a while back they had to completely blow up their forum. Twice. In comparison, we just have to, well, whack them moles. Most of the time Akismet catches them and they don’t surface.

-TR

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[JoB]

thank you for whacking moles until you can find a way to prevent them…

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[wsn00b]

Good to hear you are trying to upgrade. WSB is a critical “utility” for West Seattle. A better secure state will always be a bunch of technical things combined together – base upgrades, a couple of spam plugins, secure logins, etc.

Thanks!

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[Lindsey]

Sheesh, I can only imagine the resources sunk into such a project. If I had the cash I’d donate, but I’ll have to settle for individually thanking sponsors for supporting this critical news site for West Seattle. Thank you!

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