What's with the spam in the forums?

[J242]

I don’t recall the initial sign-up process but might I recommend updating to a more secure 2 step verification forum software package to prevent the forums from getting spammed all the time? I’m sure the folks running this great site have better things to do, like actually helping provide info to their fellow West Seattle-ites and keeping the site running, than killing spam posts.

I for one would gladly deal with re-registering my account under stricter verification methods with 2 step verification like entering a CAPTCHA code, SMS verification number, clicking on an email link from the forums to prove my identity, etc if it helped prevent even half of these blatant spam posts from popping up in the forum section.

What say the other folks who enjoy this site?

I know the WSB isn’t responsible for any of it and all you folks do this as a labor of love so please don’t take this post as anything like criticism against you or the site. My irritation is solely directed at the individuals who keep spamming the board with nonsense from artificial temp accounts.

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[miws]

Hi J242, WSB is doing what they can to zap the Spam, when they have time.

You might have missed it, but they have mentioned several times, probably mostly within existing threads, as opposed to starting a thread on the topic, that the Forum software is old and creaky (like me), and unfortunately a lot of Spam is getting past the filters. They also mentioned that a site upgrade is coming, but it’s simply been a long and arduous process.

From what they’ve said in their most recent comments about this, it sounds like the upgrade is not too far off.

Mike

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[JanS]

lately there have been multiple spam posts under the same name. I use the ignore button on one, and they all disappear. I hate to see what my ignore list looks like now, though – lol.

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[Franci]

This is a problem everywhere right now. Spammers have found a way around the rules for catching spam and so it seems more prolific. And now the security /anti-spam engines need to find a new way to block it.

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[suzanne]

Thanks for the tip about using the ignore button!

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[WSB]

Apologies again; we kill spam here at least several times a day, but the filter does catch many posts you never see. The overhaul is pretty close to the launch pad and it will enable the filter to be upgraded, among other things. For now, it’s kind of like whack-a-mole … if we have time to actually block the accounts that get through, somebody in ShenZhen (home of the spammers) apparently notices this, or their bot notices it, and things then calm down for a while. Most spam accounts that do get through post twice and then go dormant, but every so often (like Thursday night, IIRC) one account posts a couple dozen times in the short time period when we actually are usually both asleep. – TR

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[Smitty]

Yes Jan, thank you!

The ignore button takes maybe 2 minutes and clears the entire thing up.

Its kind of like spending 5 minutes per week unsubscribing from emails.

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