# Message for our users



## Docb (Feb 4, 2020)

You reacted to some spam in another post and whilst everybody applauds your sentiment, replying to spam of that type is, as I understand it, not a good idea. This is for two reasons. 

First, there is a very good chance that the "member" is not a real person at all but some automated system trolling the internet and spamming any forum that it finds. Shouting back is as effective as shouting at any black box.

Second, a reply might be seen by an automated system as meaning that the forum is live and used.  As a result, the system might use it as a trigger to send more spam.  That's why I put this comment in a separate post - don't want to increase the risk of getting more spam.

Finally, I hope nobody has clicked on the links in the post.  That's just asking for trouble.  I am a member of another forum that simply does not allow clickable links in posts.  The administrator  has set up the forum so that the @ symbol is unrecognised. The result is that whenever somebody puts up a post which attempts to insert a clickable link, it just gets ignored.  The administrator is a bit paranoid about the security of his systems and servers, and rightly so.


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## grovesy (Feb 5, 2020)

They should be reported but I did so yesterday evening to about a dozen, and another couple this morning. We used to get these things more often at one time.


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## Docb (Feb 5, 2020)

Yes grovsey, the best course of action is to use the "report" to alert the mods that it exists and leave them and the administrators to deal with it.


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## grovesy (Feb 5, 2020)

These sorts of attacks used to happen mainly in the early hours of the morning.


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## nonethewiser (Feb 5, 2020)

Such a simple solution to block spam, first few posts need admin approval so remain invisable to all but admin, surprised not introduced already.


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## Andy HB (Feb 5, 2020)

nonethewiser said:


> Such a simple solution to block spam, first few posts need admin approval so remain invisible to all but admin, surprised not introduced already.



I don't like that idea. I think posts should not be vetted, especially for new posters. They are often the ones needing a quick response from other forum users.

However, I do think links should not be allowed in the first few posts. They should be automatically replaced with some suitable text when the post is added or, perhaps, the post is simply not allowed. It is the links which are the driver for these spammers and if these are denied then, maybe, the spammers will go elsewhere.


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## grovesy (Feb 5, 2020)

Some sites do limit the amount of posts before  being able to post links. I have personally not seen as many such posts as the last 24 hours for a long time.


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## trophywench (Feb 5, 2020)

I agree with grovesey - people need instant access in case of emergencies.

I am amazed though, that the forum software even allows anyone to post THAT many links one after another like that.


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## grovesy (Feb 5, 2020)

trophywench said:


> I agree with grovesey - people need instant access in case of emergencies.
> 
> I am amazed though, that the forum software even allows anyone to post THAT many links one after another like that.


That was my thoughts when I saw them yesterday. I thought as we had not had this for a while, I presumed it had been solved previously.


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## MikeyBikey (Feb 5, 2020)

A number of people responded to the various spam posts yet I was singled out for doing so! Why was that?


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## Andy HB (Feb 5, 2020)

MikeyBikey said:


> A number of people responded to the various spam posts yet I was singled out for doing so! Why was that?



Well, for my part, yours was the only response that I saw! Nothing sinister, I assure you.


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## Docb (Feb 5, 2020)

MikeyBikey said:


> A number of people responded to the various spam posts yet I was singled out for doing so! Why was that?



Cos you were the first and I needed a thread title!!  Aplogies if you feel victimised and I have given myself a slap on the wrist and a good talking to.


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## Ralph-YK (Feb 5, 2020)

Andy HB said:


> However, I do think links should not be allowed in the first few posts. They should be automatically replaced with some suitable text when the post is added or, perhaps, the post is simply not allowed.


Some forums just don't have a mechanism (or at least not available) to put links in posts. (Some it's particularly pictures they don't allow!) This saves on having to do any extra processing.


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## Ljc (Feb 5, 2020)

I used to go on a peer support forum, nothing to do with diabetes where their were quite a few problems with spam , 
The admin decided not to allow newbies to post links until the had made 10  posts.
All that happened was spammers copied and pasted the whole text and as fast as they were deleted several more appeared. 

I too think it would not be a good idea for a newbies initial posts to be vetted before the appeared on the forum as they are often crying out for help and advise, or scared can you remember how you felt when you first came here .


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## Bruce Stephens (Feb 5, 2020)

Ljc said:


> All that happened was spammers copied and pasted the whole text and as fast as they were deleted several more appeared.



Yes, the goal's always to try and make it annoying enough to spam that it's not worth the effort, but generally that'll fail after a while.

Overall I find this set of forums works well, with very little spam. (That may be because other contributors report them and moderators (or whoever) remove it before I see it, and maybe they find the levels of spam annoyingly high.)


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## silentsquirrel (Feb 5, 2020)

Ljc said:


> I too think it would not be a good idea for a newbies initial posts to be vetted before the appeared on the forum as they are often crying out for help and advise, or scared can you remember how you felt when you first came here .


I agree with this - usually new members get a very speedy response, and this is often mentioned appreciatively by them.  We would need far more mods, especially out of office hours, if "vetting" first posts were introduced.  I would guess that the burden of vetting all first posts might be more onerous than deleting spam.


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## MrDaibetes (Feb 5, 2020)

I do apologize for the spam yesterday. I am only a volunteer and I try and usually be as active as I possibly can. Hopefully will not happen again and I will bring this up with the forum admins  x


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## Andy HB (Feb 6, 2020)

Another possibility is we have a few more people who can delete spam posts. Not just moderators.

I would be happy to help in that regard but realise that it could only be done by trustworthy types.


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## grovesy (Feb 6, 2020)

MrDaibetes said:


> I do apologize for the spam yesterday. I am only a volunteer and I try and usually be as active as I possibly can. Hopefully will not happen again and I will bring this up with the forum admins  x


I think in the past sometimes @Northerner caught alot of the early morning ones.


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## Docb (Feb 6, 2020)

Mr Diabetes, no need for apology, the spammers are very sophisticated and getting to grips with it is done by improving the automatic spam protection on the forum.  Its why simply deleting the spam only does part of the job.  Far better if it is fed into the anti spam software so it can get better at intercepting spam before it gets published.  I guessing it is already very good but it continually needs tweeking.

I was a little more concerned about the links in the spam that started this discussion off.  The spam was obvious spam, and the services offered illegal.  The risk that clicking on any of the links would lead to real trouble was therefore high.  It is very rare that a regular post includes a clickable link, they are largely confined to the spam that gets through.  Its why some forums are configured to ignore clickable links in posts.  They allow the post, its just that the link either does not show or does not work.  At the end of the day its all down to risk management and the best people to judge what's best are the admin team.  They know the software and what can and cannot be done. They have the added motivation that their professional pride will be forever damaged if some virus laden link gets promulgated!


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## nonethewiser (Feb 6, 2020)

Andy HB said:


> I don't like that idea. I think posts should not be vetted, especially for new posters. They are often the ones needing a quick response from other forum users.
> 
> However, I do think links should not be allowed in the first few posts. They should be automatically replaced with some suitable text when the post is added or, perhaps, the post is simply not allowed. It is the links which are the driver for these spammers and if these are denied then, maybe, the spammers will go elsewhere.



Its how most forums operate Andy, stops spam getting thru so does job just fine, nowt worse than seeing forum littered with spam messages.

 All it takes is to recruit more members to delete it covering all time scales, that way posts dont sit for ages waiting to be approved, problem solved.


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## Andy HB (Feb 6, 2020)

Ah! But I'd say, in my biased opinion, most forums are not as good as this one.


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## everydayupsanddowns (Feb 6, 2020)

Thanks for your thoughts on this folks. Unfortunately the spammers threads appeared when mods were unavailable. Sorry about that. 

Thankfully it’s a fairly rare occurrence to have such an influx like that. But yes please do report any posts which look spammy so that mods and admins will be immediately notified when they visit the forum.


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## Ralph-YK (Feb 6, 2020)

Some other forums have mods from different time zones. Though this one does does seem better


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## grovesy (Feb 6, 2020)

everydayupsanddowns said:


> Thanks for your thoughts on this folks. Unfortunately the spammers threads appeared when mods were unavailable. Sorry about that.
> 
> Thankfully it’s a fairly rare occurrence to have such an influx like that. But yes please do report any posts which look spammy so that mods and admins will be immediately notified when they visit the forum.


I thought at the time it was strange there were so many, this had not happened here for sometime to my knowledge.


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## MikeyBikey (Feb 9, 2020)

Docb said:


> Cos you were the first and I needed a thread title!!  Aplogies if you feel victimised and I have given myself a slap on the wrist and a good talking to.



I have forgiven you 89.37%. The rest comes when you change the heading!


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## Docb (Feb 9, 2020)

LOL.  89.37% is good enough for me.


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