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who hacked the mainframe?

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
21,031
5,920
borcester rhymes
i called the white courtesy phone, but @Sandwich didn't answer
home sick today watching depressing movies on netflix bro brah

un-fucking our forum is unfortunately very challenging with these latest rounds of bots. somehow they get through the filter then are able to create enough innocuous posts before they bypass the spam filter and then just blast away. if you see these guys again, please report them as spam ASAP using the report spam function. Simply reporting the post does nothing and gives me more work. I am unable to simply ban a spammer once he's over the minimum message count, and I'm not yet able to figure out how to adjust that minimum so it works again. In the meantime, I have to individually ban the user, then select all of his posts and delete them permanently. It's like a 5 minute job for every single spammer, and while that doesn't sound like a lot, it's half an hour of my morning and I actually have a real job...so keep smashing that SPAM button.
 

jonKranked

Detective Dookie
Nov 10, 2005
85,562
24,182
media blackout
home sick today watching depressing movies on netflix bro brah

un-fucking our forum is unfortunately very challenging with these latest rounds of bots. somehow they get through the filter then are able to create enough innocuous posts before they bypass the spam filter and then just blast away. if you see these guys again, please report them as spam ASAP using the report spam function. Simply reporting the post does nothing and gives me more work. I am unable to simply ban a spammer once he's over the minimum message count, and I'm not yet able to figure out how to adjust that minimum so it works again. In the meantime, I have to individually ban the user, then select all of his posts and delete them permanently. It's like a 5 minute job for every single spammer, and while that doesn't sound like a lot, it's half an hour of my morning and I actually have a real job...so keep smashing that SPAM button.
maybe i'm missing something, but where's the "report spam" function?
 

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
21,031
5,920
borcester rhymes
that's a good question. Since I'm a moderator I probably don't have access to that function. Do you have a "tools" feature next to "reputation, quote, reply" at the bottom?

Maybe if you chekck the box below the post, something comes up? Hmmm...
 

jonKranked

Detective Dookie
Nov 10, 2005
85,562
24,182
media blackout
that's a good question. Since I'm a moderator I probably don't have access to that function. Do you have a "tools" feature next to "reputation, quote, reply" at the bottom?

Maybe if you chekck the box below the post, something comes up? Hmmm...
yes, but under tools it only says "report post" there is no "report spam"
 

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,092
1,132
NC
I've just reported the most tricky spammer around. :D
You should consult with @binary visions . I administer a tiny forum and even our ancient software has a method of deleting an offending account with all its posts in a single click (and can do a mass murder in a similar scorched earth fashion, too).
We have the functionality, but in the past I've capped the ability to use the spam delete at a maximum number of user messages, to prevent permanently wiping out actual user accounts. And for years, that hasn't been a problem, and our spam prevention has been great ever since switching to XenForo, so there hasn't been a reason to address anything.

Looks like there's some new bot software out there and I'll have to fiddle with some knobs to address it.

I've significantly increased the cap on using the spam ban function, so @Sandwich shouldn't have that particular issue anymore. I'll see what else we can do to mitigate the spammers actually posting in the first place.
 

kidwoo

Artisanal Tweet Curator
home sick today watching depressing movies on netflix bro brah

un-fucking our forum is unfortunately very challenging with these latest rounds of bots. somehow they get through the filter then are able to create enough innocuous posts before they bypass the spam filter and then just blast away. if you see these guys again, please report them as spam ASAP using the report spam function. Simply reporting the post does nothing and gives me more work. I am unable to simply ban a spammer once he's over the minimum message count, and I'm not yet able to figure out how to adjust that minimum so it works again. In the meantime, I have to individually ban the user, then select all of his posts and delete them permanently. It's like a 5 minute job for every single spammer, and while that doesn't sound like a lot, it's half an hour of my morning and I actually have a real job...so keep smashing that SPAM button.

I had an awesome post about mathmatica protecting my virginity and now it's gone!