Anyone any ideas why there seems to be a new resurgence of spam just lately? Has anything changed with the registration process for example?
Yes, we changed the registration process and it will take quite some effort to improve the system to avoid spam 100%.[YSaerTTEW443543]
TOEIC short conversations: Two people discuss a newspaper article featuring the company profile[YSaerTTEW443543]
It’s not possible to avoid spam 100%, but nothing was ever done about a system whereby new members were modded for their first posts either, was it?
Hi Bev, I think this will be way to difficult for anyone who needs a quick answer (which is usually the case with first time users).[YSaerTTEW443543]
TOEIC short conversations: A business executive asks his PA to change his schedule[YSaerTTEW443543]
Oh, right, thanks, you mean the registration process has been relaxed slightly in the last week or two?
Do you know what happened to the idea of blocking posts containing external links until the user has become established (registered for a certain period of time and/or clocked up a certain number of posts)? It seems to me that this restriction would not be terribly onerous for first-time posters, and yet would deter many spammers whose aim is simply spam their links over the internet.
Let me run this by Zfort, Dozy. However, what I think is that will be very difficult to just block posts with external links because these spammers are not real people but spam bots (software). So the software registers on the forum and then automatically posts hundreds of messages with external links. Creating a script that prevents this will take about 20 hours of work.[YSaerTTEW443543]
TOEIC short conversations: A convention participant gets directions from the organizer[YSaerTTEW443543]
Torsten, I understand that these spammers use automated programs, but I don’t see how that in itself makes it any harder to block posts with external links. On the last occasion when there were big problems with spammers, I thought such blocking was at least partially implemented, or at least tested, and then was rolled back. I thought this because at the time I received a few error messages saying that I could not post external links (implying that there was some code in there to test for this case). I assumed at the time that this was a new anti-spam feature that was erroneously being applied to me because it was not working properly yet. Then it seemed to go away.
Hi Dozy, many of the spam bots just register automatically and make one single post without any external links. They act a bit like ‘sleepers’. If they slip through unnoticed they then start spamming at a later point so banning new users who post messages with external links won’t work I’m afraid.[YSaerTTEW443543]
TOEIC listening, talks: Reporting traffic problems[YSaerTTEW443543]
Are you certain about that Torsten? I can hardly recall seeing a single spam post that did not contain external links.
On another point, another useful enhancement would be a “report as spam” (or “report as abuse”) link against each post. Although spam really annoys me, I’m afraid I am a bit lazy about reporting it here. If there was a button I could quickly click then it would be easier all round.
Yes Dozy, please read this: Looking for ‘Forum Security Agents’[YSaerTTEW443543]
TOEIC listening, talks: Announcing the closing time at a supermarket[YSaerTTEW443543]
If you wish to give me that facility, I would be happy to delete any spam that I encounter.
Torsten, I have been making a record of this, and of the twenty new spammers I have noticed in the past few days, every single one included external links in his or her first post.
I wonder if I am somehow missing or misunderstanding something, or if we are talking at cross-purposes. As I mentioned, I can scarcely remember seeing even a single spam post that did not contain external links.