PM spam

[Catmom]

I got the following PM from someone named "Lyagushkka" and do not appreciate being spammed. Has this happened to anyone else and can it be stopped? Thanks----Catmom

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Hi! Catmom

Need more info? Just Google for XRumer 5.0

This tool was changed my life... Do you have it?

P.S. XRumer 2.9 and 3.0 - is too old and isn't actual at the moment

P.P.S. If you found crack for XRumer 5.0, please PM me - I can pay!

[malign]

I watched that guy, Lyagushkka, log on and start PMing everyone he could, even ancient accounts that haven't logged on since the day they were created. But I couldn't see what he was sending, to be sure it was bogus!

The amusing thing is that what stopped him was running into JR, who doesn't accept PMs. :-)

I think we should be able to ban him on this, don't y'all?

[John Rutledge]

deleted.....

Edited October 27, 2009 by John Rutledge

[malign]

You serve many purposes, JR. This just seems to be the first time anyone's ever defended the site without knowing it. :-)

This kind of thing seems to be targeted toward children, and by those too unsophisticated themselves to have just gone on to the next person (I even suspected it might be automated.)

I'm going to see what I can do to escort the gentleperson out.

[John Rutledge]

deleted.....

Edited October 27, 2009 by John Rutledge

[malign]

I've made it "programma non grata"; we'll see if it can figure out a name change.

It's rather fun keeping the place clean. I might've made a great janitor, in some universe. (I would allude to Dilbert's janitor friend, but that would only confirm my geekiness. I prefer to remain a geek of mystery.)

[Donna]

There is a mod for stopping spammers if you dont have it already.you can find it at http://vbulletin.org , you can download it and it's simple to install providing admin has a valid license for the boards which im pretty sure they will.

it checks if the IP number / username / email addresses appear on a block list and can block the registration.it queries the StopForumSpam database to see if a new users IP address/email address/IP number are listed as known spammer sources.

It checks with a remote database of known forum spammers. Their IP number, email address and forum username are tested and based on your configuration, you can reject / log / accept user registrations based on what you get back.

For the code to submit spammers to the database, check here for code changes

http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showp...&postcount=288

you need MySQL 4.1.1+

If you want to submit data directly from the user admincp to the database, then you can install an addon mod (Coded by Wired1) here http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showp...&postcount=288

You need to have an API key from www.stopforumspam.com in order to submit data, its free and easy to get.

ive used it in the past and although it doesnt stop all spammers it was pretty useful.

as for users who arnt known spammers the only way to cut down on that is to change pm settings to only 1 user per pm, it wont physically stop them but they'll be less likely to bother if they have to go user by user.

hope that helps.

[catsirish]

The internet is a very scary place really, Yikes :eek:

[malign]

It can be, cat.

That's what we moderators are here for. :-)

We can't stop everything, but we try to get rid of it as soon as we can, thanks to the many vigilant members who report them when we aren't around.

[goldenduck]

I've come back to this forum and quite a few spammies waiting for me in my inbox. I'm quite surprised that since a reputation system exists to prevent forum spam that nothing is in place to prevent PM spam. Other forums manage to put some extra code in to limit what newbies can do.

[malign]

Goldenduck, would you do me a favor, and report the spam PMs?

Granted that one might wish they didn't happen, now that they have, the least we can do is show these ... persons the door, eh? :-)

Our site has some special needs, among them, the feeling that what one says in private is indeed private. So, we moderators have no way to see a personal message at all, unless someone reports it to us. This sometimes allows a spammer to sneak in, but with the help of our members, we try to escort them out just as quickly.

[Guest ASchwartz]

We do have mechanisms in place to block most spam. However, some mangages to get through anyway. Mark Dombeck needs to know the when and where that spam occurs in those situations where technology or ouselves cannot prevent or eliminate it.

Allan:)