Spam Attacks

[upnorthandpersonal]

Yep... cleaned now. Adding more rules later.

 

[DIYrich]

Can you moderate new users? Would that help?
Moderate posts that contain foreign language?

 

[42OhmsPA]

Huge thank you to the Moderators and Will for getting these cleaned up so quickly. I have yet to see them (maybe I'm not on here enough ?).
So who's the black hat on the forum that could give them a taste of there own medicine ?

 

[MurphyGuy]

Yes we have that. We have multiple spam management programs setup in xenforo.

Why not just block the IP ranges? I understand they can use proxies and VPN's, and that its a bit of a wack-a-mole game, but the more IP's you block who allow this stuff, the harder it is for them.

Start by blocking the entire range of Chinese IP's..

 

[upnorthandpersonal]

Start by blocking the entire range of Chinese IP's..

We have users from China that contribute. Blocking IP ranges on an international site is counterproductive. Never mind that most of these bots spamming the site don't even originate from a certain country anyway. The last bots banned for example came from Montréal, California, and Germany among others.

So who's the black hat on the forum that could give them a taste of there own medicine

White hat here - no need to retaliate. Those botnets get taken down, new ones pop up, etc. It's just life.

 

[42OhmsPA]

Just for ?s and ?s, am I in Hong Kong currently?

We have users from China that contribute. Blocking IP ranges on an international site is counterproductive.

Agreed.

 

[upnorthandpersonal]

Just for ?s and ?s, am I in Hong Kong currently?

Yep

 

[Adam De Lay]

Why not just block the IP ranges? I understand they can use proxies and VPN's, and that its a bit of a wack-a-mole game, but the more IP's you block who allow this stuff, the harder it is for them.

Start by blocking the entire range of Chinese IP's..

Trust me, I have blocked thousands of IPs and hundreds of ranges for years, and that’s only going to work for a very short period of time because they’re going to switch to another IP and another range and they’re just gonna keep coming.

 

[42OhmsPA]

Yep

Thanks for confirming my VPN works (I've checked a few times and figured it did).
Heck I don't even really need it for this forum, no ads to deal with ?.

 

[RoadTurtle]

Thank you for all you and the mods do!

 

[Supervstech]

Thanks for confirming my VPN works (I've checked a few times and figured it did).
Heck I don't even really need it for this forum, no ads to deal with ?.

Back in the day, there used to be a sig line add on that would show any user their IP when they viewed it...
I forget what it was.

 

[Supervstech]

Back in the day, there used to be a sig line add on that would show any user their IP when they viewed it...
I forget what it was.

Browser Information - Browser, OS, Location, IP,...

This page will show you some of the information your browser provides like IP address, Location, Browser version, Operating System, etc.

www.tweaking4all.com

This site will show you the info you are using.

 

[Will Prowse]

If the built-in filters were working we wouldn't have this issue. All of the proper settings are enabled. And we have an extension that was supposed to help with this but it's not working. Still experimenting.

 

[Will Prowse]

I am manually approving each member every few hours till this goes away. Is fixing the issue, but tedious. Hopefully they stop soon

 

[DougfromdaUP]

I am manually approving each member every few hours till this goes away. Is fixing the issue, but tedious. Hopefully they stop soon

Thanks for the effort. I really appreciate it.

 

[JWLV]

@Will Prowse do you use https://www.stopforumspam.com/mods ?
They have a module for xenforo. I use this for my Simple Machines forum and it blocks spammers before they even sign up. And if they do sign up, they get marked so that I have to approve them manually.

 

[Will Prowse]

We've been using that program since the forums inception on this software.

 

[Will Prowse]

I've been manually approving them even if they get flagged once, every day.

 

[EastTexCowboy]

Trust me, I have blocked thousands of IPs and hundreds of ranges for years, and that’s only going to work for a very short period of time because they’re going to switch to another IP and another range and they’re just gonna keep coming.

Yeah, I went down that road many years ago and it's a losing battle. You'll never overcome it and you end up unintentionally blocking something valid. At some point you have to start using one or more services like Will is already using and a combination of tactics to fight it. I'm so glad I semi-retired and don't have to deal with that crap anymore!

 

[Adam De Lay]

Yeah, I went down that road many years ago and it's a losing battle. You'll never overcome it and you end up unintentionally blocking something valid. At some point you have to start using one or more services like Will is already using and a combination of tactics to fight it. I'm so glad I semi-retired and don't have to deal with that crap anymore!

Still a battle I have to fight weekly...