How Do Those Spammer Accounts/threads Happen?

[Komag]

First of all, whenever I see those spam threads I really wish I could reach through the internet and just smash their balls with some pliers!

 

But then, I'm just wondering how they get there. Can an automatic program really sign up for a new account and make a thread like that? What about putting some little "see the picture of the weird numbers and type it in" verification system, or other way to stop it from happening?

[Huckeye]

First of all, whenever I see those spam threads I really wish I could reach through the internet and just smash their balls with some pliers!

 

But then, I'm just wondering how they get there. Can an automatic program really sign up for a new account and make a thread like that? What about putting some little "see the picture of the weird numbers and type it in" verification system, or other way to stop it from happening?

 

I'm partial to your first idea

[modetwo]

What about putting some little "see the picture of the weird numbers and type it in" verification system, or other way to stop it from happening?

We already have that in place.

 

 

Image verification images can't stop humans from registering and posting spam tho.

[sparhawk]

What about having a first post delay after registering of one or two days? I now check the registrations rather regularly. It would also help if the admin module would show who registered in the last few days.

[modetwo]

What about having a first post delay after registering of one or two days? I now check the registrations rather regularly.

That's a bad idea, what about the genuine users signing up and wanting to post?

 

Seriously, the spam problem here is not big at all.

[Order of the Hammer Bureaucrat]

Is it possible to look at the logs and see the originating IP? Or do they bounce a lot? In which case is it possible to contact the admins of all those IPs?

[Dram]

Seriously, the spam problem here is not big at all.

 

Yeah, it's only like 1 spam thread per week or fortnight.

[sparhawk]

It's mostly different IPs and from all kind fo ranges.

[OrbWeaver]

I wonder if the spam only seems to be more common here because it is a low-traffic forum. On high traffic forums such threads would probably be removed more quickly by a moderator or just lost in the general churn of new threads.

[oDDity]

Some people obviously have a massive list of thousands of forums which they visit one by one, joining and then posting their little spamlet.

Doesn't sound like much of an existence.

[Redface]

Some forums (like Cgtalk) partially solved it by having the first post from new users verify by mods before actually showin it in the forums.

[Ishtvan]

Some people obviously have a massive list of thousands of forums which they visit one by one, joining and then posting their little spamlet.

Doesn't sound like much of an existence.

 

Yeah, it's right up there with farming gold on WOW, or telemarketing.