[server-admins] Spam link removal request

[Manfred Bergmann]

I would also suggest to go away from mwnForum. It's a pain.
There is a captcha image AFAIK but it's not complex enough to overcome.
Some spammers however do the registration manually which they could in any forum.


Manfred


Am 22.11.2012 um 05:49 schrieb Chris Little <chrislit at crosswire.org>:

> Is there a transition path from mvnForum to any other forum? In my experience, mvnForum is tailor made for spammers.
> 
> We can block signatures from appearing in posts, but we can't block them from appearing in user info pages, so spammers use that. And we can't protect email addresses from harvesting. There is very little in the way of configurability that would be useful to stop spammers. To my knowledge, we can't add captchas.
> 
> And maintenance is terrible. I go in every once in a while to clean out the spam posts and spam accounts, but even for administrators it has a limit of something like 20 pages/minute before it puts them in a corner for a time out. So I can delete maybe 6-8 spam posts or spammer accounts per minute.
> 
> 
> If we can run nightly mass-deletes of non-posting accounts, that is some help, but it would be better if we could move to any of the more robust forums now available. As I recall, the reasons for which mvnForum was chosen were that it runs on Java, uses Firebird, and is free--not the best reasons, IMO. jforum looks like a far better alternative, but it might not support Firebird.
> 
> --Chris
> 
> 
> 
> On 11/17/2012 02:27 PM, Manfred Bergmann wrote:
>> It uses the Firebird database. Sure, SQL queries are possible.
>> 
>> 
>> Manfred
>> 
>> Am 17.11.2012 um 17:08 schrieb DM Smith <dmsmith at crosswire.org>:
>> 
>>> Hmm. I think I figured out the value of having an account. With an account one can go to the user list to harvest emails. I have set mine to hidden as have many others, but it shows there.
>>> 
>>> That perhaps explains why I get 400+ junk &| vulgar emails on the email account tied to my forum account.
>>> 
>>> I don't have the time to take over. But I can help from time to time.
>>> 
>>> BTW, what is the database for the forums? Is it query-able? Is there some way we can do a mass delete?
>>> 
>>> -- DM
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On Nov 17, 2012, at 4:19 AM, Manfred Bergmann <manfred.bergmann at me.com> wrote:
>>> 
>>>> There are new account registrations every day. Many of them don't post at all.
>>>> And many post only spam with links in signatures. I had looked in the forum every day and deleted those posts including the users.
>>>> However I'm not having the time at the moment to do this. Can someone else take over?
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> Manfred
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> Am 16.11.2012 um 17:20 schrieb DM Smith <dmsmith at crosswire.org>:
>>>> 
>>>>> There are over 3500 accounts on the forum. There is no need to have an account unless one is going to post.
>>>>> 
>>>>> This user has had an account for over a year and has not logged in since creating the account. It can be deleted.
>>>>> 
>>>>> I don't know if the request is legit, but since we can close the account w/o harm, I don't see why we can't/don't  honor it.
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> On Nov 16, 2012, at 11:09 AM, "Troy A. Griffitts" <scribe at crosswire.org> wrote:
>>>>> 
>>>>>> Is this a legit request?
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> From: Mark Lamendola <comments at mindconnection.com>
>>>>>> Sent: Fri Nov 16 09:11:25 CST 2012
>>>>>> To: scribe at crosswire.org
>>>>>> Subject: Spam link removal request
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Hello,
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Your site has many a spam page linking to our site, and Google is penalizing us for this:
>>>>>> http://www.crosswire.org/forums/mvnforum/viewmember?member=jonas
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Look at the signature, and you'll see why it's spam.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Please close this abuser's account.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Thank you!
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Best Regards,
>>>>>> Mark Lamendola
>>>>>> www.mindconnection.com
>>>>>> Mindconnection, LLC
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> --
>>>>>> Sent from my Android phone with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.
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>>>>>> server-admins at crosswire.org
>>>>>> http://www.crosswire.org/mailman/listinfo/server-admins
>>>>> 
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