R.I.P. Theremin World

I'm not longer amused! It's now about two weeks that I have to clean up these spam attacks 4 or 5 times a day, containing between 2 and 20 spam posts each. I really would prefer getting the first three posts of each new member submitted for aproval, this would be much less work!

Another idea would be that a member whI tries to post stuff containing several keywords would not only see the posting rejected but also his autorisation to post automatically revoked.

Putting new members into automatic moderation maybe too much coding work for Jason, however he may be able to develop a script to zap all posts by a given member (i.e. spammer) in the one go to make the job easier.

Edit: He not me.

"Putting new members into automatic moderation maybe too much coding work for Jason" -gtc

That perhaps depends on how its implemented..

If we are prepared to eliminate casual first-time posters, and make the process a little more difficult, could wanna-be contributors not simply email their post to a moderator ? Perhaps an email address could be created specifically for this purpose, one which Thierry and Jason can access. If it is possible to have a single "flag" linked to member profiles "Posting allowed" / "Posting not allowed" which is set to "not allowed" for all new members and can be switched only by moderators ....

I suspect the above would eliminate some genuine posts - ones from casual new "members" and students perhaps, who cant be bothered with the hassle, but will it stop anyone who is really interested?

However - IF these attacks are from an "insider" - If the spammer is an aggrieved member or former member of TW, then they would be able to get past even the above test if they were really devoted - for all we know, the spam may just be a copy of some past spam pasted on TW, and the spammer may not be getting anything from the posting other than the satisfaction of winding TW members up..

"however me may be able to develop a script to zap all posts by a given member (i.e. spammer) in the one go to make the job easier." -gtc

This sounds like a great idea.. But perhaps its a more complex task than just eliminating the spam posts - there is also the order of the posts which gets messed up by a spam attack - ancient posts being dug up and ending up on the "recent posts" page.. I suspect Thierry spends as much (or more) time putting order back into this as he does zapping the spam.

Fred

(I still maintain that a $5 membership fee would solve the problem instantly! )

Fred wrote:

"(I still maintain that a $5 membership fee would solve the problem instantly! )"

I think that's a bad idea. It keeps new members away and the payment methods are different in different country's.

I use on my websites Akismet for comment spam protection. It keeps away 99.9% comment spam on my sites and had no false positive till now.
I don't know how how this forum is build an if this ore something like that could be implemented.

Also first post moderation is a good idea, although i have seen several spammers who posted a relative normal first post (like: wow, nice site do you have)

Hi jurgen,

I agree that membership fee will put off some potential members, and isn't nice - And that fixing the site so that spam is stopped (either by pre-moderation and/or by some other protection method) is a far better solution..

But the problem has been unresolved for a long time on TW - and gets progressively worse as far as I can see.. A membership fee is the only way I can see to stop the spam IF no action is taken at a "code" level or no change is made to how membership and posting "rights" are granted.

If I logged onto TW for the first time, and found board full of spam, I might not bother to sign up or re-visit TW again.. If I did decide to sign up anyway, and was then presented with Captcha ar other awkwardness which made the process difficult, I would probably just abandon the process..

I wonder if TW is losing more potential members now than it would lose if the site was free from spam and cost say $5 (I think any amount, even $1, would be enough to keep "normal" spammers away).

"Also first post moderation is a good idea, although i have seen several spammers who posted a relative normal first post (like: wow, nice site do you have)" - jurgen

I think that pre-moderation needs strict criterion - a "nice site" comment being disregarded - only when some intelligent  questions / some post/s related to theremins have been presented should the "flag" be set to allow un-moderated submissions.. I think the moderators here are able to assess a genuine member from a spammer - unless the spammer was theremin knowledgeable and there is an attack from "inside".

Fred.

Hi Fred,

Any amount, even $0,01 would have be enough to keep me away.
It's not that I don't want to support the site, but I don't know if I can thrust the site or the payment method.

My experience is that captcha in the signup process helps a little against spammers.
There are spammers who signup manually and places the first posts manualy (copy past form other posts).

It helps also little to disallow search engines to crowl the forum. (in the robots.txt). Most forum spammes want to get a hi google ranking for the sites they place links for. It has no use to place these links if the search engines don't look here.

"Most forum spammes want to get a hi google ranking for the sites they place links for. It has no use to place these links if the search engines don't look here." - jurgen

Hmmm... This is an interesting point.. TW does get scanned by search bots frequently I think.. I have been amazed when searching for some theremin related matter, to often find a Google link to TW come up near the top of the hits list - often linking to an extremely recent post on TW (as in, I may make a post on TW, go to do some more research, and find my TW post already linked by Google).

But - Surely we dont want to damage TW's ranking - We want people to come to TW as a result of searching theremin related stuff! - That is surely the best way to get quality new members!

----------------------

I HATE captcha!

How about multiple choice questions instead..

Q1: Theremins are a kind of ...

A1: Russian joke   A2: adventure toy   A3: musical instrument  A4: Scent with psycho-active properties

Q2: Spammers are...

A1: Degenerate low-life bottom-feeding scum  A2: Mentally ill and to be pitied  A3: No worse than bankers solicitors and estate agents   A4: The good guys.

;-)

It's interesting that the most persistent spam source is a criminal mob offering forged/phony documentation. Seems they have decided that this site is a soft target.

On a forum where I am a moderator, when we ban such spammers we also ban the IP addresses they are using for good measure . I know that's not 100% bullet proof but it seems to help.

Suggestion: get RS Theremin involved.  He's a master at keeping people he doesn't particularly like from even viewing his web pages.

"It's interesting that the most persistent spam source is a criminal mob offering forged/phony documentation. Seems they have decided that this site is a soft target" - gtc

Or could it be that they are truly Theremin devotees - and want to honor him by assisting those interested in emulating his "other" activities .... ;-) ..?

Don't dream it, Be it! - Don't play a theremin, Be a Theremin! - Copy the great mans craft, the romance, the adventure - Get your phoney documents and start playing for real!! - Meet Putin and Obama and those Anchors who get the EU into pointless expansionist escapades on behalf of the USA! ... Be part of the high society as Lev was - Party with bankers and and other anchors - Learn their reasons for imposing austerity on the European population while supporting neo-facists in Ukraine and risking the  financial burden of Ukraine which  Russia was carrying - how it all makes sense for their personal advancement..

You too could have your theremin hanging on some embassy wall leaking secrets to waiting paparazzi - You too could be supplying musical dancing poles for scantily clad babes to play  -

Its all there, waiting for a thereminist or theremin designer to take - All you need is the right documents.. which you can get by clicking  

HERE

Oh, sorry - that document wont help you much.. You need documents to prove you went to the right schools and clubs and are truly in the 1% .. Also, some "skills" and handshakes and mannerisms cannot be obtained on-line - these are mostly stupid inane nonsense, but without them you dont have a chance. 

A minor demonstration below shows a class for those who have obtained the documents, but are now learning the other essential skills - Dress, movements, facial expressions etc... ;-)