Charles Fischer Administrator No. 1 Share Posted January 17 Krasnomayskiy, Tver Oblast St. Petersburg Leningradskaya, Krasnodar Krai (Twice) Lobnya (Five times) Moscow (Seven times) SIXTEEN times in the last month this forum has been attacked by Spammers in Russia. But they are from ALL-OVER Russia and it is unusual. It is routine to get attacks from Russia, India, Pakistan, China, Ukraine and even from parts of the US. But this many times from different places in Russia makes me think it is a coordinated attempt to penetrate our registration system to mess-us-up. My new system requires that I personally check out each new registrant, and have to manually approve them. Thus nobody gets through, but damn! A black-hole of time... Krasnomayskiy St. Petersburg It's a slow time, and thought I'd share my fascination with it all. 1 1 Mr. FishDuck Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigBallzChipper No. 2 Share Posted January 17 Charles, how about just temporarily turning off registration for X amount of time? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Fischer Author Administrator No. 3 Share Posted January 17 On 1/17/2025 at 2:49 PM, BigBallzChipper said: Charles, how about just temporarily turning off registration for X amount of time? Believe me...I've thought of that. But I do not want to discourage or turn away anyone who wants to join our community. Usually when they want to join...it is right now, and often will not come back if it appears we are closed. Mr. FishDuck Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kirklandduck Moderator No. 4 Share Posted January 18 We all really appreciate your time on this vital part of the community. Heading off those spammers probably saves 20 times the effort cleaning up any damage they inflict! 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Fischer Author Administrator No. 5 Share Posted January 18 Make that SEVENTEEN times as another from Lobnya tried again last night...whew! On 1/17/2025 at 6:30 PM, kirklandduck said: We all really appreciate your time on this vital part of the community. Heading off those spammers probably saves 20 times the effort cleaning up any damage they inflict! Yes, when we had a coordinated attack from a dozen of them on Thanksgiving night a year ago...the time spent was significant in dealing with it. That is why I created the manual approval process, as it is a hassle, but it saves a TON of time if a Spammer gets in. Mr. FishDuck Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike West No. 6 Share Posted January 19 I’m curious, what’s the point in spamming a free website? Seems like an awful waste of time. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Fischer Author Administrator No. 7 Share Posted January 19 There are two objectives; one is to be able to publish as many spam advertisement posts as possible, and if I and the moderators did not intervene....there would have been 15 pages of spam posts when you showed up on the morning of Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving last year. We have 50 posts per page, and you can do the math as to how many they posted. Together, we deleted them as they appeared, and then I would go into the Admin dashboard and lock the spammer who signed up in our registration system. But then they would sign up with a new name and IP address, or and associate would do so. It was a busy night and morning. I assume they get paid by the spam messages placed? Don't know. The second objective is trying to take over a site so their spam ads will be seen by thousands until everyone realizes the site has been invaded and do not return. They are very persistent. Now they have AI helping them to try by automation to sign up, and thus far--I've been able to detect the difference between spammers and real people. There have been a few that I was unsure, so if I call the phone number and nothing exists, or wrong number--I know it is a spammer. A nice vacuum of my time... 1 Mr. FishDuck Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GatOrlando No. 8 Share Posted January 21 My cousin used to run a site that centred around politics. For a time I would visit it and he would show me the headaches of running a website. I haven't frequented it in a while and I'm not sure if he still operates it, but I wouldn't have imagined all the effort that goes into keeping a site clean if I hadn't seen what he paid people to help him keep it clear. I appreciate the job Charles and all those that help him do in keeping this site free and clean of clutter. Even if I occasionally make it a little harder with a boneheaded post. I can say this is one of the few message boards that I feel like a welcome guest even as an outsider. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Fischer Author Administrator No. 9 Share Posted January 21 On 1/21/2025 at 3:24 AM, GatOrlando said: I appreciate the job Charles and all those that help him do in keeping this site free and clean of clutter. Even if I occasionally make it a little harder with a boneheaded post. I can say this is one of the few message boards that I feel like a welcome guest even as an outsider That is the best compliment I can receive, and I sincerely thank you. It is a ton of work, but it is nice having a clean forum. For those who are new, I do NOT remove or edit posts because of content; I want all opinions, but our moderation is based upon behavior. It is simple; be polite and respectful, don't tell anyone what to write or think and no politics or religion. Easy! But making fun of our rivals is encouraged! Mr. FishDuck Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
