Spam on Nameberry is ruing the site

[jenni_lynn91]

I just recieved a spam in my private messages. I don’t know if anyone else did. I didn’t respond and reported it right away. It was about someone transferring money into my account.

[ashthedreamer]

@amberdaydream

I agree. The spam clogs up each forum for pages, and we have to wait 60 seconds before reporting a new one, and it’s not what anyone wants to be doing with their time.

Agreed–and for me, the problem is even worse, because I keep getting an error page whenever I try to report someone, so even if I wanted to, I couldn’t. I’ve tried, multiple times, but it doesn’t go through. It’s very frustrating!

[abca]

14 pages in and I gave up trying to find an actual thread to post on. Who can we go to about this?

[Daphodil]

@abca

14 pages in and I gave up trying to find an actual thread to post on. Who can we go to about this?

Same here… I gave up after reaching the tenth page of spam

[southern.maple]

@pam

If we instituted a paywall for the forums we may be able to keep out spammers but then we couldn’t offer this free forum. Please know that we are doing our best.

I sincerely hope this isn’t the only solution being considered. You would lose so many regulars…

[maggiefromcanada]

@jenni_lynn91

I just recieved a spam in my private messages. I don’t know if anyone else did. I didn’t respond and reported it right away. It was about someone transferring money into my account.

I got one too, and reported it. The user was clemumeria.

[maggiefromcanada]

@philomena

Could it be an option to add more moderators? I’d imagine it’s a bit of a thankless job but would likely make a positive impact on spam levels if you had more people from more timezones.

If you are looking for more moderators, I would be happy to help out. I am in school, so I can’t put in loads and loads of hours, but I could definitely make some time to be of assistance.

[Pansy]

@pam

Hey everyone, We are working on this but please understand that these spammers are relentless even with the best filters and awesome moderators who do this work on Nameberry for free. [name_f]Linda[/name_f] and I also delete spam and it’s time consuming for all of us – we’d rather be creating great content and commenting on the forums. If we instituted a paywall for the forums we may be able to keep out spammers but then we couldn’t offer this free forum. Please know that we are doing our best.

I don’t think anyone wants a paywall but several people have suggested adding a CAPTCHA or limiting the number of posts per hour, both of which are free options, so is it possible to get either or both of those implemented?

[jenni_lynn91]

@maggiefromcanada

I got one too, and reported it. The user was clemumeria.

Yes that is the same message I got.

[redwoodfey]

The ads, crashes, trolls, spam and errors chased me away months back. I don’t understand why CAPTCHA isn’t being considered. It’s free. Maybe I don’t understand how it works? I don’t know much about coding, but it seems logical that would be the first thing to try. Most other forums I’ve used have a CAPTCHA and/or posting limits for the first 100 posts (being a senior member means something). I imagine either of those options would cut the spam down by a lot.

http://www.captcha.net/

21 Free CAPTCHA Sources | Codrops

[bonfireazalea]

Of course it’d be best just not to let spam/spambots get through, but would it be possible later on, once the immediate problem is solved, to create a “report user” button? Most of the time the pages and pages of spam come from the same member account, so we could click the button once instead of however many times there are threads.

[system]

@bonfireazalea

Of course it’d be best just not to let spam/spambots get through, but would it be possible later on, once the immediate problem is solved, to create a “report user” button? Most of the time the pages and pages of spam come from the same member account, so we could click the button once instead of however many times there are threads.

You don’t need to report every thread. One per user will do

[jackal]

@pam

Hey everyone, We are working on this but please understand that these spammers are relentless even with the best filters and awesome moderators who do this work on Nameberry for free. [name_f]Linda[/name_f] and I also delete spam and it’s time consuming for all of us – we’d rather be creating great content and commenting on the forums. If we instituted a paywall for the forums we may be able to keep out spammers but then we couldn’t offer this free forum. Please know that we are doing our best.

This is part of the reason people get frustrated. You’ve said this before, and while I’m sure a lot of work is already being done, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you address the specific issue of why there is no captcha system on signing up, or limit to the number of threads a member can start in a certain timeframe or anything. You seem to talk about it like spam is an inevitable part of internet forums and there’s really nothing more that can be done (other than a paywall? which I agree is not a good solution) but that seriously isn’t true. Most people here I’m sure are also members of other (free) internet forums and we know that a clean, largely spam-free forum where mods can actually use their energy on more important things is not some impossible utopia. It’s actually the norm.

It’s a nice forum in a lot of ways, and well designed, so thanks for everything you’re doing right. But the attitude towards the spam issue is incomprehensible.

[kaitlyn1995]

There’s a lot of spam in the name games forum.

[greyer]

@jackal

This is part of the reason people get frustrated. You’ve said this before, and while I’m sure a lot of work is already being done, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you address the specific issue of why there is no captcha system on signing up, or limit to the number of threads a member can start in a certain timeframe or anything. You seem to talk about it like spam is an inevitable part of internet forums and there’s really nothing more that can be done (other than a paywall? which I agree is not a good solution) but that seriously isn’t true. Most people here I’m sure are also members of other (free) internet forums and we know that a clean, largely spam-free forum where mods can actually use their energy on more important things is not some impossible utopia. It’s actually the norm.

It’s a nice forum in a lot of ways, and well designed, so thanks for everything you’re doing right. But the attitude towards the spam issue is incomprehensible.

This is incredibly well said. I’ve been a member of a free writers’ forum for the better part of 4 years and there has never been a spam issue there, on a site where EVERYONE, including the admins, is a volunteer! And it’s because to sign up you have to enter a captcha code. All we need is a captcha and a new thread post limit. It’s not impossible. It’s not even expensive, both are free solutions! So although I love this site and appreciate everything you all have created here, personally I don’t really understand why nothing has been done about the spam issue.

[kaitlyn1995]

There is a bunch of more spam. Something seriously needs to be done about it and I can’t see why nothing is being done. The spam is ruining the website.

[pam]

We delete spam and ban spammers many times a day. If anyone would like to volunteer as a moderator to add more eyes and hands to the efforts, please get in touch with the head mod, @Renrose

[Hailwidis]

[name_m]Just[/name_m] pointing out that there are 5 and a half pages of spam in baby names (reporting all those threads is just too much, sorry).

I’m not a pro but I’ve been a member and mod in many forums over the last few years. I know a little and did some quick research, which got me thinking.

What type of forum is this? phpbb? Vbulletin? I’ve heard some types are more vulnerable to spam than others…

[name_f]Do[/name_f] you have a large enough, active moderator team, with moderators in different timezones who can monitor and delete spam around the clock? This is not a preventive measure but could help alleviate member annoyance with the issue.
Also, do you systematically ban/block spammers? [name_f]Do[/name_f] the spammers all have different IPS/e-mail addresses? If they share IPS, blocking those IPs should help somewhat.

I found the following advice on this page:

Sometimes you’ll get multiple spammers promoting the same service or website. Simply add it to your censored words list, and watch those spam viral marketing campaigns wither.

I have the feeling the spam is often promoting the same service or type of services (love advice hotline thing, often in [name_f]India[/name_f]). Couldn’t this be an option?

Couldn’t you also implement:

• Human validation in the form of captchas? I know they can be mildly annoying but the more advanced ones can be effective against spambots, which I suspect are the cause of the spam on this forum.

• Some restrictions on new users? I’m not sure it’s possible with this forum software but maybe modify usergroup permissions to prevent new members from posting new threads until they have x posts and/or have been a member y days. The spam bots or users cannot or will not go to the trouble of posting and participating in the forum since all they do is start new spam threads, so this should be quite efficient.

[bellerose]

I would love to help as a moderator if you need any help. Iam on a different timezone than the others who live in USA, so I might can help you.

[southern.maple]

Honestly, I think banning the word “baba” would get rid of the vast majority of it. It’s truly a testament to the strength of the nameberry community that people are sticking around. If I hadn’t been on this site for years I would have left after the problem was brought to the site owners’ attention and nothing was done to address the problem… which has been going on all summer, if not longer… And no, recruiting more mods does not count as a solution imo, because it does not address the root of the problem.