Spammers are out of hand...

[hutchibk]

Spammers are creeping into almost every thread. They are so infuriating. Can anything be done?

[ElaineM]

I agree. There has to be a way we can be more aggressive about this problem. It is especially sad when I see spammers replying to threads where people are having problems and asking for help and support from us.

[BonnieR]

Yes, I agree. It is so sad to see someone, especially a newcomer, anxiously awaiting a reply only to hear from a disrespectful spammer instead.

[chrisy]

Absolutely. I know we are working on adding some mire "monitors" to wavth for and delete etc. But lately seems to be a major issue with spammers begin able to register and posting in old threads. Creeps.

[CourtneyL]

Would it be possible to create some sort of verification process? I know we do something similar before adding people to my local support group email list. Perhaps they need to be vetted by the web master before they're allowed to post. I don't know what this would entail but we could think about it.

[Ellie F]

Totally agree. It's infuriating but also upsetting when they hijack threads.
Can't believe these spammers who are trying to sell stuff believe that ANYBODY on this board would buy from them when they behave in this disgraceful way.

Ellie

[Pam P]

I agree with all your posts.

[Becky]

I think Joe had to have something that allowed him to get rid of these quickly. I can't tell you how much time I spend cruising this board and getting rid of stuff. I know we could have it set up that only registered users can post. Yes - we would still get spam but we can ban the user and IP address. Over time, it would greatly reduce the spam. What do you think? We can work on this with our web person.

[Hopeful]

Becky,

I would be for limiting posts to registered users, if that would eliminate the problem. However, these spammers that I see posting apparently seem to have registered somehow, as the posts are not coming from "unregistered/guest"s. That takes me back to CourtneyL's verification suggestion. It may make sense to have some kind of verification software step installed.

Hopeful

[caya]

I agree with everyone - it is very upsetting to have these spammers - especially on old threads that relate to some of our Angel sisters.

Becky we appreciate all the work you and others do on this site. I hope some kind of solution can be found.

all the best
caya

[StephN]

Hi everyone -
I also spend time like Becky on Spam Patrol here. Many of the insurance posts are from "guests." We have to remove those one by one. If someone posts after the spammer, they may get missed.

If the unwanted posts are reported we can get to them faster and saves us from having to scan the forums.

Some of the old threads that the spammers come back to I have closed.

Anyway, maybe we do have to go to a short "verification" process, but then someone has to be responsible for surveying all those posts and allowing or not. Maybe there is another way that can be done electronically?

[Hopeful]

If the unwanted posts are reported we can get to them faster and saves us from having to scan the forums.

Steph,

I and others have noted here that the "report this post" feature forces the reporter to wait 300 seconds between reporting posts. Is there any way to disable this feature? I would report more posts when I see them, but don't have time to hang around 300 seconds between each one when I see ten of them.

Hopeful

[Jackie07]

I don't see why anyone should be allowed to post without registration. A 'guest' not only can attack us with a virus/viral links, he/she can attack us with verbally/emotionally abusive language anonymously.

People can still register with a false identity. But at least the IT people can trace the source when there's a need for investigation.

[hutchibk]

Yeah, I have stopped reporting them because of the wait time between reporting them... the 300 seconds thing is a pain in the butt.

Also, as someone mentioned, most are not unregistered, they sign up over and over again as members with different names. I wish we had a way to flush them down the toilet!

[fauxgypsy]

It is infuriating. There is no way that any of us would buy anything from them. There were two today in my inbox. One of them was from a thread from Lily Ecuador. It is disrespectful. I hope that you can find a way to stop them.

[Ceesun]

Yes, I cannot remember having this problem before...it is way out of control. What can be done? Ceesun

[sassy]

We are working with our IT guy to add two "Spam Patrolers" so that we can add "eyes". This should be in place in the next few days. We briefly discussed other action that can be taken. I will forward this thread to him so that he can review your ideas and make suggestions.

[Catherine]

From my limited computer knowledge, I vote for the following:

1. Only registered members can post
2. We take up donations to have IT people help us out of this dilemna. We do not want to ask Becky, Steph and others to spend so much time protecting us.
3. Consider a brand new site with stricter rules, maybe this site has outgrown itself
4. We may need to spend major money to get this all done correctly.
5. Consider asking Komen or someone for a donation to help us.
6. Consider applying for a grant for continued IT support
7. My thanks to all who have been working on the problem

[tricia keegan]

I moderate a cancer support board in the U.K and members are required to log in under their user name before posting which is the case on most sites I frequent and agree that this would help to cut down the amount of spam posts we get here!

[Hopeful]

Well, ukashpayment has just made the point for us with the post above (which I reported, so it may be gone when you read this). How ironic the spammer thread got spammed.

Hopeful

[StephN]

Yes, Hopeful, I banned that gibberish. We have a "new posts" function on the purple bar at the top and I use that to try and bring up the new spam posts. It does save time and gets me to them pretty fast once I have a moment to check the site.

We will see what the web man comes up with. I did suggest that the banned "Members" not show up on our regular members list. There now is a special "jail" for them. Tom was able to figure that one out.

[BonnieR]

Heartfelt thanks to those of you working behind the scenes to make things better for all of us. We appreciate you.

[harrie]

Who is the webmaster now or do we even have one? I think that would be the best person to handle this problem.

[BonnieR]

Mary Ann, I think some of our regular members have taken on the task of maintaining the board and doing the best they can under the circumstances. A big job. I dont think we have a webmaster right now.

[pibikay]

The spammers are worrisome.We have not logged in for some time as our grandchildren are here and when we open a message for some news it is a spam and infuriating.I will ask a geek if there is any metod to filter spam postings

[ElaineM]

I appreciate the efforts of our members who are trying to cope with the spammers, but I think we need some professional help to prevent spamming here. Of course all our members should try to be careful when posting personal information online. I think we can find ways to do that and still get the help and support we need.