A Potential Solution to Endless Spam

Discussion in 'Site Feedback and News' started by Eli, Apr 27, 2012.

  1. Eli

    Eli ᕕ┌◕ᗜ◕┐ᕗ
    Staff Member Patreon Silver Patreon Gold

    Hey dudes,

    As you guys have probably noticed the TouchArcade forums have been overrun by spam lately. This is the unfortunate side effect of how fortunate we've been with the growth of the site and the forums. This forum is busy enough with enough users and a high enough Google rank that it's highly advantageous for spammers to just go nuts.

    I've recruited a bunch of TA regulars who have either been around forever, have a high post count, spend a ton of time on the forums, or a mixture of the three. These people now have access to a forum plugin that allows them to nuke spammers as soon as they notice pooping threads all over the place.

    I think things will be a lot better now, as this will substantially increase our spam deletion bandwidth, and now we've got people all over North America, Asia, and Europe keeping an eye on things so we shouldn't have any more of those annoying nights where all the mods go to bed and we get hammered with 500 new spam threads.

    So, let's see how things go.
     
  2. LOLavi

    LOLavi Well-Known Member

    May 23, 2011
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    I got recruited as Spam Police so I'll definitely do my best to keep the forums clean from spam :) Much more enjoyable to read forums when General game discussion is not filled with ManU match links...
     
  3. crunc

    crunc Well-Known Member

    Aug 11, 2008
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    I have to confess. I'm now itching to see some spam so I can hit that button. LOL.

    Yes, good move. Those spam storms were getting pretty obnoxious.
     
  4. LOLavi

    LOLavi Well-Known Member

    May 23, 2011
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    Same for me. I want to see spam so I can test my powers lol :p
     
  5. Fireball926

    Fireball926 Well-Known Member

    Nov 21, 2010
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    haha me too. I feel now that I have the privilege I see less of it :D
     
  6. LBG

    LBG Señor Member

    Apr 19, 2009
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    nada ilegal
    31.560499, -111.904128
    Thanks for the banhammer. I have seen plenty of spam here in the past and have wished I could do something about it, now I finally can.

    [​IMG]
     
  7. Der-Kleine

    Der-Kleine Well-Known Member

    #7 Der-Kleine, Apr 27, 2012
    Last edited: Apr 27, 2012
    Same here, lol.

    Anyone else refreshing TA more often than usual?
     
  8. The Bat Outta Hell

    The Bat Outta Hell Moderator
    Staff Member Patreon Silver Patreon Gold Patreon Bronze

    Mar 10, 2009
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    Washington
  9. Royce

    Royce Well-Known Member

    Mar 22, 2011
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    The war has begins! Go get em boys :D
     
  10. crex

    crex Doctor of Game of the Week-ology

    Oct 18, 2010
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    All in favor of changing 'Spam Police' to 'Spam Po-Po' say ay. Ay!


    In all seriousness, I'll try my best to crack down on those annoying spammers.
     
  11. CygnetSeven

    CygnetSeven Well-Known Member

    Feb 6, 2010
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    #11 CygnetSeven, Apr 28, 2012
    Last edited: Apr 28, 2012
    Not Crazy about the title either but I busted two tonight and it was quite fun. :D
     
  12. crex

    crex Doctor of Game of the Week-ology

    Oct 18, 2010
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    Just banned my first spammer. Felt. So. Good.
     
  13. Der-Kleine

    Der-Kleine Well-Known Member

    #13 Der-Kleine, Apr 28, 2012
    Last edited: Apr 28, 2012
    Now I'm annoyed when I load the TA page, scroll down and see three spam threads and all have already been deleted. :mad:

    Update: Yeeeaaahhh! First spammer banned! :D
     
  14. crex

    crex Doctor of Game of the Week-ology

    Oct 18, 2010
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    Damn, there really is a huge load of spam lately. Banned about 4 guys within 30 seconds.
     
  15. syntheticvoid

    syntheticvoid Well-Known Member

    Jun 20, 2010
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    a[V-O-I-D]
    Damn you guys are good! Usually I'd see 6 or 7 by now (in the last 24 hours)... But I just now was able to get my first ban. =oP
     
  16. drelbs

    drelbs Well-Known Member

    Jun 25, 2009
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    I vote for "Junior Space Cadet" considering the theme! ;)

    This should make Monday a lot more interesting...
     
  17. Paradiso

    Paradiso Well-Known Member

    I don't post as much any more, but I read the forums constantly so I'd help out if there's still a need.
     
  18. PixelEnvision

    PixelEnvision Well-Known Member

    Jun 8, 2011
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    Indie Developer
    Brighton, UK
    Nice idea and seems to be working well... Thx to the Police on duty... :D
     
  19. Platyrrhine

    Platyrrhine Well-Known Member

    Jan 6, 2012
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    I host a forum (nothing to do with iOS) and the only solution that worked for me was IP banning an entire country in htaccess (99% of the spammers were from China). No normal users were unintentionally banned and the problem disappeared after that.

    Of course, I don't think that'd be the best solution for a site with as many users as TA has. Some users of this forum from China would be pretty unhappy if they did that here :D

    Hopefully the Spam Police can do the trick :)
     
  20. psj3809

    psj3809 Moderator

    Jan 13, 2011
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    Can you also add some spam 'rules' to the forum software so they automatically get deleted ? Eg if theres a thread with the title or subtitle "live barclays premier league" it gets deleted instantly as that'll help get rid of a lot of spam which is appearing recently.

    Everytime theres a big football game in England the spammers are out in full force, spam wasnt 'too bad' before but at the moment the Premiership spammers are going crazy every few days
     

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