Spam and Abuse Watch

28-Nov-14 1:33

This: corrupt 'msmMMOB.mdb' file[^]
From this: http://www.codeproject.com/script/Membership/View.aspx?mid=11270567[^]

Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...

P0mpeyBoy28-Nov-14 2:49

P0mpeyBoy

28-Nov-14 2:49

1.) Why is this spam? (I'm not disagreeing, I just can't see it)
2.) I thought you had the power just to remove this sort of stuff yourself without having to get others to vote too

Richard Deeming28-Nov-14 2:52

Richard Deeming

28-Nov-14 2:52

It's a standard pattern:

User joined today;
Sole interaction with the site is to post a QA question about a corrupt file;
If the question survives, then sometime within the next 24-48 hours, another new account posts a "solution" linking to commercial recovery tools;

Once you've seen enough of them, you can spot them a mile off. Smile | :)

"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined."
- Homer

P0mpeyBoy28-Nov-14 3:00

P0mpeyBoy

28-Nov-14 3:00

Ah thank you.

OriginalGriff28-Nov-14 2:58

28-Nov-14 2:58

1) See Richards post.
2) We do: but when it's one of these I tend to think "It might be genuine" - probably not, but it could be. So rather than delete it out of hand, I'd rather post it here with a question mark and let others decide what they think. Because the question itself is not actually spam (it contains no links or other adverts) it doesn't matter if it lasts a little longer. When there is spam in the question (or answer) I'll dump it immediately.

Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...

P0mpeyBoy28-Nov-14 3:14

P0mpeyBoy

28-Nov-14 3:14

Makes it tricky though, I mean if you delete these off hand then it means no genuine question of this type can last.

It's amazing what lengths they go to, especially as the messages only last a matter of minutes.

OriginalGriff28-Nov-14 3:25

28-Nov-14 3:25

It's possible that they do look to see how long they last: sites that leave it up get the "payload". Or perhaps they figure that if the question is answered immediately, it's too suspicious?

Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...

Nelek28-Nov-14 4:48

Nelek

28-Nov-14 4:48

3) We can remove the posts, but not the users. For that we still need the colaboration of other reporters, so the best way to start the process is posting it here

M.D.V.

Lounge spammer

Pete O'Hanlon28-Nov-14 0:21

Pete O'Hanlon

28-Nov-14 0:21

I have deleted the spam but the user[^] needs to be dealt with humanely.

OriginalGriff28-Nov-14 0:28

28-Nov-14 0:28

How do you kick someone in the head humanely? Wear steel toe-cap slippers? Laugh | :laugh:

Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...

Nicholas Marty28-Nov-14 2:18

Nicholas Marty

28-Nov-14 2:18

I like how you protectors are finally able to actually deal with the spam by directly removing it

OriginalGriff28-Nov-14 2:27

28-Nov-14 2:27

Oh it helps! Laugh | :laugh:

Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...

Pete O'Hanlon28-Nov-14 2:42

Pete O'Hanlon

28-Nov-14 2:42

It makes our lives a lot easier - except for one the other day. He kept posting and I kept deleting until the appropriate number of kicks had been applied to his account. He tried to be clever by hopping around forums. The longest one of his messages lasted was less than a minute.