Wow! This Forum is gaining popularity.

[Dervish]

Just look at all these new members!

kynnjrlp, jqiouneu, HemDuette, dogxsymv, DeandreZV, lovkoser, ppekebky, coedlytot, yknyljmy, mvxqpjte, xsyxnznx, hwsvuuyo, Candancepvu, cfyhrhzm, Fewwhenly, mvcqoucg, estiniada, tvhwdtdg, qkrkaoqa, tpbvdika, Boupthentee, kcrrdeop, tiereeerrotte, jwqupapm, zagscyyhuwh, zmjesxav, mbmaaqrj, Allewlyusenty, npzvjczy, fsczycjt, jawkcphy, zwyszqjyirk, ipmvistl, eMZbkvxkfjp, prostivrn, ssqktvdw, EffipsAsype, byhrppmj, rtndifzx, Fleespape, mhwzcqyk, nwfkodep, luzrrnrm, Grillswen, smlnjaac, mnfktwxp

Umm ... Welcome?

[Doodles]

This thread has 111 views and no one sees it fit to post a reply? Dervish, do I know you? Were you the one seated next to me back in 1894 in Pennsylvania?

[kwchang]

Before I give an answer about the new members, would anyone like to try to explain for all these new names that are in the system but not posting anything to the Forum?

[marc0]

I think those are forum Spambots. Run an IP trace and you will find most of them are from Russia.

[kwchang]

I think those are forum Spambots. Run an IP trace and you will find most of them are from Russia.

Almost got the answer ... you did not say why they are not posting anything on the Forum.
And by the way, you said Russia ... no, that is incorrect

Any more want to try to answer my questions?

[marc0]

Depending on the forum software the bots are used to register and then to post links in their signature, bio or homepage. Also yahoo ID, msn etc. They do not need to post, all they want is for the google/yahoo/bing bots to sniff them out and raise the profile and ranking of their sites. The majority of these Spambots I have encountered are from Russia, China, Germany etc. Indian forum spammers on the other hand seldom use bots and will initially post some responses And only much later will try to link spam.

Almost got the answer ... you did not say why they are not posting anything on the Forum.
And by the way, you said Russia ... no, that is incorrect

Any more want to try to answer my questions?

[Dervish]

Dervish, do I know you? Were you the one seated next to me back in 1894 in Pennsylvania?

You mean 1994?

Before I give an answer about the new members, would anyone like to try to explain for all these new names that are in the system but not posting anything to the Forum?

They inserted adverts in their maiden post. These posts were deleted before it saw the light of day. A Superuser removed their posting permissions?

Depending on the forum software the bots are used to register and then to post links in their signature, bio or homepage. Also yahoo ID, msn etc. They do not need to post, all they want is for the google/yahoo/bing bots to sniff them out and raise the profile and ranking of their sites. The majority of these Spambots I have encountered are from Russia, China, Germany etc. Indian forum spammers on the other hand seldom use bots and will initially post some responses And only much later will try to link spam.

So, spambots are just a string of codes? They're not human? This kinda reminds me of the machines in Terminator. Some day, we may have to fight with these bots for posting space.

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In any case, these strings of codes have gone a long way, I would say. Let me share something strange which happened to someone I knew from another forum. I'll call him Billy but that's not his real name.

Now Billy usually posts from his IPhone. He was embroiled in a bitter argument with Bob over some political discussion which went off on a tangent. Billy sent an SMS to a friend to cancel his dinner appointment. Bob retrieved this text message on Billy's IPhone and posted it on the controversial thread. The exchange turned ugly and the Mods quickly appeared for the usual clean-up. Both Billy and Bob were banned and the Admin, herself a programmer, released a string of codes to patch up what they called a security breach.

What unsettled me is this. How the devil did Bob retrieve the SMS from Billy's IPhone?

[marc0]

"Billy sent an SMS to a friend to cancel his dinner appointment. Bob retrieved this text message on Billy's IPhone and posted it on the controversial thread."

The friend must have forwarded the SMS to Bob, no?

[Dervish]

"Billy sent an SMS to a friend to cancel his dinner appointment. Bob retrieved this text message on Billy's IPhone and posted it on the controversial thread."

The friend must have forwarded the SMS to Bob, no?

No. The response was too instant for that.

A separate thread was started by some of the members to discuss this breach. Needless to say, I did not understand the half of it but it had something to do with a certain Cloud something and the way it interacted with those bunches of codes.

[kwchang]

Getting back to my question ... why is it these new "members" have not posted to the Forum if indeed they are spammers? Where are their spam?

The reason i ask this is to take the opportunity to educate all of you about handling spammers, especially if you have to be an administrator to a open forum website. My office wanted to start a public bulletin board but I advised them about having to face up to the spammers. So I am asking for your opinions about why is it you see funny nicks joining the Forum but we see no spam?

[Dervish]

You're using some sort of Anti-Spammer Software? Some sites used those weird, scrambled and distorted letters which you are supposed to key in to prove that you're human. That might work?

And there's more today:

xgrdobwo, zwyzpvpmual, avaidaEvads, lovkoser, Cincwroniar, MymnVinnevy, Bovawoobiox, Toripieldip, oberletly, Excehosse, gl0bue, lcreyqpl, zurmisf

[marc0]

Yes, you are right. Technically it cannot be called spam as the bots do not make any postings.

It has to do with SEO - search engine optimization. They register an account, whack in their website/blog site addresses, icq, yahoo email etc and hopefully the spider bots of the search engines like google, yahoo, bing, Alexa etc will sniff out their profiles.

Getting back to my question ... why is it these new "members" have not posted to the Forum if indeed they are spammers? Where are their spam?

The reason i ask this is to take the opportunity to educate all of you about handling spammers, especially if you have to be an administrator to a open forum website. My office wanted to start a public bulletin board but I advised them about having to face up to the spammers. So I am asking for your opinions about why is it you see funny nicks joining the Forum but we see no spam?

[kwchang]

You're using some sort of Anti-Spammer Software? Some sites used those weird, scrambled and distorted letters which you are supposed to key in to prove that you're human....

The word for that application is "Captcha"
Well, the new version of VBulletin that we are using has that feature but it did not stop the spam bots from registering.. well, I have no idea if the registrations were done by humans or were they done by computer software (the so-called Spam Bots).

So, how is it spammers register and yet cannot post to the Forum? I do not know what marc0 wrote is the reason that spammers like to register to sites like ours. I do not see how they can get search engines to rack up their website ratings by populating other sites like ours with a userid - do take note that what you see are registered userid's in our Forum site and there should be no way it gives spiders any facility to record their web-links just based on a userid.

Try again marc0. I will give you all the answer later as to why you find these "registered" userid's but no spam activities.

[Scooty]

This thread has 111 views and no one sees it fit to post a reply? Dervish, do I know you? Were you the one seated next to me back in 1894 in Pennsylvania?

Hahaha. Doodles, you're a funny guy (gay?). I wasn't sitting next to you or even remotely near you as I was at the class on the other building!

Dervish, I like your keen sense of observation. Where are you? Haven't seen you popping up in a while.