# We need help with spam banning



## Morrus (Oct 16, 2016)

Spambots these days are usually a step ahead of whatever automated features get developed to block them. Half the time, they simply outsource human verification to large rooms of people who simply solve Catchpas, answer human verification questions, or solve little puzzles all day. The only definite defence is to (a) not get noticed and added to the spammers lists [too late for us!]; or (b) have robust and constant human monitoring 24/7 to catch, delete, and ban them.

Our primary spambuster, [MENTION=19675]Dannyalcatraz[/MENTION], does a wonderful job. But there are 24 time zones on this little planet of ours, and people have jobs and families. So what's needed is a team of spambusters covering the whole day.

If you are on EN World a lot, we would love your help. I'd like to give a few trusted people the ability to spamban. This is a fairly powerful ability - in one click it bans someone, deletes everything they ever did, and reports their IP to an international spam database, effectively banning them from forums worldwide who use that database. So you have to be sure it's a spambot you're hitting.  

Anyone up for helping us with this? It just means using the boards as you usually would, but when you see a spambot, you spamban it.


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## Dannyalcatraz (Oct 16, 2016)

It is almost as easy as responding to a thread, and sometimes it is hilariously funny.

(OK...maybe I'm easily amused.)


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## Rune (Oct 16, 2016)

[MENTION=19675]Dannyalcatraz[/MENTION], how much of your time would you say you spend banning bots? In a day, for instance?


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## LordEntrails (Oct 16, 2016)

I wouldn't mind helping. And though I'm on most everyday, I'm not on for all that long. though I have reported a couple spam bots in the last few weeks so I might be able to reduce the load on your other spambanners, but probably not by much.


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## Dannyalcatraz (Oct 16, 2016)

Rune said:


> [MENTION=19675]Dannyalcatraz[/MENTION], how much of your time would you say you spend banning bots? In a day, for instance?




In aggregate?  Hmmmm...if I'm hanging out on ENWorld, I don't really notice, since I check every time I go to the "All Discussions" page.

Once there, I can ban multiple spammers as fast as I can scroll through the page, check little checkboxes, make a couple menu selections, and type " Spammer" in one window.  2 minutes?  A few more if they're being more subtle.

Nuking spammers who post in others' threads or send spam PMs takes more time, since they're hidden in little corners of the site.  That may take a couple minutes per post.

I'd say 20 minutes, spread out over a day's visit is typical.  

Occasionally, we do get a swarm of spammers, and that can be bad.  My worst evening, I spent an hour of continuous,  concentrated effort and nuked over 50 myself, each having started 5-20 threads*.  As I recall, it was after midnight, CST, so most of the American staff was sleeping, and Morrus had yet to pop in on his side of the Atlantic.  IOW, it was just me.

THAT was a while ago, though.  And it was an extreme outlier- more often than not, I bag 0-5 a day.

It's the _IDing_ the targets that takes the time.








* when you ban a spammer, you can nuke all of their threads & posts simultaneously, but you still have to check names to make sure you're getting all and only spammers.


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## Rune (Oct 16, 2016)

Dannyalcatraz said:


> * when you ban a spammer, you can nuke all of their threads & posts simultaneously, but you still have to check names to make sure you're getting all and only spammers.




How do you verify those names? And would the entire process be onerous using a smartphone instead of a desk/laptop?


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## Dannyalcatraz (Oct 16, 2016)

1) Correction: I just banned an obvious spammer: it took less than 45 seconds.

2) Clarification: By "verification", all I mean is that you're making sure you're not missing spammers with similar names, nor spammers who have chosen names that look like they are legit, like an "Umdran", "Umbram" or "Umbrian" as opposed to "Umbran".  Again, this only takes seconds...if you're paying attention- "Umbrian" will be a recently joined account with 1-50 posts as opposed to the real deal.  But if you're quickly scanning names, your eyes could be deceived.

3) As for using a phone, 95%+ of my interactions on this site are via my iPhone or iPad, and I don't use Tapatalk.


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## Morrus (Oct 16, 2016)

The Welcome Thread has the unintended but useful side effect of being a nice little honey trap for spammers to announce themselves.


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## Rune (Oct 16, 2016)

I want to give back to the community that has given me so much over the last many years (18? Jeez, where does the time go?). Helping to keep this place uncluttered by spam is a worthy endeavor (and often thankless, I imagine--so, thank you). I am the type of person who may agonize just a little too much about whether a post is the obvious spam it appears to be or just a well-intentioned, grammatically illiterate new poster. Especially if the post lacks links (which, when they do, I have absolutely no intention of following in order to find out for sure). 

As I said, I want to give back, but there might be periods where I can't contribute any time toward the effort. For instance, in a few hours, I'll be devoting all of my attention for the next 48 hours toward competing in this year's IRON DM championship match, followed by a nearly week-long trip. These kinds of things are outliers, but they are considerations, nonetheless.


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## not-so-newguy (Oct 16, 2016)

I'm a pretty consistent lurker here (enworld is top of my "most visited" list). I'd be happy to help.


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## wedgeski (Oct 26, 2016)

I'm usually on during the working day, GMT. I'd be happy to nuke obvious spam when I'm around.

Edit: Actually it just occurred to me I only really visit the 5E forum. I would guess this is a role best suited to someone who visits more of the site.


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## Dannyalcatraz (Oct 26, 2016)

Since I don't play 5th, I'm usually in "Misc." or "General"...and "All" helps me cover the bases.


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## Morrus (Oct 26, 2016)

We have a new tool as of today. On the mobile skin (traditionally hard to moderate from) we can, with a *single click* (with an "Are you really, really sure?" check) spambam an account and delete everything it ever did. That'll make life a lot easier. Now if I see it on my phone, it's gone in under a second.


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## LordEntrails (Oct 26, 2016)

Sounds like you got it then and don't need volunteers?


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## fuindordm (Oct 28, 2016)

This week I received a couple of PMs from JorgeWar inviting me to an adult services website. Does that count?
I'm happy to ban the bot, if you give me the hammer. I swear not to use it in ill faith. 
Ben


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## Dannyalcatraz (Oct 28, 2016)

Yep.  And I ban hammered him good.


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## Lwaxy (Oct 28, 2016)

I found a spammer today who managed to make 58 posts in a short time. Luckily we can get all their posts at once, so it's quicker to remove them than for them to post.


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## pdzoch (Nov 16, 2016)

[MENTION=1]Morrus[/MENTION], if you still need some help with this, I am willing to take on the task.  (woke up this morning to a board full of spam -- grrr).


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## Morrus (Nov 16, 2016)

Yeah, that was pretty insane this morning.


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## Dannyalcatraz (Nov 16, 2016)

Yeeks!  I missed most of the fun!  I nailed @ a dozen before bedtime, but I guess that was just the tip o' the iceberg.



Edit: sorry about not being careful about tempting fate...


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## LordEntrails (Nov 20, 2016)

So why does this thread, and only this thread, show as unread to me everytime I log in?


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## Dannyalcatraz (Nov 20, 2016)

There's a bug.  It has happened to me a few times.


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## freyar (Nov 21, 2016)

If you use the "Mark Forum As Read" option, it should clear the thread.  At least that's how I've dealt with this issue in the past.


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## LordEntrails (Nov 22, 2016)

Thanks. We shall see what happens


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## pdzoch (Mar 4, 2017)

Good Lord there was a lot of spam this morning. ugh.


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## Morrus (Mar 4, 2017)

Yeah, that was quite the epic cleanup session.


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## Dannyalcatraz (Mar 4, 2017)

I missed a swarm?  Shoulda guessed- nailed a few dozen before bedtime.


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## Morrus (Mar 4, 2017)

They definitely come in waves for some reason.


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## pdzoch (Mar 4, 2017)

Dannyalcatraz said:


> I missed a swarm?  Shoulda guessed- nailed a few dozen before bedtime.



I wasn't intending a critism of the job done, but remarking on the challenges you face keeping the site clear of spam.  They sure are persistent though.

Sent using EN World app.


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## Dannyalcatraz (Mar 4, 2017)

I didn't take it as criticism.  I just got a whole bunch, then the site went quiet, and I went to bed.  When I wake up, there's news of another wave- I was mildly surprised.


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## LordEntrails (Mar 4, 2017)

I've got to wonder how effective it is.

Do you have any statistics on how many times any of the links are actually followed? Of even how many times the posts are even viewed before deleted?


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## Morrus (Mar 4, 2017)

LordEntrails said:


> I've got to wonder how effective it is.
> 
> Do you have any statistics on how many times any of the links are actually followed? Of even how many times the posts are even viewed before deleted?




Nope. No particular incentive to do their market research for them!


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## Dannyalcatraz (Mar 5, 2017)

LordEntrails said:


> I've got to wonder how effective it is.
> 
> Do you have any statistics on how many times any of the links are actually followed? Of even how many times the posts are even viewed before deleted?




The most I've seen was @65 views.  Only they know how many hits they get on average, though.

...I do feel a bit like David Tennant's Doctor Who when I zap one within the first 5 minutes: "This website is protected!"


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## LordEntrails (Mar 5, 2017)

Somebody's got to feel it's worth it. but it seems just like a waste of resources to me as I rarely ever view them and never follow the links. 

But hey, glad you guys keep the place clean.


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## wedgeski (Mar 15, 2017)

I'd like to re-offer my services if this is still an option, but I will only be able to monitor the 5E forum. It seems there is always spam to be zapped when I do my first-thing browse of ENWorld.


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