Cleaning up the spam on the forum

casm · **Joined:** Sun Jan 29, 2006 5:05 pm **Posts:** 694

The spam problem is in the process of being dealt with. This is not going to be quick or easy - there's a lot of it, and it can be difficult to weed out from legitimate content in some cases.

Every effort is being made to not delete legitimate threads. However, there may be some collateral damage as much of this is having to be done in bulk in order to keep the process manageable. If you see that a thread you were participating in has disappeared, it's not because of anything you did - it's just that it happened to be removed.

Note that there is no 'trash can' function when posts (or threads) are deleted. Deleted means gone forever in this case, so unless you happen to have the post or thread in question bookmarked and are familiar with searching archive.org or Google's cache, it may unfortunately be gone forever.

Please continue to report any new spam while work carries on, and know that there are plans afoot to mitigate the problems that caused this to happen in the first place.

iakj11 · **Posted:** Tue Jun 16, 2020 2:05 pm

This is great news! Thanks for stepping up, casm. All of that new bling next to your avatar is very reassuring.

Let us know what else we can do to help out.

rotary_powered · **Joined:** Mon Nov 13, 2017 5:03 pm **Posts:** 19

This is fantastic news!

layback40 · **Posted:** Tue Jun 16, 2020 6:17 pm

Congrats on becoming a mod.
The site needed some one like you doing it.
I for one will start reporting spam threads again.
Hope I dont overload you.

casm · **Joined:** Sun Jan 29, 2006 5:05 pm **Posts:** 694

Thanks, folks :mrgreen:

All the kind thoughts are appreciated.

This is going to be far from a solo effort, and there should be two more mods (not saying who yet, things are still in process) hopefully coming on line in the next few days. Frankly, given the extent of the problem, we need the additional bodies.

By all means keep reporting spam threads. Don't worry about overload; it's already there anyway. A few new threads here and there won't matter in the grand scheme of things, but will definitely help with keeping on top of it.

Oh, and if anyone wants to show their appreciation, I'll happily accept a Sasquatch turbo kit with all the trimmings :-)r

My66dodge · **Posted:** Tue Jun 16, 2020 10:38 pm

You are awesome... I was wondering why all the crap about creative writing ect...

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

layback40 · **Posted:** Wed Jun 17, 2020 6:22 am

Hey casm, I just reported 2 from the same profile.
Are you removing profiles & banning?
As I am on the other side of the pond, I will be some times seeing spam that has gone up while you guys are asleep. Please dont think I am just being painful!
Have fun!

lfhoward · **Posted:** Wed Jun 17, 2020 11:28 am

For the first time in just about forever...

I clicked “New Posts” and there was NO Spam!!!!

:rockon:

ATXKJ · **Posted:** Wed Jun 17, 2020 5:50 pm

This is great!!!

casm · **Joined:** Sun Jan 29, 2006 5:05 pm **Posts:** 694

layback40 wrote:

Hey casm, I just reported 2 from the same profile.
Are you removing profiles & banning?

Got your reports - thank you, and they've been terminated with extreme prejudice :-)r

As for removing threads and banning... The short answer is 'yes'. However, there is something related to this that I'd like to mention, because it highlights why reporting spam is really necessary in order for the mods to be able to deal with it effectively.

There is no combined 'ban user and nuke all of their posts' option - at least, not for moderators. Administrators can do that, but they're gods whereas we're just minor deities.

Because of this, it's possible to ban a user and delete the posts that were reported - but stray posts from that same user can still remain after the ban.

Although I've come up with a combination of browser tabs that lets me take care of the problem about as effectively as possible, it's still not exactly what you'd call streamlined or 100% accurate since it only takes care of reported posts, not all of a user's posts. It's also a very manual process, not totally dissimilar to trying to break down boulders with a nail file. Progress is being made, but there's still more to go.

TL;DR: please keep reporting spam posts as you see them; it's the most effective way for the mods to have visibility onto the problem.

Quote:

As I am on the other side of the pond, I will be some times seeing spam that has gone up while you guys are asleep. Please dont think I am just being painful!

Not in the least - it's actually incredibly helpful!

BTW: everyone else who has been reporting spam posts as they find them - THANK YOU. They are getting the same treatment as the backlog was. Please keep it up!

lfhoward · **Posted:** Thu Jun 18, 2020 9:56 am

layback40 · **Posted:** Thu Jun 18, 2020 8:26 pm

First time I have logged on in months & no adds for shoes or essay writing!
Casm, you have drained the swamp !
Dare I say Casm for POTUS 2020 !!
I can as I am too far away for people to throw rocks at me!!
:BINGO:

Heather · **Posted:** Fri Jun 19, 2020 12:37 am

Thanks Casm for all of your hard work! I'm glad to see you have so much support. I am going to see if I can get you the ability to delete the spam user name and delete ALL posts by that user in one fell swoop. I also am working on the other moderator to help you out. For some reason his profile isn't updating with his new super powers.

Thanks again for all of your time and hard work!

Heather

WWDiesel · **Posted:** Fri Jun 19, 2020 8:17 am

Heather wrote:

Thanks Casm for all of your hard work! I'm glad to see you have so much support. I am going to see if I can get you the ability to delete the spam user name and delete ALL posts by that user in one fell swoop. I also am working on the other moderator to help you out. For some reason his profile isn't updating with his new super powers.
Thanks again for all of your time and hard work!
Heather

A big shout out to Heather for her help in making this happen.
If you see spam, please report it, we are working diligently to stop it as soon as one of us sees it or it is reported.
Hopefully you will see a big improvement as we go forward.
ww

casm · **Joined:** Sun Jan 29, 2006 5:05 pm **Posts:** 694

Heather wrote:

Thanks Casm for all of your hard work! I'm glad to see you have so much support. I am going to see if I can get you the ability to delete the spam user name and delete ALL posts by that user in one fell swoop. I also am working on the other moderator to help you out. For some reason his profile isn't updating with his new super powers.

Thanks again for all of your time and hard work!

Heather

Thanks, Heather - I'm just glad that we can things back on track :mrgreen:

And congrats to WWDiesel for going green - having more eyes on this problem are definitely necessary and welcome!

Homeward_Bound · **Posted:** Wed Jul 08, 2020 2:37 pm

Thanks for getting to this! It's been easy to spot the spammers because they'll start talking about the subject in the post then go off on a tangent with an unrelated hyperlink. Or trying to revive an ancient thread with no new information.

Thanks again!

WWDiesel · **Posted:** Wed Jul 08, 2020 6:41 pm

Homeward_Bound wrote:

Thanks for getting to this! It's been easy to spot the spammers because they'll start talking about the subject in the post then go off on a tangent with an unrelated hyperlink. Or trying to revive an ancient thread with no new information.
Thanks again!

Since a couple of us teamed up to combat the spam problem it as mysteriously dried up which is a good thing. Guess the spammers got the message as we were banning them as soon as they posted!

If you see ANY spam on any thread, please report it, we are monitoring for any new suspicious posts several times a day & night. Once identified, they are immediately banned from LOST and all their posts are deleted!
ww

layback40 · **Posted:** Wed Jul 08, 2020 6:52 pm

You guys have done very well!
Have not seen any spam for a while.
Maybe the spammers got the virus & died.
Stay safe everyone.

iakj11 · **Posted:** Wed Jul 08, 2020 8:42 pm

turblediesel · **Posted:** Thu Jul 09, 2020 7:08 pm

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Cleaning up the spam on the forum

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