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RugerShooter
09-12-2006, 05:55 PM
Why all of a sudden are there so many spammers joining up with uutah, you can look at there webpages and see a majority of the last 50 or so that have joined are spamers, is there any way we can stop this, like on some other sites you have to decrypt a code, or send an e-mail to the admin or something like that

just wondering
brad

rockgremlin
09-12-2006, 07:04 PM
AMEN!!! It's pissing me off!!! :frustrated:

If we can't keep em out, then can't we delete their memberships as soon as they join?

Come on admin!!! Quit ignoring this problem!! It won't go away!! I've ranted about this before, and all I get is "Sorry.....nothin we can do...."
:ne_nau: Give me full admin privaledges -- I'll do it if you don't want to!!!


From the perspective of the spammer, its a ridiculous idea. Honestly, how many people from an outdoor forum do they expect are going to buy the sick shit they sell?

F***in' idiots!! :roll:

stefan
09-12-2006, 07:15 PM
as much as they ain't gettin' none of my info, i just can't stand seeing them silently infiltrating the site. I have only seen one post by them recently.

I agree. The yahoo groups require writing an email. This should be used as a filter or something. Unless you like the inflated membership.

Iceaxe
09-12-2006, 08:38 PM
I don't think they do it to spam Uutah or try and steal any info...... I mean if there was actually something around here worth stealing.

I believe they (the spammers) do it to try and increase their rankings in the search engines like Google and Yahoo. Nobody really knows the formula Google or other search engines use to rank listings. But it is known that the more websites that link to your website the higher up in the rankings you go. That is why the spammers always sign up their home page in the member info. Then when a Google bott searches Uutah (and millions of other sites) for info it sees the link and thinks the spammers site is really popular and boosts its rankings in the search listing.

Anyhoo...... just my take on things. It would be nice to keep them out if its easy. But if you make sign up to difficult you could hurt membership for real outdoors people who are computer illiterate.

:rope:

Sombeech
09-12-2006, 08:48 PM
On this same note, why are their websites never valid?

I went to click on a viagra one --- for a friend of mine --- and it didnt' take me to a valid page. So I had to go to the pharma --- my friend had to go to the pharmacy to get some.

accadacca
09-12-2006, 08:48 PM
I don't think they do it to spam Uutah or try and steal any info...... I mean if there was actually something around here worth stealing.

I believe they (the spammers) do it to try and increase their rankings in the search engines like Google and Yahoo. Nobody really knows the formula Google or other search engines use to rank listings. But it is known that the more websites that link to your website the higher up in the rankings you go. That is why the spammers always sign up their home page in the member info. Then when a Google bott searches Uutah (and millions of other sites) for info it sees the link and thinks the spammers site is really popular and boosts its rankings in the search listing.

Anyhoo...... just my take on things. It would be nice to keep them out if its easy. But if you make sign up to difficult you could hurt membership for real outdoors people who are computer illiterate.

:rope:
BINGO!!! Yup all about the rankings. I have a Web Analytics guy working for me at my day job and we have high level meetings about this.....:lol8: ...seriously though.

The board already has an encryption code that you have to enter to register. Just log off and hit the register button on the top nav. You will see it. I could enable an email activation by an admin. But who has time to answer all these emails and then like Ice says it delays the sign up process for legit users. It has been bugging me too and its the worse that its ever been. I am going to look into it.

acca (with admin hat)

Iceaxe
09-12-2006, 08:59 PM
If its really bugging folks I suggest you just give rockgremlin a pair of scissors and let him cut the spammers loose. It's pretty easy to tell who most of the spammers are.

:bud:

stefan
09-13-2006, 04:16 AM
I don't think they do it to spam Uutah or try and steal any info...... I mean if there was actually something around here worth stealing.

i guess my point was that if it's not directly affecting me ... so ... why should i care about it? especially since they don't post. i suppose it's just annoying seeing new members as viagra campaigns or looking through the member list and seeing non-uutah folks. it detracts from the small community we are trying to create.

but ice you make a good point here, they are trying to up their position on the google social ladder ... and i don't think we should give them the satisfaction. we can sick rockG on them ... let him get medieval on their ass.

as far as memberships go, yes there is the security level, but that only avoids registration by computers not humans. an email explaining why they are interested in utah ... well, it won't stop these people, but it hassles them a little bit.

i think anyone capable of registering for this site would be equally capable of writing an email in GUI box presented directly to them in the browser. but i understand ... who has the time.

the only real difficulty is who to delete. i mean, many folks have their business on here ... and as sombeech says, how do you know they don't operate a pharmaceutical/ringtones business :haha: this is where someone like rockG needs to be careful. some are obvious, some are not, and i don't believe we're interested in becoming nazis either.

Iceaxe
09-13-2006, 06:55 AM
If we cut lose the dead wood my only suggestion is we error on the side of caution when in doubt. Viagra, on-line poker and casino's are a pretty easy call and would delete about 90% of the spammers.

I do really enjoy the small, tight community feeling that has been created around this place and I agree the spammers do effect that feeling.

But this is Acca's call since it is his board.

:cool2:

rockgremlin
09-13-2006, 07:11 AM
I'm willing and ready with the scissors. Just give me the word, and I'll unleash the hounds on these a-holes!!!

I realize that some of these people do operate legitimate businesses, and I would be very careful and cautious when considering who to cut. But like Ice says, some of them are downright obvious (party poker, online casinos, viagra, porn, etc).

rockgremlin
09-13-2006, 07:13 AM
Something I've thought about doing....just to be funny....is to go in and edit their memberships so that their website links to climb-utah, uutah, canyoneeringusa, or some other outdoor related websites.

:roflol: Wouldn't that be funny?

rockgremlin
09-13-2006, 07:15 AM
While you're at it, why not give me rights to update the image bar? :2thumbs:

accadacca
09-13-2006, 09:32 AM
Yeah, I'll have to think on the admin access for rockG. I am in the process of trying to train Sombeech on the image bar code. Its pretty straight forward but not for someone unfamiliar with code. Its not an automated system with a control panel. Have a look and study the code:


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accadacca
09-13-2006, 10:28 AM
Alright boys I went in and trimmed the fat. We'll try to keep it in check in the future. :2thumbs:

I also added my own bit of SPAM!!!! :roflol:

http://uutah.com/forum/profile.php?mode=viewprofile&u=639

rockgremlin
09-13-2006, 10:38 AM
Holy crap!! You knocked membership down to 519 from 630!!

NICE JOB!!!!


Big props for doing that...it had been on my nerves for a while.
:2thumbs:

accadacca
09-13-2006, 10:42 AM
Angus doesn't mess... :twisted:

Iceaxe
09-13-2006, 12:15 PM
Alright boys I went in and trimmed the fat. We'll try to keep it in check in the future.

Now where am I supposed to buy my Viagra at? :ne_nau:

RugerShooter
09-13-2006, 04:30 PM
Wow a sugestion I made, made a difrence you guys do listen
thanks :2thumbs:

Sombeech
09-13-2006, 09:46 PM
Wow a sugestion I made, made a difrence you guys do listen
thanks :2thumbs:

We value your opinion very much. :bs:

:lol8:

Sombeech
09-13-2006, 10:53 PM
I am in the process of trying to train Sombeech on the image bar code.

I'll get to it hopefully soon. I just got back from another bike ride tonight, so the only time I get to log on is after hours, when I should be in bed.

The summer is coming to an end, also summer activities. I think that will open up more time for photo editting for the image bar. We've led everybody on through the whole summer on the "Image bar thread". Don't worry, I'll still add a lot of photos from that post. :cool2:

stefan
09-15-2006, 09:42 AM
DAMN!!

everyday there have been new spammers for levitra and whatever else. why is this site NOW so popular? has there always been this steady flow of drug spammers? is it somehow a result of the google advertising. how did they discover the site and gravitate towards it?

stefan
01-15-2007, 06:22 PM
hey acca

i noticed that the member count is now > 1000

i know you delete them when you get around to it and all. (thanks BTW)

i was just curious if over time you feel it's been getting worse? or has it stayed relatively the same steady flow. i wonder because i think i noticed last night that the newest member changed a few times.

Sombeech
01-15-2007, 06:39 PM
Yeah, it's over 1000 now, with the last 300 members probably 95% spammers. We decided to do a little experiment to see how many members we could get if we didn't delete any spammers. Just to give you an example, click on the newest member, and look at the number in the url bar. This is the number of people who have signed up, versus how many we actually kept.

It's probably time to do some trimming again, but we were wondering how different techniques such as Google Analytics would affect traffic and new users. Just an experiment.

They do look bad, but it's so much work to consistently clean them out. It's easier for Admin to clean a bunch out at a time, I think. Except for the porn ones, we store those in a special folder for later recovery.

accadacca
01-15-2007, 08:38 PM
Yeah, it has increased a bit. But I clamped down on them posting, so you wont see it. The more popular the forum gets the better the real estate becomes.

Sombeech
01-15-2007, 08:44 PM
The more popular the forum gets the better the real estate becomes.

I think this is a good time to announce it. We have decided to sell uutah.com for $32. This came after a hard decision, and some gas money that Scott owed me.

We sold uutah.com, the #1 outdoor forum in Utah, to another website called www.utahoutdoorforum.com which is the #2 outdoor forum in Utah.

It's been fun. We'll see you over there. :2thumbs:




























































:haha:

stefan
01-15-2007, 08:49 PM
Yeah, it has increased a bit. But I clamped down on them posting, so you wont see it. The more popular the forum gets the better the real estate becomes.

thanks for the update and many thanks for the clamp down ... it's nice not seeing their crap poppin' up ...
though i kinna have missed posting the spam smack down animgif

accadacca
01-15-2007, 08:56 PM
though i kinna have missed posting the spam smack down animgif
:haha: