Shopsmith Forums

I just sent the following private note to the Admin :


"The amount of spam coming to our site is unacceptable. As admin you can add "security checks" to sign up to help this situation. Also "MAPS" (mail abuse prevention systems) can be used to stop almost all of it. Please take the few minutes to do these things so that all of us are not subjected to the "links" in most of these spams.
Thank you for your help with this matter.

Bill Percival
Billdit@me.com"


Maybe if more of us would contact them we could get this solvable problem fixed. From the looks of some of the posts members have posted, a few people are clicking on the links in these unwanted posts. That could cause possible problems to them.

A couple of years ago, I communicated with admin about spam. IIRC, he told me back then that they require email verification to become a member (and only members can post).

So, either the bots have learned how to do that automatically, or some poor sap someplace is manually creating accounts and spamming us.

The spam seems worse than in the past because, for whatever reason, admin does not seem to be deleting reported spam as quickly as in the past (or at all).

Along with longer than usual wait times on backorders and the reported decline in customer service, the failure to promptly clean up the spam is another small indication that something may be going on with Shopsmith.

I have also tried sending a private message to admin about reducing the amount of spam, and it is still sitting in my outbox, indicating that Admin has not yet opened it.

My suggestion was as follows:

Reducing Spam
Sent: Wed Feb 28, 2018 8:52 am
From: br549
Recipient: admin

Like many other users, I have noticed a lot of spam postings lately, and the posts are not being removed as quickly, or at all, as in the past.

In looking at more of the features of the website, I found that there are various "groups" to which various users can belong. The groups such as moderator or super moderator only appear to have one or two members, and I was wondering if adding a few more users to these groups might help control the spammers.

There are several long-time users who contribute to the forum on a regular basis, and have you ever considered offering a moderator position (or any other position which would give them the ability to delete spam and ban spammers) to any of them?

Just a thought ...

br549

I believe that there is most likely no consensus among us as to what constitutes SPAM.

If a NEW member posts and the initial post(s) is/are about something other than woodworking or the Shopsmith, is that generally considered to be SPAM.

Now if one of these posts offers up a link to some site that has nothing to do with Shopsmith or woodworking, I would probably consider that SPAM. I would also notify Admin and mark the author as "FOE".

I don't think so. We, as members, very often go off topic with discussions that have absolutely nothing to do with woodworking. Those discussions are not treated as SPAM and I seriously doubt that they ever will be even though many of them certainly could be.

I could name names and point fingers but that is not necessary. We all know when we do it and we know who else does so also.

FWIW, as an administrator on a couple of Forums, I personally know that spam is becoming more and more of an issue. Using Captcha techniques, IP blocks/allows, email verification, all help, it is mostly the Russians, and they are crafty.

I am afraid that spam and unauthorized users are just part of the new norm now. I think Admin here does a great job. It is a thankless and difficult process

JMHO

I thought spam came in a can ?

Life use to be simple .