# Spam **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [April 18, 2007, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam/400599 "2007-04-18T09:28:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MizGrand](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cdc98d/32.png) [@MizGrand](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MizGrand)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2007, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam/400599/1 "2007-04-18T09:28:34Z")
I woke up just a tad too early today - too bad it’s not Monday, coulda had a shot at the MMP - but here in this forum there were four (count 'em 4!!) stupid ass spam posts. Is this typical? Does it happen every night? What idiots! You’d thing they’d at least have the sense to put 'em in the right forum - MPSIMS, right?? How are these postings handled? I’ve never seen them before and wondered if the Admins have to get up early every day to delete these stupid things. What a waste of our precious hampster’s time, I’m tellin’ ya! ---
**Author:** ![MizGrand](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cdc98d/32.png) [@MizGrand](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MizGrand)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2007, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam/400599/2 "2007-04-18T12:19:09Z")
Oops, forgot the hampsters were replaced by capybaras. ---
**Author:** ![bbs2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e495f1/32.png) [@bbs2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bbs2k)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2007, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam/400599/3 "2007-04-18T14:05:27Z")
I saw them as well. The mods + admins are great at cleaning them up. I’ve found it’s good etiquette to report them once using the report button, then post a single reply in the thread saying that it’s been reported so TPTB don’t get a lot of duplicate reports to sort through. I can’t remember the name of who reported them this morning, but they did their good doper duty. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2007, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam/400599/4 "2007-04-18T14:14:02Z")
[QUOTE=bigbabysweets2000] I saw them as well… they did their good doper duty. [/QUOTE] [Beavis] Henh, henh, you said “duty”. [/beavis] ---
**Author:** ![MizGrand](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cdc98d/32.png) [@MizGrand](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MizGrand)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2007, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam/400599/5 "2007-04-18T14:20:00Z")
I reported 2. There were 4 that I saw. Scuzzbags. Oh, but, my question is left unanswered. Does this sorta thing happen everyday? ---
**Author:** ![lisacurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/41988e/32.png) [@lisacurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisacurl)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2007, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam/400599/6 "2007-04-18T14:21:03Z")
deleted - didn’t notice which forum this was, and therefore the OP was appropos. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2007, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam/400599/7 "2007-04-18T15:33:27Z")
Yeah, it’s a never-ending battle. The staff works mightily every day taking the garbage out. Mostly you never see it, but sometimes even our hard working moderators need to get a nap, a cup of coffee, etc., and you may see a thread or two or more hang around for a bit. But we do catch 'em and remove 'em. All day long. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2007, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam/400599/8 "2007-04-18T15:54:58Z")
> [@](#): > > You’d thing they’d at least have the sense to put 'em in the right forum - MPSIMS, right?? It was not my understanding that there was a right forum for spam. And even if there were, why would you think they’d put them there? ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2007, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam/400599/9 "2007-04-18T15:55:40Z")
[QUOTE=bigbabysweets2000] I saw them as well. The mods + admins are great at cleaning them up. I’ve found it’s good etiquette to report them once using the report button, then post a single reply in the thread saying that it’s been reported so TPTB don’t get a lot of duplicate reports to sort through. I can’t remember the name of who reported them this morning, but they did their good doper duty. [/QUOTE] Yeah, reporting and then posting something like “Spam reported” is, I think, the best way for members to respond to the spam. Other posters can see that it’s been reported, and they don’t have to worry about reporting it themselves. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2007, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam/400599/10 "2007-04-18T15:55:45Z")
[QUOTE=TubaDiva] Yeah, it’s a never-ending battle. [/QUOTE] vBulletin 3.6.\* will help a lot. The captcha for vBulletin 3.0.\* was cracked a long time ago, so the board is always going to be susceptible to bots. The captcha for vBulletin 3.6 hasn’t been cracked, and there’s a lot of anti-spam plugins available for it. This month, my board has been hit hard by Indians – subcontinent, that is – registering and entering the the captcha text manually to post spam. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2007, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam/400599/11 "2007-04-18T18:21:46Z")
I noticed that the JREF board is prohibiting the posting of active links by new posters until a certain (small) number of post counts is reached. Annoying to legitimate posters, – who have to circumvent it by using a URL that can be figured out – it reduces the usefulness of drive-by guest registrations. I don’t know if this is a vB function or a hack, but have the Admins considered it? Would it help? ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2007, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam/400599/12 "2007-04-18T18:41:11Z")
Wait, this isn’t spam? Darn. ---
**Author:** ![Mbossa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@Mbossa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mbossa)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2007, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam/400599/13 "2007-04-18T23:57:37Z")
[QUOTE=MizGrand] You’d thing they’d at least have the sense to put 'em in the right forum - MPSIMS, right?? [/QUOTE] Maybe The Powers should create a new forum specifically for spam. Spammers can be confident that their posts to it won’t be deleted, and normal people can avoid spam just by avoiding that forum! It’s win-win!! Heh, reminds me of [RFC-3514: The Evil Bit](http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3514) (in case anyone’s confused, look at the date at the top). ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2007, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam/400599/14 "2007-04-19T02:29:20Z")
[QUOTE=Mbossa] Heh, reminds me of [RFC-3514: The Evil Bit](http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3514) (in case anyone’s confused, look at the date at the top). [/QUOTE] Date: “1 April 2003”: What’s so unusual about 2003? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mbossa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@Mbossa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mbossa)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2007, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam/400599/15 "2007-04-19T03:46:28Z")
[QUOTE=Musicat] Date: “1 April 2003”: What’s so unusual about 2003? 🙂 [/QUOTE] 2003 was, of course, the International Year Of Unworkable Moronic Proposals. It wasn’t too successful, unfortunately. This is about the only proposal I can think of that fits the theme. 2003 also happened to be the year of the Iraq invasion, but I’m sure that’s just a coincidence. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2007, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam/400599/16 "2007-04-19T03:53:47Z")
[QUOTE=Musicat] I noticed that the JREF board is prohibiting the posting of active links by new posters until a certain (small) number of post counts is reached. Annoying to legitimate posters, – who have to circumvent it by using a URL that can be figured out – it reduces the usefulness of drive-by guest registrations. I don’t know if this is a vB function or a hack, but have the Admins considered it? Would it help? [/QUOTE] There’s a few plugins available for this, but they only work in newer versions of vBulletin. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2007, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam/400599/17 "2007-04-19T05:02:11Z")
[QUOTE=Musicat] Date: “1 April 2003”: What’s so unusual about 2003? 🙂 [/QUOTE] You’re whooshing right? Re: The OP. I’m an admin on a much smaller board, we have many spam filters but we still get several silent spammers and one or two active spammers every couple of days. I think it’s pretty much the same all over the net, the amount varies depending on your board software and filters used. We’re just used to not seeing much spam here because the mods here get to it pretty quickly. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2007, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam/400599/18 "2007-04-19T12:47:19Z")
[QUOTE=Wile E] You’re whooshing right? [/quote] Riiiiight. That’s what smilies were invented for! 🙂 Hey, **Mbossa** got it.