I've written about this previously, but the issue appears to be escalating, which is why I'm addressing it again here. I've observed a noticeable increase in spam across this site, with every other comment or post seemingly constituting spam. I understand that spam is inevitable on any platform, and the usual advice is to ignore it. Nevertheless, it's becoming a serious nuisance as nearly every thread is now peppered with individuals or bots promoting obscure websites, even amidst serious discussions, to the point where the amount of spam posts is starting to surpass the amount of genuine content/posts.
If you are interested, I have a couple of ideas that might reduce the volume of spam. Certain websites employ verification measures for account creation or during login, such as "select all the squares with trees" or receiving a code via phone or email.
Additionally, I would be willing to volunteer as a moderator (or whatever the term is) to aid in sifting through, reporting, and removing spam posts (the ones w/the obscure links or advertising of services). I hope these suggestions are constructive and I'm not overstepping any boundaries. If my approach is inappropriate, I sincerely apologize. My intent is merely to bring attention to an issue on your site that you may not be aware of. Wishing you well, Marina.
OK, this brings up the thorny question of what software are you running. I retired in 2008 and since then I've run only Linux which is free but has a sizable learning curve. On a quick search I see 3 Linux forum programs that mention anti-spam. Converting the message base wouldn't be trivial. Spam Assassin mostly does the heuristics of figuring out when somebody's trying to sell something, I've seen it work with commercial email software too (MDaemon?).
Bots can and will post spam. This is the age of AI. Require a working email address to set up an account. Plenty of shady people out there, not to mention bots.
I don't want to complain and I've tried not to let it bother me, but the forum has more spam than actual member posts. I'm not complaining about Sanskrit, Greek, Hebrew, or even French or Spanish. I really don't care about language a person choose to post in, but even in those posts with a language other than English, it's not too hard to spot spam. Maybe there are some things that Marina didn't invite or requested. That said, though, there were two posts, I will admit, I did report because it was nothing but obvious spam. They were solid posts of call girls or something like that, that may or may not have been related to human trafficking. That said, the spam is becoming more than real postings.
Spam seems inevitable these days. A capcha like "click on every bicycle" that only a human could solve is one answer. Sometimes these get overbearing. Access control is maybe better, where every account has a username and password, the username to be linked to a working email address. If the user forgets a password or if it expires a clue gets emailed (only) to the registered owner of the account. It might be advisable to dump or suspend all current accounts and let users restablish them with proper email connections. I would discouraqge being able to login with gmail, facebook, etc. accounts and the like as less secure. I had an open page once with self-signup and I had to close it due to spam. Any site that can be exploited eventually will be. It is possible to make them mostly run themselves. After all an email address can be a free one, it doesn't need to be connected to a place of employment, it just represents a prior commitment. hmm, spell check doesn't work here.
It's getting hard to dig through posts here because of the spam :(
I'm confused! If there some thing on a site that I haven't requested or has popped up without my invitation, do you know what I do? I delete it! It only affects you if you let it.
I agree completely. It has become a whole attack actually. But to not have a moderator that is someone on the forum daily is understandable. And while some have volunteered, including myself, there are some elements of trust that come with that position, and I totally understand why she hasn't designated any of us to do so.
Moderators have to be impartial, unarbitrary, and objective. Someone who deletes posts because they don't want to be seen as wrong or because they are offended wouldn't qualify. That's not stated to offend, but the absolute truth. We have to be cognizant of the effects of our actions on a closed forum like this one, and deleting posts because we disagree is a negative action that negates the trust a person exhibits.
That said, I hope she finds one soon before the bot storm overtakes the site because we all enjoy it and wish for it to stay around.
I agree. I've even thought about offering to moderate it for Marina. I mod another forum, but not for just spam. In this case, it would be for spam. We need someone to watch for it and remove it when they see it. Maybe more than one, in different time zones, since it's getting worse and could be a 24 hour job to watch for it.