Linux Format forums

Nigel · Posted: Sun May 15, 2005 6:17 pm Post subject: Idiot postings

There seems to have been a spate of idiots posting heiroglyphics with dubious-looking links.They are destroying the usefulness of the forums - I log in 2 or 3 times a day to see if there's anything of interest & on the remote offchance I can actually help someone. If I have to wade through all this graffiti to get to the real posts I shan't bother for much longer.

Is there any way of stopping them ? I can understand the reluctance to disable guest posters, but perhaps guest posting can be limited to a "Newbie" forum and have the rest for registered users only ?

Are they all coming from the same group of IP addresses ? If so, it might be worth blocking postings from that range for a week, with a prominent notice on the front page saying which ranges are blocked (and if any genuine users are affected they can complain to their ISP & try to get the idiots thrown off).

And to the person or people who are posting this spam :
You are not clever, you are not funny. Nobody is stupid enough to follow your links, which doubtless lead to Windows viruses, spyware & adware. All you are doing is wrecking a valuable resource for other people. Go away and get a life.
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Hope this helps,

Nigel.

towy71 · Posted: Sun May 15, 2005 6:35 pm Post subject: RE: Idiot postings

I wish desparately that whoever would go away too! It really is just stupid and boring

what is the saying? little things.....
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Flea · Posted: Sun May 15, 2005 7:42 pm Post subject: RE: Idiot postings

Can the IP's of the offending people be logged? I mean the exact IP and not a range and if so can we not email abuse@theirisp.com ?

I'm sure there will be a clause in their agreement that can have them immediately disconnected for such behaviour, there is in mine.
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nelz · Posted: Sun May 15, 2005 8:43 pm Post subject: RE: Idiot postings

Admins can view the IP from which any message is posted. that's why I've been deleting the content of the messages, rather than the messages themselves, so the IP information is still there.

I wouldn't rely too much on ISPs taking action though, while most UK ISPs are pretty hot on this sort of thing, the rash of abuse today came from an address belonging to a Chinese ISP.

Even if the forum doesn't provide IP filtering capabilities, it would always be possible to block all access from that ISP with IPtables.
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fingers99 · LXF regular Joined: Thu Apr 07, 2005 7:15 pm Posts: 143

nelz · Posted: Sun May 15, 2005 11:31 pm Post subject: RE: Idiot postings

The ISP is in China, I doubt they could care less.
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Unix is user-friendly. It's just very selective about who it's friends are.

smita034 · Posted: Mon May 16, 2005 8:29 am Post subject: RE: Idiot postings

They dont't care out there, I have had to report China IP's for trying to bruteforce my SSH. I'm positive there is a PostNuke Mod out there that allows you to ban IP's on the site...
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Alex A. Smith
99% of all computer problems occur between the chair and keyboard

Nigel · Posted: Mon May 23, 2005 9:47 am Post subject: RE: Idiot postings

I see Mr fgfgfg is back again today... anybody know the Chinese for "Bog Off" ?
Evil or Very Mad

_________________
Hope this helps,

Nigel.

smita034 · Posted: Mon May 23, 2005 10:07 am Post subject: RE: Idiot postings

沼澤 in trad
沼泽in simple
(thats if you trust BabelFish lol Wink

_________________
Alex A. Smith
99% of all computer problems occur between the chair and keyboard

Nigel · Posted: Mon May 23, 2005 10:26 am Post subject: RE: Idiot postings

Many thanks - let's hope he reads this Laughing

_________________
Hope this helps,

Nigel.

Nigel · Posted: Sun Jun 12, 2005 10:44 am Post subject: RE: Idiot postings

I see we've had another attack of chinese graffiti in the small hours of the morning...

Whatever countermeasures are in place obviously aren't working. I think it is time to stop unregistered users from posting in ANY of the forums. MacFormat do this, and it doesn't seem to hurt their genuine traffic.
_________________
Hope this helps,

Nigel.

skecs · Posted: Sun Jun 12, 2005 11:51 am Post subject: RE: Idiot postings

I reluctantly have to agree with Nigel - a notification message on why users have to become members for FREE! would hopefully not discourage new users from joining and asking questions. Browse for old answers and threads but to ask questions join the community. It's either that or total domain blocking of IPs that don't respond to requests to "name full details and block user accounts that spam and post unacceptable material" - the Chinese government wants to block access that corrupts their citizens (in their words) so report these details to the Chinese embassy. I'm sure that would cause some concern in China!
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M-Saunders · Moderator Joined: Mon Apr 11, 2005 1:14 pm Posts: 2881

Nigel · Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2005 5:29 pm Post subject: RE: Re: RE: Idiot postings

If you do figure out how to stop it, it would make a good article for a future edition of LXF... Smile

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Hope this helps,

Nigel.