The Essay Writers

[Craftydan]

No, I'm not complaining about people who write long posts (Jerks!) But we've got a frequent spammer who advertises an essay writing service. . . And more than fair chance it's a malware site.

You've probably all seen one or more of the posts, but I'm bringing this to the forefront because this scammer is getting MUCH better at posting something in context. Ran a word search today after someone reported a post that looked in context but linked out to this. Found three other instances burried in our forum, two of which were frightenly well camouflaged.

Keep an eye out for posts that don't convey much info, or the info seems out of place, but have a link in the body or signiture to an essay writing service. See an essay link and a low post count and I say ban on sight. See a high/modest post count, and investigate further.

 

[JimCR120]

Yes I've noticed some of that out of place posting, alomost in context, but still just odd. I don't recall long ones but a few short ones, first posters acting like they've been around for a while. I think I've attempted contact but forgot about them when I got nothing back. That's where I mess up, forgetting about them and then leaving the post there. I'm wondering as we grow if we might just need to go the other route where we accept new forum members after reviewing their request. It's much more of a pain but if the spam grows it might become the lesser of two evils.

Now is anyone going to answer my thread about "Posting Elsewhere"?

 

[earthsciteach]

Jim! Check your pm, por favor!

 

[FlyingMonkey]

If you do ban them don't hard delete the posts. Give me a heads up, and I'll do an IP search and remove anyone else that has that same IP.

 

[JimCR120]

Jim! Check your pm, por favor!

Jeepers Pat. Sometimes I do get up and eat. Ok, I'm not mad, just having fun.

Oh, and I did reply so check yours. Come on. Let's go. 2 replies already. Inbox is filling up...

 

[JimCR120]

If you do ban them don't hard delete the posts. Give me a heads up, and I'll do an IP search and remove anyone else that has that same IP.

Sorry Fred, from now on I'll cue you so you can rotorooter them out of there.

 

[cranialrectosis]

I think we found 5 more today.

This bot is getting good. Even using terms from the OPs post "Versacopter"...

Not gonna click those links on a Windows PC though...

Over on the KSP forums you must have a moderator approve your first 5 posts before you are allowed to directly post to the forum.

Yeah, it would be a PITA but all the new users who had the essay links were first time posters and would have been caught.

Are there any metrics on how many first time posters we have per week?

 

[Craftydan]

Robert (Sys Op) turned on a similar feature for a while (without telling us, so it was a bit of a puzzle why all these moderate posts started appearing), but it turned out to be a pretty hefty workload.

I've wondered a few times (particularly when we were getting the constant stream of nonsense from our resident White Supremacist) if it would be good to turn it on for a week or so to stop a pernicious spammer. It hasn't come to that yet

. . . and we're all awaiting the glorious new Eden that's just around the corner. We'll see how that goes, but in theory it has more tools for dealing with this.

BTW, Welcome to the team!

 

[FlyingMonkey]

It's not a bot, that's the problem.

Apparently Robert thinks it's a live person doing it. We're wondering how much it pays, and if we can get a job doing it.

He's also realized that the email verification has never been enabled, so maybe that's made it easier for them to slide in.

~Fred

 

[cranialrectosis]

Robert (Sys Op) turned on a similar feature for a while (without telling us, so it was a bit of a puzzle why all these moderate posts started appearing), but it turned out to be a pretty hefty workload.

I've wondered a few times (particularly when we were getting the constant stream of nonsense from our resident White Supremacist) if it would be good to turn it on for a week or so to stop a pernicious spammer. It hasn't come to that yet

. . . and we're all awaiting the glorious new Eden that's just around the corner. We'll see how that goes, but in theory it has more tools for dealing with this.

BTW, Welcome to the team!

For the record, I would hate to do it. It's like having to post security in the build tent at FF. It would just stink.

Our resident white supremacist has a new job at a call center and now he has to deal with jackwads like me for a change. I hope he can keep it. It will do him good to get out of his mom's trailer, experience the real world, support his family and take orders from people.

Thank you for the welcome. It's an honor to be here.

 

[Bo123]

Reported

I used to write Essay for my work, I thought why should I write from outside because I don't have time. I have a lot of work to do, in physiology dissertation so I thought why not write my work from outside easily.