Spammers and Trolls

Discussion in 'Managing Your Online Community' started by Loading, Dec 6, 2010.

  1. Ashley

    Ashley Regular Member

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    We have email validation on on our forum, and this does stop spam bots in their tracks, as they don't know how to click on links. However, we do not abuse the mass email system. We only send out newsletters monthly. Why monthly? Because it gives us plenty of time from the last newsletter to think of what should be put in this months newsletter.
     
  2. Grumpy

    Grumpy Regular Member

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    Spammers, trolls, hackers, trouble makers, copycats are all the same to me. Scum and there is one thing to do with them and that is ban them.
     
  3. Trealix

    Trealix Gamer

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    Tbh Ashley It gets annoying the email validation, I hate it too much.
     
  4. Kaiser

    Kaiser Regular Member

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    Same here, I havent had any spam bots signup, so I havent turned it on, its most likely because of xenForo's ways to stop them.
     
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  5. Trealix

    Trealix Gamer

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    When I had vbulletin they came everyday spamming loads of crap e.g. "buying" or "pills"
     
  6. Kaiser

    Kaiser Regular Member

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    lol on MyBB, it was about herbs and weed.
     
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  7. Trealix

    Trealix Gamer

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    Sometimes it was loads of crap, the most recent I saw on CODIsland was about osama binladin giving you money if you click here.
     
  8. Kaiser

    Kaiser Regular Member

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    lol no comment :P
     
  9. Ashley

    Ashley Regular Member

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    Hey, I don't like Email validation on forums any more than some of you guys do, but it's to stop spam bots which don't know how to click on links, so if a bot does register, they get stopped in their tracks. I'd rather register and click on a link and know that I am at least somewhat protected on a forum rather than join a forum with no validation of any kind where spam bots can invade a forum at any time, day or night.
     
  10. Kaiser

    Kaiser Regular Member

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    Luckily xenForo blocks them unlike vB, IPB, MyBB, phpBB.
     
  11. Angel

    Angel Regular Member

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    I love trolls, got some on my forum. They make things interesting but then when people gang up on them its even more funny. :D I'm sorry but they just make stuff funny lol
     
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  12. Kaiser

    Kaiser Regular Member

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    LoL they can get funny at times.
     
  13. Trealix

    Trealix Gamer

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    I love trolls aswell, they are kinda funny, Boxxy is one of the funniest trollers before leaving
     
  14. Kaiser

    Kaiser Regular Member

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    Boxxy is just weird..
     
  15. moneymakingmom

    moneymakingmom Regular Member

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    Some forums have built in infraction systems where the admin can issue a warning and the person gets a percentage score and then after three strikes, that person is out. I'm guessing the banning is used automatically for anyone caught harassing the other members. There's never a time or place for that. And, certainly it's not what you would expect when you go to a forum.

    I would see no other way than to banish the trolls. They're just being mean. And, who wants a big meanie on the forum messing things up and fowling the mood.

    As for spammers, I think it depends on what your definition of spam is. Cause I think spam could just as well be recooking a topic (previously posted, so maybe called double posting) and then posting it again. That kind of stuff clutters up a site making it look just as unprofessional as spam ads.

    Another kind of spammer is the one who steals discussions from another related forum and posts them again on the current forum as their own. That kind of business could get a webmaster in trouble with the law (copyright infringement), Google adsense (again infringement) and Google.com for search engine rankings since they don't condone scraped or duplicate site content.
     
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  16. Kaiser

    Kaiser Regular Member

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    Yea SPAM has many meanings, there not just one definition for it. And trolling is a form of spam, and there is no place for trolls here. I will ban them immediately depending on the severity of trolling they have done.
     
  17. Chris Grigg

    Chris Grigg Regular Member

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    I do not tolerate spammers or trolls. I have many features in place to keep spammers away from my forum and it works well. If someone is being a troll, I personally take care of the situation with sending them emails or PMs regarding the issue and if it doesn't stop, then the user is just simply banned.
     

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