Pharmaceutical Spam, Redux

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ARCHINSTL
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Pharmaceutical Spam, Redux

Post by ARCHINSTL »

As most have noticed, we've been under attack for a few weeks by assorted Pharma spammers.
I've been deleting 2-4 per day for some few days, until Neu is able to erect new safeguards (he said this is not uncommon with the PHPBB forums we have). I've already deleted one new "member" today.
So - while hardly necessary - don't open any which are patently obvious to be pill pushers (and thus far, they all have been quite obvious) - goodness knows what those links will enable.
Tom M.
T4WD augury?
"Oh, do not ask, 'What is it?' Let us go and make our visit."
T.S. Eliot - "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"
"Now and then we had a hope that, if we lived and were good, God would permit us to be pirates."
Mark Twain
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Goldie Forever
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My tercel:: Goldie is a 1986 SR5 attualmente con Weber/also owned the first T4WD in STL in late '82
Location: Kirkwood, a 'burb of St. Louis

Re: Pharmaceutical Spam, Redux

Post by ARCHINSTL »

Well - now up to 5 pharma spammers deleted so far and the day is still young!
Tom M.
T4WD augury?
"Oh, do not ask, 'What is it?' Let us go and make our visit."
T.S. Eliot - "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"
"Now and then we had a hope that, if we lived and were good, God would permit us to be pirates."
Mark Twain
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ARCHINSTL
Goldie Forever
Posts: 6369
Joined: Sat Apr 30, 2005 1:52 pm
My tercel:: Goldie is a 1986 SR5 attualmente con Weber/also owned the first T4WD in STL in late '82
Location: Kirkwood, a 'burb of St. Louis

Re: Pharmaceutical Spam, Redux

Post by ARCHINSTL »

I've been eliminating 5+ spammers per day for some days now - and even catching some as they join, but have not posted!
Tom M.
T4WD augury?
"Oh, do not ask, 'What is it?' Let us go and make our visit."
T.S. Eliot - "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"
"Now and then we had a hope that, if we lived and were good, God would permit us to be pirates."
Mark Twain
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Petros
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Re: Pharmaceutical Spam, Redux

Post by Petros »

Anyway to stop them from joining? Can you put all new member posts on probation? many lists do that, until the moderator determines the new member is legit and follow the rules, all new posts must be cleared by the moderator.

What next, Nigerian princes needing to transfers millions in our bank accounts?
'87 Tercel 4wd SR5 (current engine swap project)
'84 Tercel 4wd (daily driver, with on going mods)
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Goldie Forever
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Re: Pharmaceutical Spam, Redux

Post by ARCHINSTL »

That is beyond my capability, being only a humble moderator.
Sounds like a way to go, if possible.

OT, but for much of December and January I was, daily, getting those very offers from Nigeria and Kenya. The wording and syntax was usually hilarious - even funnier than the old Japanglish translations of the '60s and '70s.
Tom M.
T4WD augury?
"Oh, do not ask, 'What is it?' Let us go and make our visit."
T.S. Eliot - "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"
"Now and then we had a hope that, if we lived and were good, God would permit us to be pirates."
Mark Twain
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Mattel
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Location: Melbourne, Australia

Re: Pharmaceutical Spam, Redux

Post by Mattel »

Hi Tom, I've been deleting and banning about 2 a day as well. Can we get Chad to add some other ways of security to delete the spambots? cheers
Previous: 83 Tercel SR5 4wd, 84 Tercel SR5 4wd
88 Corolla 4wd Wagon 5speed, All power options, Fact Sunroof, Diff Lock, 14" SX Alloys, Hankook Tyres, 4afe, King Springs, Upgraded Headlights, Full Synth oils, Tow Bar, 210,000kms
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ARCHINSTL
Goldie Forever
Posts: 6369
Joined: Sat Apr 30, 2005 1:52 pm
My tercel:: Goldie is a 1986 SR5 attualmente con Weber/also owned the first T4WD in STL in late '82
Location: Kirkwood, a 'burb of St. Louis

Re: Pharmaceutical Spam, Redux

Post by ARCHINSTL »

Gotcha, OceangiseLisa - before your posts were minutes old!
This makes 5 since my last post yesterday, plus Mattel's.
Tom M.
T4WD augury?
"Oh, do not ask, 'What is it?' Let us go and make our visit."
T.S. Eliot - "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"
"Now and then we had a hope that, if we lived and were good, God would permit us to be pirates."
Mark Twain
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Neu
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Re: Pharmaceutical Spam, Redux

Post by Neu »

Hey guys, sorry about the delay. I've been working on it and changing the spam protection. Unfortunately we're running the latest phpbb software on the forums which means a lot of the spam plugins aren't compatible quite yet. I'll look into it when I wake up tomorrow. My work schedule has been pretty crazy as of late.
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ARCHINSTL
Goldie Forever
Posts: 6369
Joined: Sat Apr 30, 2005 1:52 pm
My tercel:: Goldie is a 1986 SR5 attualmente con Weber/also owned the first T4WD in STL in late '82
Location: Kirkwood, a 'burb of St. Louis

Re: Pharmaceutical Spam, Redux

Post by ARCHINSTL »

Boy the pharmaspammers are getting clever...I just deleted one whose handle was Unimmemnpaync and had not yet posted anything.
Clicking on the bio revealed s/he was 24, worked for "government," and was into fishing and touring. The web site was something called "flourishandfly (dot) com," so it looked like s/he worked for a sort of travel agency or tourism bureau.
Heretofore they have not gone to the trouble of establishing a bio - I guess we are getting a Gen II spammer?.
But a Google Search for the name revealed all sorts of opportunities for all sorts of medications - alas, none revealed a source for powdered rhino horn :wink: :( .
Tom M.
T4WD augury?
"Oh, do not ask, 'What is it?' Let us go and make our visit."
T.S. Eliot - "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"
"Now and then we had a hope that, if we lived and were good, God would permit us to be pirates."
Mark Twain
User avatar
ARCHINSTL
Goldie Forever
Posts: 6369
Joined: Sat Apr 30, 2005 1:52 pm
My tercel:: Goldie is a 1986 SR5 attualmente con Weber/also owned the first T4WD in STL in late '82
Location: Kirkwood, a 'burb of St. Louis

Re: Pharmaceutical Spam, Redux

Post by ARCHINSTL »

Well, we've not had any pharmaspam posts for nearly two weeks!
A while back I changed the mathematical question for the registration from a simple addition question to one involving addition and multiplication and division; apparently it worked!

I wanted to throw in a square root requirement, but figgered not everyone would recognize the symbol; it is .
I am saving this ploy for the last stand before Moscow...
Tom M.
T4WD augury?
"Oh, do not ask, 'What is it?' Let us go and make our visit."
T.S. Eliot - "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"
"Now and then we had a hope that, if we lived and were good, God would permit us to be pirates."
Mark Twain
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