Yes... we are fully away of the spam issue. Playing "whack-a-mole" as fast as we can

[Peter Gariepy]

• We've seen over 100 spam accts created in the past 24 hrs.
• We've updated the signup spam filters to make it harder for them to sneak in. (unfortunately it makes it a little hard for real users to signup too)
• We've removed over 500 spam posts.
• We've identified and filtered out about 10 IP address ranges (mostly from India and Indonesia).

 

With any luck we've squashed the attack.

 

NOTE:  No, your account privacy is not in danger.

 

I'll keep a close eye on the forums today and play the game Whack-a-mole - bang one spammer down, and another spammer pops up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[George Smolinski]

Peter,

Thanks again to you & the other moderators for your efforts. I think your efforts are worth not 👍👍, not 👍👍👍, but 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍😁

[R W Burgess]

14 minutes ago, Peter Gariepy said:

• We've seen over 100 spam accts created in the past 24 hrs.
• We've updated the signup spam filters to make it harder for them to sneak in. (unfortunately it makes it a little hard for real users to signup too)
• We've removed over 500 spam posts.
• We've identified and filtered out about 10 IP address ranges (mostly from India and Indonesia).

 

With any luck we've squashed the attack.

 

NOTE:  No, your account privacy is not in danger.

 

I'll keep a close eye on the forums today and play the game Whack-a-mole - bang one spammer down, and another spammer pops up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*

*

Peter,

Not funny, but the video is and I know its a tough job to control.

[zdillinger]

Thank you for fending off the spamming slimeballs!

[jimy]

I haven’t seen much of this on other forums lately.  I know some forum software requires a moderator to “approve” new member submissions.  Is that possible here?  

[Peter Gariepy]

19 minutes ago, jimy said:

I haven’t seen much of this on other forums lately.  I know some forum software requires a moderator to “approve” new member submissions.  Is that possible here?  

Its adds more work for the moderators, and 98% or the time it's not required.

 

Spammers come in waves. Im hoping this is a short term trend that will end soon. (if it hasn't already with the changes I've made)

[Terry Bond]

Thanks, it's a tough job but the response from Peter and the moderators is always quick. 

Terry

[TheMoneyPit]

Thank you for the update and all the hard work you have done! It definitely looks like a planned assault on the forum with the shear number of different accounts and posts that popped up in such a short time.

 

We appreciate everything that you moderators do to keep it clean

[Walt G]

My sincere thanks as well , so many people take great joy and solace in the AACA forums especially in the winter months where depending upon your location being outdoors can be a blustery and possible frosty experience.

REMINDER to all - pay your dues to AACA, join if you aren't a member. The dues pay for these forums to exist!  You care enough to view what you see here everyday so be kind enough to show your appreciation for the cost of the dues.

Edited December 1, 2022 by Walt G (see edit history)

[dalef62]

I think we should double the moderators pay!  No, wait, triple their pay!!!!!!!!!!!

Good job guys!!!!

[SC38dls]

Peter , Thank you. Great job knocking these jerks off the forum. It’s seems like a 24/7 job of late and you don’t even get to eat the spam!  
dave s 

[rocketraider]

T'anks large!😎

 

I found it hard to believe all those customer service departments shared one toll-free phone number!

[avgwarhawk]

Some people have way to much time on their hands.  Honestly, just what is the joy of spamming a forum? 

[Billy Kingsley]

I've been dealing with a lot of spam on the NASCAR forum I run as well, it's not fun in the least and you have my sympathies for how much you are getting. 

 

One of my biggest missed picture regrets is when I saw the Spam can shaped motorhome on I84 around 2002, predating the digital camera or smart phone era. Unlike the Oscar Mayer Weiner Mobile I've never seen the Spam mobile again.

[rocketraider]

The bastards just started up again with an undoubtedly fake TF# for southeast Asian airlines.

 

My daddy used to say some people need killing.

[wayne sheldon]

Thank you Peter G! I always wonder if I should click the three dots and "Report" or not. I don't want to be a complainer, nor do I necessarily want to add to a long list of others that may have already reported that stuff. However, sometimes at the hours I am wondering around here? There may not be many others to report it?

Two nights ago, there was a lesser attack, maybe fifteen to twenty spam under General Discussion during the wee hours PST, I don't know about many other topics that night or if it continued to be added to later.  The following morning yesterday, it was gone (thank you!).

Then, folks, last night under General Discussion there were more than THREE and a HALF PAGES of spam! At forty replies per page that was nearly 150 spam in one long dump!

Last night I did click on "Report". Again Peter G, thank you.

I did wonder last night if your rapid closing them down the night before didn't goad them into the larger attack? 

 

A silly thing. I actually like Spam occasionally. Bread, cheese, mustard. Nice easy lunch. And I have on occasion fried it (like the commercial says, "Mmm-mm"). I find myself thinking these other spammers should be slow roasted alive over an open flame. My apologies if anyone finds that comment offensive.

[Crusty Trucker]

 

3 hours ago, Billy Kingsley said:

I've been dealing with a lot of spam on the NASCAR forum I run as well, it's not fun in the least and you have my sympathies for how much you are getting. 

 

One of my biggest missed picture regrets is when I saw the Spam can shaped motorhome on I84 around 2002, predating the digital camera or smart phone era. Unlike the Oscar Mayer Weiner Mobile I've never seen the Spam mobile again.

 

Next stop:   AACA HQ

 

 

Edited December 2, 2022 by Crusty Trucker (see edit history)

[Bloo]

4 hours ago, avgwarhawk said:

Some people have way to much time on their hands.  Honestly, just what is the joy of spamming a forum? 

 

I doubt a human wasted time doing that. It is probably scripted, and goes around the web looking for specific brands and types of forum software it has been designed to attack.

 

Someone, somewhere is hoping .001% or so of the people who saw that wrote down a phone number, and can be scammed later on. It would still be a large number of potential scam victims. They usually do this in the middle of the night, in the hopes more people will see it before moderators take it down.

 

Reporting the spam with the report button is the best thing you can do about it. If the moderators see one spam message from a particular user, of course they will know that all the rest of the activity on that user's account is probably spam too. Our moderators are really good at whack-a-mole, and remove this kind of stuff fast compared to other forums I have been a member of.

 

 

Edited December 2, 2022 by Bloo (see edit history)

[Crusty Trucker]

3 hours ago, wayne sheldon said:

[ I ] wondered if I should click the three dots and "Report" or not. I don't want to be a complainer, nor do I necessarily want to add to a long list of others that may have already reported that stuff. However, sometimes at the hours I am wondering around here? There may not be many others to report it?

 

 

I think that reporting ANY out of the ordinary occurrence is a good idea - even if you feel that someone else may have already done so. This Spam episode was not a life-threatening thing, nor was it to go un-noticed very long by the moderators. A good Samaritan doesn't hesitate and say to himself, "I'm sure someone has reported this," or "let George do it". In the real world, in case of a real emergency, your call could easily save a life or prevent further problems. Rather it be the 10th or even the 100th call than not having any calls at all.

Edited December 2, 2022 by Crusty Trucker (see edit history)

[Peter Gariepy]

For sure report no matter what.  

[JamesR]

I'll add my thanks to Peter and all the other moderators as well. Your efforts are appreciated by many people.

[Bloo]

And they're at it again...

 

[Studemax]

12 hours ago, Peter Gariepy said:

Spammers come in waves. Im hoping this is a short term trend that will end soon.

Seriously, Pete? Tossing spammers (especially porn) out the airlock was a daily chore back when I ran an old Google group. They are an evil which seems to endure like rust and athlete's foot.

[58L-Y8]

Thanks for all your hard work and diligence in keeping this forum free of spam.   No response from any of the participants also helps if they collect response data.  Only takes a few to respond to encourage the attack to continue.  NEVER respond to spam!

[Peter Gariepy]

And now they are gone...