Now I love accountingweb, especially any answer.
However I don't log on at 5am. Ever.
Today, this morning there are pages and pages of spam.
Is this a daily occurrence?
(off to bed now!)
Replies (29)
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New members system problem
There is a basic operational / management system problem with new members on AWeb.
Spammers and other "bad" new members know that there is no out of hours moderation.
So a "baddy" will register out of hours and then has the ability to spam.
No forum will ever successfully stop this but a good system to reduce the problem would be to have new members on moderation for an appropriate period of time where their posts be reviewed before appearing on AWeb.
A further recommended step would be for IP addresses of new members to be ascertained and compared to those of existing members - that way multiple ID membership by single individual or organisation might be reduced.
Awww
"Why is there so much spam at 5am?"
I was hoping this was going to be the start of a joke, I was trying to guess the punchline (unsuccessfully).
Punchline
Because, if you get up for a p in the middle of 5am you get.
5pam
(Never said it was a good punchline.)
:)
Because, if you get up for a p in the middle of 5am you get.
5pam
(Never said it was a good punchline.)
Nevertheless, amazing effort! :)
IP won't work ...
@DMGbus - proxy server hides IP
But sandboxing new members comments overnight would probably work
We were half way there...
Thankfully we have the tools to clear things up quite quickly. We have a number of spam blocks and measures in place, but it's always a game of cat and mouse. We've got the team looking today to find another measure to stop further attacks. It's a fine line between allowing new members a low enough barrier to get involved and stopping these sort of attacks. Luckily these things only happen every now and then but it's something we'll work on continually. Again, thanks to everyone who has reported.
Moderation
I would have thought that expecting new members posts to be moderated before posting for a period of time would help but spammers would just sign up and wait until they are able to post.
The real answer is voice verification of new members. How many people sign up each day? Surely the numbers are not onerous.
It wouldn't be such a big problem
If mods logged on more frequently this sort of problem could be nipped in the bud, ie. a dozen spam messages to remove, and IP blogged, instead of hundreds of posts to delete.
It appears that the management don't care what happens over the weekend as nothing ever changes, even when the management know that spam attacks (and troll attacks) are increasing in frequency.
Of course it would make sense for mods to check more frequently
but it would appear that nobody at AccountingWeb wants to do that. They would rather the site be deluged in spam than make a small effort to stop it.
It should be easy for a moderator to tick a box for each spam thread in a few seconds and get rid of the spam.
See my latest (possibly last) 'question'
[EDIT] don't bother looking for it - it will have been well and truly lost in the middle of all the cr@p by now .
I have reported the issue by direct email, but no reply and no action. So until AWeb pull their finger out and deal with this - they've had enough complaints about their membership process for the last few years for various reasons - I'm gone.
PS - I have a good idea who is behind this. Such attacks typically stem from disenchanted teenage geeks with nothing better to do. An accusation that I made against a particular [ex]member recently.
Someone please wake me up when this is all over.
PIID question re overseas flat
[EDIT] don't bother looking for it - it will have been well and truly lost in the middle of all the cr@p by now .
I have reported the issue by direct email, but no reply and no action. So until AWeb pull their finger out and deal with this - they've had enough complaints about their membership process for the last few years for various reasons - I'm gone.
PS - I have a good idea who is behind this. Such attacks typically stem from disenchanted teenage geeks with nothing better to do. An accusation that I made against a particular [ex]member recently.
Someone please wake me up when this is all over.
Before you go you wouldn't like to dig out my question on overseas flats/ private use in a company posted yesterday and proffer some insight? I do not post questions often but this issue (albeit little tax at stake ) is for a family member I help, and is outwith my comfort zone.
Anyone else please feel free to find it and join in.
Overseas flat rental and P11D
Posted by DJKL PM | on Sat, 27/06/2015 - 15:12 72 | report print
Why?
The answer is that there is not a single person inside Sift who gives a [***] about what happens outside of 9-5 Mon-Fri. Jobsworths.
Told Aweb about turning into a hack on 22 June ...
Therefore they have had 6 days to beef up their system and implement measures to mitigate the problem
Also told them measures to take - Sandbox all new members over the weekend or out of hours
Not taking heed of this is pure incompetence by Aweb who should know after 15+ years that these things escallate very quickly - and yet nobody has addressed the matter
A jolly good way of losing members
Hence the impressive 2000+ posts in 10 hours
That's commitment
Wow, 2,082 posts in 10.5 hours is committed (or should be!). Even with a bit of cut and paste you'd surely be looking at insanity before you're half way done. I can't decide whether Wallace is to be pitied or applauded for such stamina. If only one of the powers that be on AWeb could show a fraction of that commitment.
As an aside, what is the point of all this spam? Is there a dodgy link involved that gives them control of your pc if you click on it? Or some weird and wonderful money-making scheme? Or is it just a '[***] people off' jolly? (If the latter then personally I'd have gone for fewer and spread it over several days to wind the advertisers up more - but then I guess these entries will still be there at lunchtime Monday at least)
Japanese Knotweed
Has invaded Sift's garden. Do they have the stomach to remove it? We shall see.
My guess
is that the scum have a program that is written to set up accounts and/or post the messages.
I would expect it's an attempt to take over users pc's. It's worth it if they get one mug and anyway they don't care how much hassle they cause.
Why not
make new members first message be moderated and then if they post something sensible they are free to post?
I'm sure if a new member wants a question answered they can wait for somebody from Sift to report for duty on a Monday at 9 am.
Scrutiny of new members
make new members first message be moderated and then if they post something sensible they are free to post?
Doesn't that sound like an eminently sensible suggestion? I know that it works well in other forums. But I think they need to go further here - too easy for a [repeat] troublemaker to gain access by initially posting something sensible and then letting rip. All new members should have their ID thoroughly vetted before being allowed to post. Problem is, Peter, it was first suggested more than 3 years ago and has been continually requested since. So don't hold your breath.
We'll get the same excuses that the volume of traffic is simply too large for such measures to be implemented - I have a degree of sympathy with that: it's an inevitable consequence of having a free-for-all forum with limited resources to police it. Perhaps we either have to accept that this is bound to happen from time to time or, if we are not, it is time for someone to set up a new, invitation/vetted-only forum where those of us that are interested only in helping each other with our techinical issues can discuss in peace (accepting the odd difference of opinion :¬) )
I suppose
I was thinking of a solution to the spam side of the problem. I agree with you about the trouble makers issue. I don't see that phoning all new member applications would be that difficult. How many new members are they? If they are genuinely accountants they should be willing to get registered and wait for the verification process to work. If they are non-accountants and just want free advice then it's tough! The details required to be supplied should put off most non-accountants. This would make the verification process times acceptable to Sift staff.
I suppose the problem is that Sift want to say that they have as many accountant members as possible. Most "members" will be freeloaders who join to ask one question and then are never seen again. Think of Sage, they make out that loads of people use their software so it must be good but I am sure a majority buy it and either don't like it and find something better or can't get to grips with it. Yet these people are included in the number of "users". Remember: "Marketing" is "lies"!