We need spam control. I miss my friends.

[mac78]

:)this place is a mess and has been since last week. Please, can't we appoint a couple volunteers to delete the spam. I will volunteer to check the site regularly. There is such a nice group of people here, but when it gets spam overload, people don't check in.

[Rory Bremner]

Yeah, it's chaos at the moment

[RoseMary]

I feel like people aren't posting as much because of all this spam. There MUST be a way to stop all of this!

[vintage girl]

I definately have been not coming to the board because of the spam. I belong to several other boards and we do not have any spam at all. I really think that they need some better filters or something. Or a way of monitoring when someone signs up to the board. User names are an immediate tip off to trolls. We have lost at least 90%of our board members because of this:mad: This is crazy, there are 20 pages of spam, all since yesterday and today!!! I have sent notices to Hilary many many times about this, but it is happening daily. I will send another notice.

[Hillary Black]

We're so sorry for the spam.
We are working on the problem!

We've deleted all of the mess from this weekend.

If you post now, you will bump off the folks listed on the menu.

Thanks for your patience and understanding!

Hillary and Clev

[mac78]

I too belong to some other forums, and it is nothing like it is here. I am sad and mad that it has come to this. Someone needs to be checking this fourm daily. I know the other forums I belong to, they allow a few members to filter spam and delete it out. I too would think they could have a better spam filter than was they currently have. I sure do miss the ladies here. It so bad that the "legit" post and threads get lost in the mess. Please Cottages and Bungalows, can we not do something about this?

[Hillary Black]

Yes! We are working on getting better spam filters.
Thanks again for your patience -- and for posting --
Hillary & Clev

[mac78]

Thank you very much!:)

[mac78]

I am confused, the above post says the mess from the weekend has been deleted, but it is still here and it is 2:30pm. I apparantly am missing something?

[RoseMary]

Hillary said that if we post on the other threads it will 'bump off' the other people--which means they are still there. Not sure what she deleted. We sure would appreciate some good filters!

[mac78]

Not understanding why they are not going in and deleting those post. That is what we did on another forum we were on. Those post need to be just deleted, not just moved down.

So I thought I would help out and bump up some threads....well I did a few, then realized I have to scan thru 2 to 3 or more pages each time to find the legit threads. That is the problem, all of our good post are totally lost 2, 3 and 4 pages back. Frustrating. Someone needs to come in and delete the spam out of here.

[vintage girl]

I too am confusted as to why the spam was not deleted:confused::confused: We should not have to bump up threads or post to old threads to have the spam move down. It should be deleted!!! If you take a look at the forum, only a couple of us have been posting. We had some new members who no longer post, and I am sure it is due to the spam. 20 pages of spam at a time is just ridiculous:mad: We have also lost A LOT of members over the past year due to the spam. I only check the board about once a week anymore, and end up logging off because of it. I will head elsewhere also if this does not get under control. It also puts all of us at risk for virus' etc. You really don't want to open these posts to report them, as it leaves your IP address vulnerable. I know we are being asked to be patient, but this is happening daily:eek:

[RoseMary]

I suspect we are getting so many spammers because it is so easy to register. I don't want to lose all of my friends here. I miss so many that have already left:(:(

I didn't realize that there were so many pages of them until I clicked on the threads:eek:.

[vintage girl]

You know Rosemary, I believe that is the problem. It is too easy to register. Most boards require a validation of IP address before a member is allowed to start posting. I am pretty sure this board does not do that. And yes it has been 20 pages a day of spam. Really really ridiculous!!! I miss everyone that used to come here, but hardly anyone posts anymore, and I am positive the spam is the reason. I really don't think they are taking it seriously. If so, they would have deleted it and not just moved it down:confused:

[RoseMary]

When I looked at the threads and went from page to page to find some of 'our' posts, I realized how many of those names I haven't seen on here in a while. It is sad, but I'm not sure what is going to be done about it. We have complained a lot and it seems we have more spam than ever.

[canadiyank]

I agree - I'm on a bunch of boards and it's terrible here. So strange! And you're right - it's discouraging to come on and find a billion spam posts.

[Carrie]

The Spam isn't keeping me away but work is. These guys have sure made a mess. Need a full time moderator here. I know Hilary tries. She has a magazine to run.

[mac78]

I know 2 or 3 of us have volunteered to clean house when needed. Just waiting on them to get things set up for us. We are going to become spaminators. ;)

[Hillary Black]

Just wanted to check in and let you know that I do appreciate the understanding! It only takes one or two to come in and make this look a mess but once we get them, it's cleaned up pretty easily.
So far we have two folks on who are going to help moderate (feel free to email me at the office if you'd like to be considered.)
Clev is on it so hold on tight--we are almost there!

Good points about signing up, too. I'll mention it to IT and see if the new upgrade takes care of that.

Now start writing some fun posts! Don't let the spam-bots getcha down! ;-)

[vintage girl]

Hilary,

I was one of the ones who volunteered to help, but never heard back from Clev. I imagine that will be coming soon?

[mac78]

Bumping up.

[Hillary Black]

Check your forum email -- I thought he contacted you guys that way.

I'll also check back with him. Thanks!

[shabbychick]

Hillary, I believe the issue still is that we're not able to follow the steps as he laid them out for us in the e-mail. I've contacted him about that. There is a little box that is supposed to show up next to the message number that takes us to another page where we can delete posts and ban members and such, but that box doesn't show up on either my screen or Marie's. I'm assuming he's still looking for a fix and that he'll let us know when he finds it. In the meantime, I'm continuing to report the spam as usual. In my professional world, technology almost never works the way it's supposed to and will almost invariably fail most spectacularly when you most need it to work properly, so I'm not at all surprised that this process will take some tweaking to perfect. :)

[vintage girl]

I volunteered to help with the spam, but was never contacted. But it looks like you already have 2 members who are working on it, so all is well:)

[mac78]

I did receive an email from Clev, but it was last week. So far it is not set up for us to delete spam.

[Hillary Black]

Okay - sounds like he still needs to make you admins and then you'll see the boxes.

VintageGirl -if you still want to, can you email me at the office directly?

THANK YOU!!

Have a great weekend everyone!

[Bungalove]

More spam creeping in! Please ban any posts with strings of foreign language -- they're always weird stuff.

[chyna]

I have little doubt that logging in here leaves crumbs to be followed. That or they need to tweak even further. About two weeks I tried to log in and it told me I was out of tries and to try back later. Ummm, you get at least 3 to 5 so who was trying to log in with my name? I too only come in here maybe once a week. And that is only after I check to see how much spam is on here.:mad:

[Hillary Black]

More spam creeping in! Please ban any posts with strings of foreign language -- they're always weird stuff.

Yes indeed!

[Hillary Black]

I have little doubt that logging in here leaves crumbs to be followed. That or they need to tweak even further. About two weeks I tried to log in and it told me I was out of tries and to try back later. Ummm, you get at least 3 to 5 so who was trying to log in with my name? I too only come in here maybe once a week. And that is only after I check to see how much spam is on here.:mad:

I've noted and sent to Clev. Thank you!

[shabbychick]

I was able to successfully delete a spam post and ban the spammer this evening, so we're well on our way to solving this problem. I check the forum frequently and will delete spam as quickly as I am able to do so. I know Marie lives in an earlier time zone than I do, so she may even beat me to it in the morning. I can take care of late evening spam before I head off to bed. With luck, things will rapidly improve, so don't give up on the forum yet!

I've often said that if I could have a superpower, it would be the ability to smite a wrongdoer from a distance. This may not be a superpower, but it's close. :) I promise not to abuse my position.

And not only is the spam issue improving, but the sun finally came out this afternoon, and I went out in my garden and pulled weeds after work. Yay! I'd almost forgotten what sunlight felt like.

[Hillary Black]

Hooray! Thank you for the update and for your super powers, too!

[RoseMary]

Good job, shabbychick! I'm looking forward to the users having the forum back!

[shabbychick]

Sorry, folks. When I tried to delete today's spammer, the program rejected my password, so I've just had to report the spam. I'm sure it'll be taken care of soon. This same issue came up the other day with Marie's password when she was deleting a spammer, so I imagine it's just another little wrinkle in the program that needs to be ironed out.

[shabbychick]

I waited fifteen minutes and then went back in, and it accepted my password the second time. I think the posts are deleted now, but let me know if they're not.

[Hillary Black]

I think it's the spam-bots trying to get access so be patient.
Thanks again!

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend :-)

[shabbychick]

I was able to get back in later that day, and I haven't had any trouble since. I've deleted several spam posts over the last couple of days with no problems at all.

[RoseMary]

Thanks for doing a great job, shabby! Sure do appreciate you and Mac keeping on top of things.

[Breezy]

WTG shabby & Mac!!!
It would be great shabby if you could send some of that sunshine you're getting our way!;)

[shabbychick]

My apologies for the spam by the newest spammer. There are more than 50 posts, and I don't have access to the controls that allow me delete someone with that many posts. I'm not sure why that rule is in place, and I'm sorry I didn't get up early enough to catch him before he made so many spam posts that I couldn't get rid of him. I've reported him to the admins, though, so as soon as they see it, I'm sure they'll address it. At any rate, Happy Easter to you all. We sure got a stinker of an Easter bunny this year, didn't we? Nothing but spam in my basket!!

[shabbychick]

Okay, so I think I found a workaround. I deleted the threads he started instead of just deleting his posts, and that seems to have worked. I'll try to remember that in the future. It's not quite as easy as deleting all his posts in one go, but it's not that difficult, either, so once again, Happy Easter to you all.

[Breezy]

Thanks for cleaning up the spam shabby!

HAPPY EASTER TO ALL!!!