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#1 2018-01-12 11:35 am

bryanb
Member
Registered: 2018-01-09
Posts: 2

Xenforo spam registrations

I have newly relaunched my forum using Xenforo - which supports stopforumspam via the API key. This works like a charm, but only seems to be adding spammers to myspammers list automatically when we ban them for spam. We can manually upload their information in "Add Spam Data" as well, but what happens to the spammers who get caught out during registration?:

spammer.PNG

When these accounts are processed, they do not show up in myspammer list. Is there a way to have these accounts show up in this list?

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#2 2018-01-12 11:58 am

Papa Parrot
Member
From: Mexico
Registered: 2011-08-19
Posts: 1,826
Website

Re: Xenforo spam registrations

what happens to the spammers who get caught out during registration?:

Well, not sure with Xenforo,  but if they are "caught out" as you say , (blocked, would be a better term) during registration, then they have not been able to register, if they couldn't register , then they couldn't actually post any spam, so there would not be anything to submit.
The data you submit and that you see in your "MySpammers" should only be when actual spam was posted,   This means , only if they have registered, and the e-mail address was verified, and either posted spam, or used their profile settings to post spma links (urls) in their signature, et.

Spam bots that get blocked at registration should not be getting added to your MySpammers nor the data base.
The only exception on this is if and when it is a "honey pot",  and it has been approved by Pedigree for submitting data.

Have you read the FAQ ? If you haven't , then you should.

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#3 2018-01-12 1:20 pm

kpatz
Member
Registered: 2008-10-09
Posts: 1,437

Re: Xenforo spam registrations

As Garry alluded to, Xenforo is working correctly.  Only spammers who get past registration and post actual spam, or put spam links in their profile can be submitted to the database.  If the spammer is blocked at registration time, the process worked (spammer blocked, yay!) but he can't be submitted.

Have you read the FAQ ? If you haven't , then you should.

FYI, the FAQ makes no mention of what can and can't be submitted.  The only entries in there are:

1. "How we prefer not to see the data used and why"
2. "Not all IP addresses are equal"
3. "What you should think about using the data for"

And the first and third entries have the same content.

None of them cover the submission of data.

I've mentioned a number of times that the "no spam, no submit" policy isn't mentioned on the submission page, or in the FAQ, or anywhere but in various forum topics not everyone is going to come across, which is why this topic comes up so often in the forum.

P.S. The FAQ is broken in Chrome too.  Clicking on the titles doesn't open up the entry.  I had to use MS Edge (ick) to view them.

Last edited by kpatz (2018-01-12 1:23 pm)


Spam happens when greed meets stupidity.

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#4 2018-01-12 2:27 pm

zero-tolerance
Member
Registered: 2013-02-25
Posts: 339

Re: Xenforo spam registrations

FYI, the FAQ makes no mention of what can and can't be submitted.

We get a lot of people asking about this, or being told about it anyway.
Adding the submission rules to the FAQ would be a great idea.

Last edited by zero-tolerance (2018-01-12 2:30 pm)

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#5 2018-01-15 10:06 am

bryanb
Member
Registered: 2018-01-09
Posts: 2

Re: Xenforo spam registrations

Thanks for the replies - makes perfect sense. And yeah, beefing up the FAQ would help since it's a little unclear on which spam accounts show up in MySpammers. It's a great tool though - especially how this is working in Xenforo.

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#6 2018-01-16 4:20 am

pedigree
uıɐbɐ ʎɐqǝ ɯoɹɟ pɹɐoqʎǝʞ ɐ buıʎnq ɹǝʌǝu ɯ,ı
From: New Zealand
Registered: 2008-04-16
Posts: 7,054

Re: Xenforo spam registrations

I can do beef up the FAQ.  I'm neck deep in Meltdown/Spectre stuff.  If someone wants to type out a question/answer then Im happy to put it in smile

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#7 2018-01-16 11:45 am

Papa Parrot
Member
From: Mexico
Registered: 2011-08-19
Posts: 1,826
Website

Re: Xenforo spam registrations

Looking at the FAQ,  however if it is not working properly on some browsers, I suppose some people would not see this.
Do's and Don'ts>

Before we jump into the FAQ, here are some thoughts about how the data can best work for you

(There are 3 lines, on the Do's and Don'ts) But that is not the entire FAQ.  How ever I suppose, a additional line,
IE:

Do not submit data on entities that have not registered to your forum.

(short, simple ,explanation)
Only spammers that have registered and posted spam can be submitted.

IF the person actually reads the entire FAQ, and clicks one of the 3 language choices, (assuming their browser works)


English > How can I help

You can submit any users that have spammed your forum or blog through the Submit a Spammer page. You will need a key in order to do this -- that's how we keep track of what's going on. In order to obtain your own key, please join our forums and check out this page to start.

To me this is clear enough, "that have spammed your forum", but I suppose to clarify, a additional line:
IE:

If they can not register, then they can not spam your forum, and there is nothing to submit.


I guess I should have refereed the OP to this:
What constitutes reportable spam?
Instead of the FAQ, or as well, it does go into this clearly.

The OP does ask about when it is Bot registrations,

(2) Accounts registered by bots, which I can know because they entered data in registration fields that were invisible to human users.

and Alex clarifies on that:

Any exceptions/additions? If you obtain explicit permission from SFS, the above can be extended to `bot posts'. These occur principally in sites established explicitly as `honeypots' (a site that a human cannot visit nor see) or, to a lesser extent `honeypot fields' (hidden fields that only bots will post to, or (I've got this on my site) reverse-honeypot fields that humans will use but bots will not. SFS needs to see the code on all of these, plus give explicit permission for them, before use.

I don't know that "beefing up the FAQ", nor sticking  more topics on this would do much good, there will all ways be someone that does not browse/read the Stickied topics, posts ,FAQ's, and  other information that all ready is on the forum.
But also, in any case , if and when some one is not sure about what they can submit, etc. then it is all ways best to ask here, before making the submissions.

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#8 2018-01-16 12:49 pm

zero-tolerance
Member
Registered: 2013-02-25
Posts: 339

Re: Xenforo spam registrations

I think it is worth having what rules there are clearly laid out in a place that is easy to find, and not rely on people having to start discussions on the forum every time.
The FAQ was the first place I looked when I came here, and I found the lack of information frustrating.
Some people find forum discussions intimidating (particularly when they see a lot of people being read the riot act as soon as they open their mouth - which I have seen happening to people here in the past).
Sure some people will ignore the FAQ, but that's not a reason to not have the rules clearly spelled out for those who pay attention.
I've PMed some suggested wording to Ped, because I don't want people to interpret my post wording here as definitive, and there's a good chance he'll want to change it (or ignore it smile ).
I think it's worth having some flexibility for submissions, but there are also some clear boundaries that can be drawn up. Currently you really have to dig for stuff that should be made obvious.

And yes, encouraging people ask here if they're in doubt would be a good idea.
One of the difficulties with that approach, though, is that you can get contradictory answers from different people. Which I have also seen...

Last edited by zero-tolerance (2018-01-16 12:51 pm)

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