Spam cleanup - Deleted Users with 0 posts

[freak]

Hello everybody,

As you may or may not have noticed, the forum has seen some increased spam recently. In addition to the spam accounts that actually made spam posts (and are therefore easy to identify), there were also a ton of spam user accounts created with no posts as of yet. Spam bots create these to come back days or weeks later to post the actual spam. Since these spam accounts cannot be easily distinguished (in an automated way) from real accounts with no posts, we have decided to delete all accounts with 0 posts that were created in the last two months. This was done purely to get rid of the increased number of spam accounts and not to discourage people from registering without writing posts.

So, if you are a real user that registered in the last two months and have not posted yet, we apologize for the deletion of your account. Feel free to re-register your account at any time.

We hope such measures will not be needed in the future.

The PureBasic Team

[C64]

Thank you for your efforts.

[c4s]

Tip: Also delete those users that have 0 posts but a website linked in their profile and/or signature (first one might be easier to detect though).

[greyhoundcode]

Another forum I frequent, also powered by phpBB, have applied a modification that requires users with < 10 posts to complete a CAPTCHA validation. Seems to have had quite some success in reducing automated spam.

[Rings]

Tip: Also delete those users that have 0 posts but a website linked in their profile and/or signature (first one might be easier to detect though).

i'm on it, but that take some time (Back in march 2010 now...).

/me like deleting spam-users

[Vera]

/me like deleting spam-users

than better take your time & relish as they might not grow back in the same amount anymore

thanks ~ Vera

[Little John]

Thanks, freak!

[kenmo]

Good move, guys!

[flaith]

Wow at least 800 (iirc) members less, that's what i call "a cleaning"

[C64]

Why haven't these "users" been deleted? They're on here right now.

Users browsing this forum: Bing [Bot], Exabot [Bot], Google [Bot] and 4 guests

[Trond]

Why haven't these "users" been deleted? They're on here right now.

Users browsing this forum: Bing [Bot], Exabot [Bot], Google [Bot] and 4 guests

They are search engines, they don't post spam.

[Marlin]

Why haven't these "users" been deleted? They're on here right now.

Users browsing this forum: Bing [Bot], Exabot [Bot], Google [Bot] and 4 guests

They are search engines, they don't post spam.

Also I would argue, that the fact that those are identified
(spiders usually identify themselfes via header lines in their http requests),
does not mean, they are logged in or even do have accounts at all.

[Lord]

Why haven't these "users" been deleted? They're on here right now.

Users browsing this forum: Bing [Bot], Exabot [Bot], Google [Bot] and 4 guests

They are search engines, they don't post spam.

Also I would argue, that the fact that those are identified
(spiders usually identify themselfes via header lines in their http requests),
does not mean, they are logged in or even do have accounts at all.

But some kind of. They are listed as "Registered users".

[Marlin]

(To limit the debt of nested quotes:
This is about bots browsing the forum considered to be "users" or not.
See above.)

But some kind of. They are listed as "Registered users".

Yes, this may be the wrong label put there,
but those entries are different:

• They appear gey and fat and
• do not have link references to user accounts

If they were logged in, they would have links to user accounts
like other logged in users.

I'm rather convinced, that you would not find them in the user list
(unless someone created them to make fun of us or some such).

[Kiffi]

we have decided to delete all accounts with 0 posts that were created in the last two months.

thanks a lot!

Greetings ... Kiffi