Z4-forum.com

Dav the wheel nut wrote:

ranski wrote:empty profile - dodgy looking email account...?

Dave you seem to be shocked or offended?

Just so you're aware guys I did try to delete all these posts and ban them all this morning but didn't work. Short or time to sort it out.

Ranski I think you missed the pun. How WOOD you know. A play on SPAM-DO-NOT-CLICK---PLEASE-CLICK-REPORT-POST BUTTON

I have had a look at the suggested mod but it is incredibly invasive to the core files so for now I have decided to not use it. The software we use is great for the large part but it has the worst plugin system I have ever seen (pretty much none existent) in forum software. The new version is hopefully around the corner and has a much more advanced system of hooks for plugins to use. This will hopefully mean we can upgrade and take some plugins that will improve the site and help prevent spammers.

The problem with taking complex plugins (as I have experienced in the past) is they alter lots of core files and when a security release comes out you have to either manually reverse all the changes first or risk the forum breaking. This is not so bad for small "tweaks" but for something complicated it could take hours to pick through the errors.

Hopefully this explains our current situation. In the mean time please keep on reporting the spam posts, it helps us a lot and makes them much easier to delete the posts and ban the users.

I had the same problems when I ran a forum based on Simplemachines. All was fine until you strayed away from any default settings (colour schemes etc) then as you say some mods were a nightmare. I installed a second copy of the software in /testforum with a prefix test_ in front of the MySQL tables, so I could test stuff before rolling it into 'prod'.

TrickyDicky wrote:I had the same problems when I ran a forum based on Simplemachines. All was fine until you strayed away from any default settings (colour schemes etc) then as you say some mods were a nightmare. I installed a second copy of the software in /testforum with a prefix test_ in front of the MySQL tables, so I could test stuff before rolling it into 'prod'.

Absolutely, although I find SMF and MyBB easier to manage as they have a proper mature plugin system, so you can easily disable the plugins, run the upgrade and then re-enable the plugins. Comparatively phpBB is a bit of a nightmare.

In not sure where this spam originates from, but could you look at banning IP ranges?

I think a word filter on the SPAM-DO-NOT-CLICK---PLEASE-CLICK-REPORT-POST BUTTON URL, whilst not stopping the spam, would render it pointless?

Liam-O wrote:In not sure where this spam originates from, but could you look at banning IP ranges?

I think a word filter on the SPAM-DO-NOT-CLICK---PLEASE-CLICK-REPORT-POST BUTTON URL, whilst not stopping the spam, would render it pointless?

Good idea Liam, I will implement that on top of several other preventative measures I have taken over the past 24h to kill this off.

sp3ctre wrote:

Liam-O wrote:In not sure where this spam originates from, but could you look at banning IP ranges?

I think a word filter on the SPAM-DO-NOT-CLICK---PLEASE-CLICK-REPORT-POST BUTTON URL, whilst not stopping the spam, would render it pointless?

Good idea Liam, I will implement that on top of several other preventative measures I have taken over the past 24h to kill this off.

Does that mean "kitchen" is now on the naughty words list ?


Tapatalking...

bump

Hi guys,

Just wanted to say thanks for doing a great job with this. The spam we have been getting recently has been swiftly reported and has been easy to remove. It makes a hell of a difference for us so just wanted to say thanks for reporting them!

As a quick reminder, the report post button is on the right, it's a small red exclamation mark in a triangle

Thanks

Not really helping me get a new kitchen though!!! :p

You should move the best into a section only members can access. Then we can all giggle and comment like the kids we are

Stuart Truman wrote:You should move the best into a section only members can access. Then we can all giggle and comment like the kids we are

I like this idea

Bing wrote:

Stuart Truman wrote:You should move the best into a section only members can access. Then we can all giggle and comment like the kids we are

I like this idea

Bing,Don't you mean IKEA ?