Dealing with spam.

[Hoogle]

As this site gets busier so does the the spam attacks.
Unfortunately not every spam attack is as straight forward as starting a new thread saying Hello I am spam.

Types of attacks that are the more obvious 1s
Easy ones to spot
They will start threads sometimes just complete jibberish or they go into detail about something a popular 1 we get daily is how to convert video to iphone.
These 1s are quite easy to spot and deal with.

Sometimes you need to look twice ones
These spam bots will usually attack older threads and directly copy and paste previous posts on that thread normally they do this for 5 posts and then they will post a link to a spam site either as a new thread or on an old thread.

The medical web hosting spam on holiday ones
These Posts are usually dropping the name of some medical pill, web hosting sites or holiday planning sites. sometimes so subtle that you have to google the name etc.

Ok So what to do when Spam slips through the net.

Option 1 if it is a new thread started and you are unsure if it is spam maybe post a feeder sample question to them they usually do not respond if spam
if they dont respond or your unsure click the report button.

Option 2 If it is obvious spam click the report button more so if this is on older threads as we can come and delete the post and the forum goes back to new threads and current threads that are being discussed.
But when you comment after it when your all annoyed by it then that thread will stay at the most recent threads as you have bumped the thread therefore making the new threads go down and lost I know spam is frustrating but you responding to it on a thread is doing exactly what it wants your bumping it to the top of the threads for more people to see until a mod or admin deletes it. so under the Whats new threads after you have commented after a spam bot we can get threads that are 5 years+ old as bots attack the old threads more often.



If you want to talk to a bot then try and refrain it to new threads started by them and make sure you hit the report button

[Hoogle]

And on a side note we get approximatel around 100+ new members everyday and only about 5 or so will post a thread and say Hello I am new. you can see these new members by loading up the list of forums at the bottom of the page you will see a stats section you can change these stats to new members and show more and have a list of upto 200. A lot of them create accounts and let them not have activity and come back at a later date to spam so it is hard for us to keep track of every new member.

The staff can probably spot the new threads started by spam quite easily when we log on but it is a lot of work to go through all the threads and see spam posts so we count on that report button. it directs us straight to it so we can deal with it.

[dv8_fx]

Just a note to add..


There have been a lot of cases where spam links are added in by spammers after their initial post. These links are in the form of one or two words easily spotted by it's font color.

Tho all the mods try their best to find and delete them, there are a few that eludes our detection. Junk that gets added in while we're away.


Everyone's help in spotting and reporting spam is highly appreciated.


Help the PSG Moderators clean up the mess.


So CAYG .... Clean As You Go.....

[Zeealex]

how about people who regularly report spam get rewarded with a "spam Killer" title XD naah just kidding, sorry about discussing on spam bot threads. is there any way of reporting the spam without viewing the thread? saves the extra click

[Hoogle]

no it is just the report button the obvious 1s we see but when people comment on threads that have a post previous then we may miss it they members dont report it. it does not matter about commenting as such as long as we get a report if that makes sense.
Here is your new avatar lol

[Paul]

I don't get it?

[dv8_fx]

how about people who regularly report spam get rewarded with a "spam Killer" title XD naah just kidding, sorry about discussing on spam bot threads. is there any way of reporting the spam without viewing the thread? saves the extra click

The only way to make that report is to view the thread so you can access the report/PANIC button... we wouldn't be aware of the spam post even if you make a reply or comment on the thread. Unless of course, we get to read the post.

You're action of making the report will create alarm bells at HQ, so to speak. We Mods will never miss that coz it's the first thing we will see when we check-in the forum. And even if we're not on the board, we receive a text notification on our celphones.

lol.... just kidding... but seriously, we are notified.

[Hoogle]

well you may be kidding but I do all my email comes through to my phone

[iDad]

OMG......... dont admit that..oops to late!~LOL

[Hoogle]

I only switch it on when I am away just incase something drastic happens and I am needed urgently lol.

The great thing is all the mod tools work on my iphone I was not expecting that