SPAM private message?

[davidl]

I got a SPAM private message on the forums here. Any one else get one?

[Tony]

I did not get one but we had a report and the user who did it was banned.

[davidl]

Got another one today, different user.

[Tony]

Just report the pm. I'll see what I can do about it. Damn if you do damned if you don't situation as new users pm staff once in a while and having some sort of system where they cannot will cause it's own problems.

[davidl]

What is the correct reporting mechanism?

[Tony]

There is a report button on the PM's which will send us the contents as well as the user who did it.

[Imperial]

I'd also recommend using the "Delete Private Messages Sent by User" in the User Manager so that all the PMs are deleted from inboxes. I just logged in to see two spam PMs still there.

[speedturtle]

I received 2 spam PMs as well. Didn't report them though...reckon user has already been banned. Close one eye and delete the spam.

[scarface]

I also got Spam PM

[hyde]

Got another spam PM. I don't see a report button anywhere. The only options I have are to reply or forward. Please be specific on what steps to take.

[Tony]

The exclamation point image near the top is the report button. Like on posts there is one on the bar there is one in PM's as well.

[speedturtle]

Got another spam PM. I don't see a report button anywhere. The only options I have are to reply or forward. Please be specific on what steps to take.

Besides reporting it as spam, you can delete the spam PM from the Inbox view where it shows a list of PMs:

1) Click on the box at the extreme right side to highlight the message.

2) Look for the 'Selected Messages:' prompt which is shown below the list of messages.

3) Select the 'Delete' option for 'Selected Messages:'.

4) Click on 'Go' button and ...Voil

Edited January 4, 2010 by speedturtle

[Tony]

I'm going to look into a vbulletin plugin to help deal with this or a configuration. We get a lot of bots coming to the forums need a way to make it at least require 5 posts or something to stop the spam. At the very least 5 posts before they can post a url so they're very easy to ban.

[hyde]

Actually hasn't been a big deal in my case - I've only gotten 3. Just wanted to give mgmt a heads-up that some douchebags had crept in and who they were.

[Tony]

Actually hasn't been a big deal in my case - I've only gotten 3. Just wanted to give mgmt a heads-up that some douchebags had crept in and who they were.

All the ones you reported were already banned. I just like pro active solutions over reactive ones so going to find a way to stop them. These days it isn't even bots it's real people doing it so the image verifications are not going to stop them.

[speedturtle]

I just like pro active solutions over reactive ones so going to find a way to stop them.

Good idea.

I know spammers don't give up easily, but we could make life difficult for them.

Like... setting the "Maximum Recipients to Send PMs at a time" to 1. That will make their spamming activity more tedious.

And to make it even more laborious for them , include a value for "Message Throttle Quantity" as well.

Edited January 5, 2010 by speedturtle

[romeo.juliano]

i will report it.. if i get one..

[Tony]

Looks like some new ones they've all been banned.