I don´t know if it has anything to do with it, but I have noticed that on the last few threads that were made into polls, some sort of automatic spamming comes in. I wonder if the poll code has some sort of bug :dunno:. Last one is on the 'Lost' (can´t remember the other tv show) poll. Not a big issue, I guess it´s fairly easy to just trash it, and not even sure it´s fixable. Oh well, just a thought.

Nevermind. I sware I saw it a while ago, must be some bug in my PC, although I keep it pretty clean, I guess this firefox thingy has it´s issues.

Actually, you are right. There was spam in that thread but it was removed by one of the other mods/admins earlier. So, at least you know it's not a problem with your PC :)

You bring up an interesting point about the threads with polls getting spam. We'll have to check into that. The battle with spam here, like any board these days, is nerevending. But we have lots of mods/admins to take care of it :thumb:

Oh yeah, mr. Spam is a bummer. We have to deal with it a lot at work, first thing kids learn when they start programming is to make a 10 line nasty virus code and stick it in our local network :lol:. Oh sure, no doubt you guys run this with tact, care, and good vibe, that´s for sure, really, :wavey:. Back to the subject, could I take a look at that piece of code? Just for the sake of it, I´d like analyse it, would make an interesting thing to do in a while.

Actually, you are right. There was spam in that thread but it was removed by one of the other mods/admins earlier. So, at least you know it's not a problem with your PC :)

You bring up an interesting point about the threads with polls getting spam. We'll have to check into that. The battle with spam here, like any board these days, is nerevending. But we have lots of mods/admins to take care of it :thumb:
I'll dig into that when I get a chance. I thought it was setup to where they have to be registered for a certain amount of time to vote but I will have to double check. Do you happen to catch "who voted" in that PG?

Just for the sake of it, I´d like analyse it, would make an interesting thing to do in a while.
Forget about it, I´ll leave it up to you guys, I deff know you all do your job well, thanks a bunch for the response PG, I´m glad it wasn´t my PC, :thumb:

Yeah I saw a few spams. Glad you guys took em out!

There's definitely a connection with the threads with polls and the spam. I deleted 3 spam posts this weekend, all in threads with polls :dunno:

2 more poll spams in the last 5 min. That's 5 in wah's acoustic thread. They also rate the thread for some reason. This is becoming a pain in the butt. We may have to disable polls til we sort this out.

So you are saying threads that already have a poll in them get spammed? Or is the spammer creating the poll?

So you are saying threads that already have a poll in them get spammed? Or is the spammer creating the poll?

The threads that already have polls get spammed. Here's a good example...
http://www.guitarblast.com/showthread.php?t=3977
This thread was started by wahwah(with a poll) 2 days ago, and has been spammed 5 times already:tard:

We have email confirmations turned on when people register to try and weed out spammers. Beyond that there isn't much we can do other than putting posts in moderation, where they will have to be approved by staff before it's public. If we shut down the polls we would also be shutting down the battles as well as taking a key function away from the site. I will help you guys out with deleting the spam as I spot it though, I know it's a bummer and I appreciate everyone's patience with it.

No worries Eric. I don't mind doing it. I just thought there might be an issue with the polls, and maybe somebody has a fix for it. It seems they seek out the polls to spam in. Maybe it's a bot or something. I've seen this alot lately on other forums as well.

Well, they would still have to confirm by email which puts a human factor into it. That's not to say they haven't worked a way around it though I just haven't heard of it if they did. Most likely it's humans doing it so feel free to start banning IP's associated with the users too.

Most likely it's humans doing it so feel free to start banning IP's associated with the users too.

:thumb:

I've been getting spam sent via my e-mail reply thing on my website...do you think it'sconnectd and generates something? I reckon a spambot or the same person setting up accounts. Have you checked the IP's?

The threads that already have polls get spammed. Here's a good example...
http://www.guitarblast.com/showthread.php?t=3977
This thread was started by wahwah(with a poll) 2 days ago, and has been spammed 5 times already:tard:


unbelievable. I have deleted the odd one or two spams on polls but that is off the charts.

hiya guys, ive noticed this a lot on just this site and not others. i think the answer is to just ignore them, theres enough mods here to just remove their junk almost as soon as its posted, if you remove polls they will just target other areas and if it starts to piss people off then they are getting attention which is exactly what they want, maybe you should have a report spam button so anyone who sees it can instanly let u know

unbelievable. I have deleted the odd one or two spams on polls but that is off the charts.

Tell me about it, lol. I've deleted 2 more since. That's 7 in 2 days in the same thread.

I've been getting spam sent via my e-mail reply thing on my website...do you think it'sconnectd and generates something? I reckon a spambot or the same person setting up accounts. Have you checked the IP's?

Well, since you're subscribed to the thread, the spam reply is sent to you automatically before we get a chance to remove it. The IP's are always different, probably using an automatic proxy changer.

hiya guys, ive noticed this a lot on just this site and not others. i think the answer is to just ignore them, theres enough mods here to just remove their junk almost as soon as its posted, if you remove polls they will just target other areas and if it starts to piss people off then they are getting attention which is exactly what they want, maybe you should have a report spam button so anyone who sees it can instantly let u know

You're right. And, as Eric pointed out, because the Battles section depends on polls, we won't remove them.

I have installed a new spam filter which will:


automatically scan new posts from new members for common spam keywords. If any are found, the post/thread will be sent to the moderation queue to prevent their spam from having any affect. If your filter is very strict, and a regular user happens to trigger it, no harm is done because your moderators can just approve the post.


This includes url's, so anyone with under 5 posts that tries to post a link or key spam words will have their posts automatically placed into moderation where the public won't even see it. Hopefully this will help a little bit.

Thanx Eric. That should slow the bastards down:thumb: