Profile Spam?

[sparc]

I'm seeing an increase in profile spam on IPB forums. I think there need to be a lot more solutions to combat that.

A lot of times these people just register and don't make any posts, so the profiles go unnoticed with website links and signatures that are inappropriate.

Maybe a minimum post count to set a signature and website link? at least it will get rid of the basic spammers. just thinking out loud

[bfarber]

[quote name='sparc' date='30 April 2009 - 03:57 PM' timestamp='1241121427' post='1798985']
I'm seeing an increase in profile spam on IPB forums. I think there need to be a lot more solutions to combat that.

A lot of times these people just register and don't make any posts, so the profiles go unnoticed with website links and signatures that are inappropriate.

Maybe a minimum post count to set a signature and website link? at least it will get rid of the basic spammers. just thinking out loud


You can already do this by

1) Don't let default members group edit profile
2) Auto promote to a new group that can edit profile after x posts

[David Petley]

[quote name='bfarber' date='01 May 2009 - 03:16 PM' timestamp='1241187381' post='1799190']
You can already do this by

1) Don't let default members group edit profile
2) Auto promote to a new group that can edit profile after x posts


Brandon,

I have been having this same problem of profile spam. I went through my member list and found over 100 pages of spam links, images ...and even, in one case, a video player.

I have for now, deactivated code in profiles, but this seems like a punishment for genuine members and I like the idea of your suggestion as a solution. I have deleted all those spam members.

But...I am wondering what happens to my current members (around 50,000).
How do I seperate them into those who have posted more than my newly specified number of posts (thus enabling them to be in my new 'advanced' member group) and those who haven't, and thus need to remain in my bog standard member group?

Thanks for reading,
david

[beeman]

you have 3 options,

1) you could either just leave all the existing in the "basic" group, on there next post (assuming there aready over the limit you set) they will get auto promoted to the new group.

2) Put all your current members into the "advance" group, so the new rule applys only to new members.

3) Leave ALL members in the basic group then run the following simple query



obviously replacing new_group_id, OLD_GROUP_ID and x with what the veriables should bee :)

UPDATE ibf_members SET mgroup = new_group_id WHERE mgroup = OLD_GROUP_ID AND posts > x

[David Petley]

thanks beeman,
all sound like good options :)

david

[Matt]

Already a feature when editing a member group.

[sparc]

[quote name='Matt' date='15 May 2009 - 07:03 AM' timestamp='1242389008' post='1802053']


Already a feature when editing a member group.


Awesome. Thanks Matt. Guess i should really get that RC1 installed on a test board soon..heh

[Will Munny]

You can also disable guests (and therefore bots) from viewing profiles, making the profile spam pointless. This is a setting available in ACP.
While we're on the subject, also set signatures to be invisible to guests, further reducing the incentive to spam your forum.

[sparc]

[quote name='Patrick Shaw' date='15 May 2009 - 10:35 AM' timestamp='1242401749' post='1802144']
You can also disable guests (and therefore bots) from viewing profiles, making the profile spam pointless. This is a setting available in ACP.
While we're on the subject, also set signatures to be invisible to guests, further reducing the incentive to spam your forum.

Having more flexible options like what Matt posted make it easier to to deal with issues on a per site basis.

I currently have profiles off right now for guests, but i'd like to have them open like the IPS forums. The profile spam is part of the reason we haven't allowed it.

[David Petley]

I really appreciate the suggestions that have been offered here and have created a new user group as per beeman's suggestion 1) above (thanks again beeman). Members has become 'New Members' with limitations on profile but auto-promotion after 10 posts to the 'Members' group.

I have also limited my 'Guests' group as per Patrick's suggestion.

What I cannot do is find the option to turn off signatures for a specific group as per Matt's suggestion. I think this would be an advantage for my restricted 'New members' group but even a settings search does not find this. I have v2.3.6 installed, is this feature available (and hidden to me) in this version? If it is there somewhere, can somebody give me a clue as to where I should find it?

thanks,
David

[PrefeX]

[quote name='David Petley' date='17 May 2009 - 12:06 AM' timestamp='1242511580' post='1802610']
I really appreciate the suggestions that have been offered here and have created a new user group as per beeman's suggestion 1) above (thanks again beeman). Members has become 'New Members' with limitations on profile but auto-promotion after 10 posts to the 'Members' group.

I have also limited my 'Guests' group as per Patrick's suggestion.

What I cannot do is find the option to turn off signatures for a specific group as per Matt's suggestion. I think this would be an advantage for my restricted 'New members' group but even a settings search does not find this. I have v2.3.6 installed, is this feature available (and hidden to me) in this version? If it is there somewhere, can somebody give me a clue as to where I should find it?

thanks,
David

Edit your required usergroup, click on the "Global" tab, under the "Signatures" section, there is a setting called "Disable members of this group from editing their signatures?"

[David Petley]

thanks PrefeX, but I do not see the option where you indicate. I do not see a "Signatures" section in the version I have installed.

In Global Permissions, for my new member group I have only the following options -

[*]Can view OFFLINE board? [*]Can view member profiles and the member list? [*]Can view other members topics? [*]Can use search? [*]Number of seconds for search flood control [*]Can email members from the board? [*]Can edit own profile info? [*]Can use PM system? [*]Max. Number users allowed to mass PM? [*]Max. Number of storable messages?

[*]Can view board?

[bfarber]

Matt's screenshot is from 3.0. There are more enhanced spamming options in 3.0. :)

[PrefeX]

[quote name='David Petley' date='17 May 2009 - 12:06 AM' timestamp='1242511580' post='1802610']
I really appreciate the suggestions that have been offered here and have created a new user group as per beeman's suggestion 1) above (thanks again beeman). Members has become 'New Members' with limitations on profile but auto-promotion after 10 posts to the 'Members' group.

I have also limited my 'Guests' group as per Patrick's suggestion.

What I cannot do is find the option to turn off signatures for a specific group as per Matt's suggestion. I think this would be an advantage for my restricted 'New members' group but even a settings search does not find this. I have v2.3.6 installed, is this feature available (and hidden to me) in this version? If it is there somewhere, can somebody give me a clue as to where I should find it?

thanks,
David


Sorry, my bad. I didn't see that you were using 2.3. The path I typed is for RC1.
I'm not sure if this is supported out-of-box in 2.3. You need to get a confirmation from someone else on that.

If this is really critical for for you, you can always upgrade your site to v3 now, although you should might consider waiting for RC2 if doing so.

[David Petley]

thanks folks, much appreciate the assistance here. I guess I will just have to wait a while longer for the signature option :) ...but all of the advice here has been invaluable.

david