KevinR Posted December 31, 2021 Report Share Posted December 31, 2021 Forums are a regular target for spammers, and ours is no exception. The Invision software that runs our forum has until recently been very good at filtering out the spammers and stopping them from registering. Until about 6 months ago, very little admin effort was required to keep one step ahead of the spammers. However, just like the invention of a better idiot to defeat idiot proofing of a design, the spammers have got smarter and have worked out how to get past the Invision anti-spammer registration filters. Over the last few months, I have been controlling spammer registrations with a few extra layers of security. Currently, ALL new registrations, without exceptions, must be manually approved before they can post to the forum - this means that I have to check the list of new registrations every day to authorise the legitimate ones and delete the spammers. At the moment, 95% of the new registrations are spammer registrations - determining if a registration is legitimate or a spammer is fairly straight forward, and there are plenty of lookup tools available on the internet, but each one takes about 5 minutes to deal with. We have also implemented IP address blocking, which prevents forum access from any IP address that is on the blocked list. As the overwhelming majority of the spammers are using IP addresses allocated to Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, China, Vietnam, Thailand, Korea, Iran and Brazil, I have blocked almost all the IP addresses allocated to these countries from ever accessing the forum. Spammers also use IP addresses allocated to many other countries, so when these specific IP addresses are identified they are also added to the banned list. Currently I'm seeing a significant number of spammers trying to register from Canada, Singapore, France, Germany and the USA, but as there are also an awful lot of legitimate members in these countries I am much more selective when applying the IP address blocks, but I have on a couple of occasions cast the net slightly too wide - I managed to cut off half of Australia for a few hours a few months ago - ooops, sorry ! From time to time, the IP address allocation mechanism of your Internet Service Provider will allocate a new IP address for your connection. If the new IP address has previously been spotted as being associated with a spammer and blocked, you will find your access blocked as though you were the spammer - the same thing applies if you suddenly use someone else's internet connection or a public internet hotspot that has previously been used to try and spam our forum. One of our more prolific posting members discovered this over Christmas - I wondered why we had several hours of silence, whilst he thought he had been banned and was desperately emailing people to find out what he had done wrong 😈. If you do find your access to the forum is blocked, please email the Club HQ and ask them to email me to unblock the IP address you are currently using - don't worry if you don't know your IP address, the forum logs will let me know what it is. 2 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue Franklin Posted December 31, 2021 Report Share Posted December 31, 2021 Thank you for your continued hard work on behalf of the Club Kevin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Lewis Posted December 31, 2021 Report Share Posted December 31, 2021 Kevin will you ever get a break ??? thanks for the heads up on how you have to manage a continuing attack by those we dont want sorry this takes so much of your time its appreciated to know we are in safe hands Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Truman Posted December 31, 2021 Report Share Posted December 31, 2021 Thanks Kevin for your above and beyond service and may your 2022 year be less troublesome Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahebron Posted January 1, 2022 Report Share Posted January 1, 2022 Ah ha that will be the other week when I had the not allowed box pop up when I was signing in from NZ. Thanks for all the work you guys are putting into this site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badwolf Posted January 1, 2022 Report Share Posted January 1, 2022 Kevin - Thanks for everything that you do to keep the forum running smoothly and keep us all safe. It is very much appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris A Posted January 1, 2022 Report Share Posted January 1, 2022 All I can say is that I sit here in front of my screen and have a great time, fun moments, educational sessions and, yes, occasionally slightly annoying ones. All this passes without any problems from spammers etc., so I forget about those on the other side of the screen putting untold hours of hard work in so I can do all the above. 'Chapeau bas' to you and I hope you get to enjoy 2022 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trigolf Posted January 1, 2022 Report Share Posted January 1, 2022 Hats off to Kevin. It's a relentless task trying to keep the scum out! Gav Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daverclasper Posted January 1, 2022 Report Share Posted January 1, 2022 Yes, thanks so much Kevin, much obliged. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wagger Posted January 3, 2022 Report Share Posted January 3, 2022 Thanks Kevin. I have a son who has this job for his organisation. He reckons that they need a hundred of 'Him' in reality. Much appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnD Posted January 3, 2022 Report Share Posted January 3, 2022 Plus 1 (million) to the above. It's usually a thankless,unnoticed grind, so thank you Kevin! I don't know if it's associated but since before Xmas I'm getting dozens of emails from "XYZ@googlegroups.com", all telling me that my firewall is broken, out of date, or my subscription is ended. I just block those addresses, but the next is "KYTFY@googlegroups.com", which seems to be a forum site set up by Google, but which is thoroughly compromised and should be shut down, but can you tell Google this? No way! John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wagger Posted January 5, 2022 Report Share Posted January 5, 2022 If I was not so ancient, I would train up in Linux and use a machine without anything Microsoft or Apple on it. My son set me up wit two hard drives, one is 'Read only' hardwired that way. In 1987, we were told that software that modifies anything on your Hard drive without your permission was a Virus. Introducing Windows guaranteed that becoming reality. In the beginning we told computers exactly what to do. Now they control many of us. Social Media has become the Fake Encyclopedia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NonMember Posted January 5, 2022 Report Share Posted January 5, 2022 3 minutes ago, Wagger said: If I was not so ancient, I would train up in Linux and use a machine without anything Microsoft or Apple on it. Go for it, you know you want to! There are several "really easy to use" Linux distros out there. The one I've run on my main PC for the last 15 years, Gentoo, is most definitely NOT one of them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wagger Posted January 5, 2022 Report Share Posted January 5, 2022 45 minutes ago, NonMember said: Go for it, you know you want to! There are several "really easy to use" Linux distros out there. The one I've run on my main PC for the last 15 years, Gentoo, is most definitely NOT one of them! I intend to next time my son visits. He lives in Berwickshire. I adopted him at eight weeks old. He taught himself to read at three years old, sitting beside me, and he had gone through all of the 'Famous Five' books before starting School. I taught him to program at the age of seven and he never looked back. Red Hat tell me that he is in the top 5% of IT experts in the World. I am very proud of him. He bought the Vitesse for me as a 'Thankyou' dad. I do not understand much of what he does but he 'Debunks' anything that is thrown at him. Thankfully, he is a fellow Petrol Head. Also very proud of the second son, adopted at six weeks. Taught himself to ride a bike at three years old, gave me the 'Run around' at Footie and Badminton. He now runs his own Tool business. Has loads of useful Vices, unlike me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badwolf Posted January 5, 2022 Report Share Posted January 5, 2022 Wagger - Just goes to prove that there is some good in the world. I, for one, am very pleased for you and your family. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Lewis Posted January 5, 2022 Report Share Posted January 5, 2022 i used Linux for a good few trouble free years but the latest pair is window 10 and 11 with all the time wasting whirry whirry up dates they dont tell you they are happening till you chuck all your toys out the pram in frustration and then you get a message please dont turn off what im still trying to turn the blasted thing on pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wagger Posted January 5, 2022 Report Share Posted January 5, 2022 1 hour ago, Badwolf said: Wagger - Just goes to prove that there is some good in the world. I, for one, am very pleased for you and your family. Thanks for that. They have helped to keep me going through a very tricky last three years, since a horrible diagnosis. Rock solid reliabilty. One of life's Triumph's eh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NonMember Posted January 5, 2022 Report Share Posted January 5, 2022 1 hour ago, Pete Lewis said: window 10 and 11 with all the time wasting whirry whirry up dates My PC at work runs Windows 10. I use it remotely, and do a lot of work on it. I frequently find myself, at the end of the day, in the middle of a complex test with half a dozen programs open and in a state I've spent half a day achieving. I want... no, not want, I absolutely NEED to be able to leave it overnight and return in the morning to find it as I left it. Those are the days when Microsoft's hard-coded, no choice, no option "updates" decide that what they really want is to reboot my PC and destroy all my hard work. For the other job, where I have some choice, I exclusively use Linux Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrahamB Posted January 5, 2022 Report Share Posted January 5, 2022 I travelled to the head office in the States to chair a series of meetings. I needed to project the document under discussion onto the screen so just before the start, I switched on my laptop to be greeted by the message "Your systems are being updated. This could take upto 30 minutes. Do not switch off". Fortunately it only took 10 minutes while we spoke about item 2 on the agenda. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stratton Jimmer Posted January 5, 2022 Report Share Posted January 5, 2022 4 hours ago, Wagger said: Has loads of useful Vices, unlike me. I have loads of vices but none of them are useful! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wagger Posted January 5, 2022 Report Share Posted January 5, 2022 1 hour ago, Stratton Jimmer said: I have loads of vices but none of them are useful! I have quoted this one before, but, I had an operation two years ago to remove two gender unique parts. As a result, I have less vices. Believe me, I do not miss the parts. I now have more time to spend on the Vitesse. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Lindsay Posted January 5, 2022 Report Share Posted January 5, 2022 1 hour ago, Stratton Jimmer said: I have loads of vices but none of them are useful! Me too but mine are probably useful for keeping others in jobs... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnD Posted January 5, 2022 Report Share Posted January 5, 2022 4 hours ago, GrahamB said: I travelled to the head office in the States to chair a series of meetings. I needed to project the document under discussion onto the screen so just before the start, I switched on my laptop to be greeted by the message "Your systems are being updated. This could take upto 30 minutes. Do not switch off". Fortunately it only took 10 minutes while we spoke about item 2 on the agenda. Oh, the joy of computer presentations! In the early '90s, I was invited to speak at a meeting at ICI, one of the biggest pharmaceutical cos in the world, at its Cheshire research centre, Alderley Park. I did my presentation on the marvellous new tool PowerPoint, under Windows 95. Just a couple of dozen slides, that's all. When I got to Alderley, I discovered that ICI still operated its global laboratory on Windows DOS, that had never heard of PowerPoint! I had to speak using flip sheets, on which I had hurriedly drawn my diagrams. I never, ever went anywhere to speak without a set of OHD slides! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gully Posted January 6, 2022 Report Share Posted January 6, 2022 12 hours ago, JohnD said: Oh, the joy of computer presentations! In the early '90s, I was invited to speak at a meeting at ICI, one of the biggest pharmaceutical cos in the world, at its Cheshire research centre, Alderley Park. I did my presentation on the marvellous new tool PowerPoint, under Windows 95. Just a couple of dozen slides, that's all. When I got to Alderley, I discovered that ICI still operated its global laboratory on Windows DOS, that had never heard of PowerPoint! I had to speak using flip sheets, on which I had hurriedly drawn my diagrams. I never, ever went anywhere to speak without a set of OHD slides! Been there! For a number of years I used to print my Powerpoint slides onto acetate sheets 'just in case'! Gully Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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