spam attacks
 

One third of the topics on the first page this morning were spam (or that creepy troll addressing lcuy). I know the editors delete these when they see them, but I wonder if there is anything else that can be done. It really impairs the functioning of this forum.

Anyone else as frustrated as I am?

Yes Kathie, I too am getting more than a little fed up with this. It also seems that all of a sudden, there are a lot of "new" posters who seem to add little to the forum but rather go out of their way to wind people up in one way or another. Personally, I feel it is best just to ignore them in the hope that they will go away and get on with there sad little lives.

As far as those advetisements are concerned maybe we should all just bombard their websites with fake enquiries about the most complex itineraries which hopefully will keep them too busy to carry on spamming.

I am surprised that Fodors do not take more robust action to ban these posters from the site but I guess it must be difficult to police.

Posts like these are certainly irritating Kathie, but I suspect there is little more that the editors can do.

The creepy stuff addressed to lcuy however, was sinister and quite disturbing.
Hope the editors will take this particular weirdo more seriously than the 'run of the mill trolls', which we see here from time to time.

LOL, crellston! I remember as a child, my father was very irritated by a company who kept sending mail saying "send this card back for a free sample of our candy" (the company sold candy to non-profits for fundraising activities). He got so many of these cards that he finally sent them all back hoping this would stop them, and I remember we got cases of free candy. I don't remember whether the junk mail stopped!

I think we're getting more spam because the pages are now indexed by google.

A post yesterday by Jaya made me wonder if we (the posters) could help the situation. Jaya posted in response to a spam entry something like "this spam has been reported to the editors." While all of us respond to spam by replying "spam" or "no advertising" I don't know if that means the post has been reported. While I often report spam (via that triangle with the exclamation point) it occurs to me that one irritating spam might generate half a dozen flags (or more) from posters which might make the deletion process slower. If the poster who sees the spam first alerts the editors and replies to the post "this spam has been reported to the editors and will be deleted." This miight be a more efficient way to get spam reported and deleted.

(What about it, editors, would this be helpful?)

And I'm wondering on the editors end whether particular IP addresses can be blocked from creating a new account after, say, two episodes of spamming the board?

agreed. but what's this about lcuy? what did i miss?

<b>Yes</b> Fodors should definitely ban the poster of the Lcuy thread.

Kathie, its the price we and Fodors has to pay for the upgrade they made :)
You take the good and try to eliminate the bad. It does seem like a lot of bad lately.....

Aloha!

filmwill, there are two posts addressing lcuy in the title...

filmwill, the really creepy post has been removed......thankfully. The less said about it the better !


Kathie, with regard to your point about IP addresses, this is really very simple and very basic.
As you know, I run a website for our travel club, and I have a very basic programme running within it which gives me the IP address of every hit on our site. It also allows me to block a given IP address very easily.
If I can do it as a 'novice webmaster', then clearly Fodors can do it. I can only assume that they choose not to.

Who knows?....maybe they have already blocked the creep that was targeting Icuy.....I very much hope so.

This thread covers two very different objectionable types of posts. The first, the spam advertising is merely annoying. I, also, believe that the increase is due to the google affiliation.

The second, much worse, is the threads addressing Lcuy individually. Even if this was computer generated, it is still way creepy. The personal element is over the top. The editors should devise a way to eliminate or limit this type of posting.

Its me and I really was creeded out by those two posts....I tried to put a polite reply but was not happy to be called out, semi accused of writing bizarre things, and being asked for my email. (Of course that happens at GTGs too, but then it's only by delinquents like Bob & Andy!)

I saw both were gone when I woke up this morning. Of course by fodors time it was afternoon already. Did the OP respond after I did?

He copied and pasted the 'offending segment' - a ramble in reply to someone called Petra about a naughty guide in Sri Lanka that went on for ten lines.Something about a 54 inch television set.

Then he said: do you remember now?

that was all. What was that about?

I did not see the creepy posts to Icuy. While it is good that they have been removed, and perhaps the perpetrator has been booted from Fodor's, what is to stop him from re-registering under a new name??

I am concerned because I put in a negative (but true) report about a travel experience and I am now getting insults from the person, along with nasty emails sent to my personal account. They haven't gotten creepy (so far), just insulting, but who knows?

I often make choices of hotels, guides, tour companies, etc based on feedback, recommendations, positive and negative reports here on the forums, it is a great expenditure of my money and time when I travel. I assume others due the same, so I feel it is my responsibility to report good and bad experiences so that others can choose accordingly. So we should be free to report our experiences here without negative consequences. I guess it was my mistake to choose a fodor's screen name to similar to my own that someone I dealt with could figure it out.

Well, I've never been to Sri Lanka, have no knowledge of any guides- naughty or otherwise- and wouldn't know a 52 inch set from a movie screen.

After I saw the post last night, I even went and googled somethings like "Sri lanka murder driver" to see if I was losing my memory, but found nothing that might have caused me to comment in any way.

So, no, I do not remember

cm, I'm sorry you got nasty emails in regard to your post. Like you, I feel it is very important to post reports to help out fellow travelers. I'd suggest that you bock the offender's email from your email account.

lcuy, our posts crossed in cyberspace. I was really creeped out by those posts - it was no doubt creepier for you.

I know there are some people who list their email addresses in their profiles - I'd suggest people remove them.

lcuy,

It was a response you made in jest back in 2007 to a spam post about a Sri Lanka driver that the editor failed to delete. Even I responded to that post but your was more "colorful"!

I guess the driver, petraw, holds a grudge for failing to get any business from Fodors but I shouldn't worry about it.

lcuy, it wasn't anything you wrote. The troll "accidentally" forgot and spelled your name with a capital L as in Lcuy not lcuy in the title of the thread so you could tell he totally faked it

Perhaps we should start a list of travel services not to use based on the spam they post. My first nomination is dhtravel of VN. He spammed the board last night, and there are already half a dozen new spams tonight,

lol lol lol we're under ATTACK! There are thirteen spam posts now.

I agree we are under attack! I've never seen so many before....

How do we get back at Dh Travel for his spam attack?

What if we all emailed them with stange travel enquiries, like "I would like to book a mercedes stretch limo for a 6 day road trip from Hanoi to HCM City. Price is no object but the vehicle must be colored pink with very dark tinted windows. Could you please send a quote ASAP...Kind Regards, Elvis"

Let's all fill his inbox with more spam than a Red Cross soup kitchen.

Yahooo! dhtravel sets new world record for spamming the Fodor's board! Does it occur to anyone that Kathie may have indadvertantly started this avalanche off? lol lol lol.

I've also uncovered a little bit of unconscious sexism hidden deep in my heart. All along, I've been assuming the spammer was a SHE, not a HE.

Tell us everything dh...

This is very irritating, I just logged on and 49 of the top 50 threads are from advertisers, dhtravel and trekkinguide. The only two legitimate posts are this one and the one I just started complaining about the situation (before I saw this thread).

seriously...ENOUGH with the spam. fodors, please start taking more precautions. as others have mentioned, it's not THAT difficult to start installing some more validation/security filters that will prevent these types from taking over the forum.

and, yes, it HAS gotten much worse than it's ever been.

Why cant they just block this user and stop them from signing up again from the same URL. They have done it to others for small misdemeanours before.

Or allow some of the more level headed posters to have authority to remove this cr@p on nights and weekends...?

(and yes, I know I wouldn't qualify!)

I agree give a few "level headed posters", not me of course I loose my cool when KW and VB are around, the right to at least FREEZE the user/poster from anymore usage and the editor can take a look at the "suspension" when they start working again. The editor does not even have to declare who they have given this trust to and when the suspected poster try to post something a message "your account is under review" will appear.

Simple!

I agree, there should be more oversight to eliminate the spam more quickly. Do I qualify as level-headed? Bob?

No. Neither of you qualify. Dogster is the only level-headed one here. That is obvious. Pfft!

I think that <b>shanek</b> has an interesting idea (see about 9 posts before this one, at 12.35am eastern US time, 9.35pm pacific, 6.35am CET).

Suppose several people respond to the ad, not necessarily with ridiculous request but with seemingly legitimate, but perhaps complex, requests. Responding to those inquiries might well take some idle time off the spammers' hands.

Wow, these guys must never do any real work - dhtravel has started spamming the Travel Tips board now!

I was just thinking that I've only seen spam on the Asia board but never on the Europe or US boards. I wonder why?

There's some on the Africa/Middle East board too, in the sense of self-advertising, but not a whole spate from one poster.

I had another idea for the spam problem:

change the flag button /!\ that users press to report spam or obnoxious postings. Once 10 or 12 different fodorites push it, the post is automatically hidden till the editors can review and either delete or reinstate it.

Lcuy-- I am very sorry if somehow you were referenced in a post.

We have been working on the exact thing that you mention in your last post lcuy; I will check on its status. The offensive post icon isn't used that often; I sometimes get emails into other accounts instead ([email protected] or [email protected] for instance). I think we need to make it more noticeable.

I apologize again for the rash of postings this morning. It was definitely an oversight on our part and I apologize for the disruption.

The other suggestions regarding adding more moderation are all good ones--I appreciate the feedback.