Comment spam

Site Feedback
1

I’m seeing some comment spam posted to my stories, ending with “check out my blog” and a link to a gay dating site. I know this is an issue everywhere, so is there a way I can flag comments for the admins to delete?

1 Like
2

I, too am suddenly getting these. I must admit, it creeps me out. I would never visit such a site on this kind of anonymous recommendation, and I advise others (if they find those comments) to treat them likewise as potential phishing/virus risks. I hope there will be a way for them to be removed safely by those with the power to do so.

1 Like
3

I’m sorry about this, guys, but it was bound to happen at some point.

I can’t do anything about it right now, because I’m on vacation atm. And the only thing that helps might be one of these dreaded ‘real human checks’.

I hate spammers!

1 Like
4

@Corin, it happens and is a mark of the time. It is bound to happen. Perhaps you can think of something (or the software has a module). We’ll wait for you.

Enjoy your very well deserved vacation.

1 Like
5

I woke up this morning and saw that my stories are being spammed. I absolutely hate this for various reasons:

  1. The person responsible is obviously not reading the stories. He’s using the author’s hard work to piggy back and advertise a website that he wants legitimate readers to check out.

  2. I often check out the comment section to see what stories are generating interests or buzz. But right now, the entire comment section is pretty much unreadable because it’s littered with spam. So the person responsible has completely devalued a tool that could help readers to find stories of interest.

  3. The comments that are being written actually devalue the story. Just the grammar, and that it reads as if it were copy / pasted repeatedly shows that there’s no value to the comment. And in turn, it makes it feel like then there should be no value to the actual story.

  4. My email is being hit repeatedly with notifications of the spam. I have my account set up to receive notifications. So about every hour, I suddenly receive about 10 - 20 emails, informing me that the spammer has hit again. And then I’m suddenly getting angry that nobody has put a stop to this.

This really needs to stop. Even if a dramatic course of action i.e. suspending the comment section entirely. I would rather have no comments than being subjected to this garbage.

Martin, I really value everything you’ve put into this site. And I know you’re on vacation. And you deserve it. I just hate to see somebody taking advantage of your website, and taken advantage of all the author’s stories. There are obvious assholes out there that don’t give a shit about the lines they cross.

1 Like
6

Me too… and I thought he was such a nice boy :frowning:

7

You could have manual/human approval only for comments posted by new IP addresses, it would limit the extra work needed.

8

Maybe add for new IP addresses, new accounts (first month?), and accounts flagged for spam? (Last one has risk of abuse though)

9

@rubbrsome

I hear you, and we’re all fed up with spam.

For now, I’ve deleted all the comment spam that was created last weekend. An IP ban wouldn’t do any good, so what I’m going to do is to add a reCAPTCHA before an anon user (not logged on) can add a comment.

I’m not sure when I will get around to do this, though. But it’s the next thing I’m going to do! Just give me a couple of days please.

Martin

2 Likes
10

This means that the minimal amount of spam prevention I put in ( a simple honey pot) has failed. Sorry to leave this with you Martin!

11

Oh come on… that’s not your fault in any way! :slight_smile:

Actually, I feel a bit honored that GSS is now considered a worthwhile target for spammers :slight_smile:

1 Like
12

It was always one of those ticking time bomb things. I didn’t want to put captcha in unless absolutely necessary, but did know that eventually bots would come.

13

The clicking of “I’m not a robot” was fine but the whole “click the image without the traffic camera” is annoying.

14

Perhaps, but it’s much better than the spam hitting all the stories, they don’t add anything. It’s the world we’re in now.

15

If you don’t use your browser in anon mode or clear all data after browsing, the image puzzle should only appear once. As soon as Google knows that you’re not a bot, it will not bother you with that puzzle any longer.

Having said that, I will soon disable that captcha for Patreon donators. And since you’re one, you’ll no longer have to deal with that!

1 Like
16

Recaptcha isn’t that smart Martin :frowning:
It serves its purpose tho, and has eliminated the spam.

I think a reasonable solution is forcing users to do a recaptcha when logging in, but not to require one if you’re logged in. That should be roughly the same as how it sounds you thought it would work.

Also probably more work, and I’m the last one to want you to do more work. Only if you feel like it/think it’s a good idea.

You could also do email verification, but that could get costly and annoying. I.e. in order to create an account or post an anonymous comment, you have to submit an email address and then click on a verification link in the email. Requires more infrastructure though and might be costly.

Also, things are working as they are now.

17

There seems to be a new one touting a gay dating site as of today (10/21/20)