Freesound Forums
Private message spammers
Started February 21st, 2013 · 10 replies · Latest reply by ashberg 11 years, 10 months ago
Am I the only one getting a lot of strange spam through private messages lately?
It contains ridiculous money offers and people who want relationships. It's rather annoying.
You are not the only one 
We are aware of these messages, the admins are deleting said users and their communications regularly.
Please understand that it is extremely difficult (if not impossible) to completely eradicate the ability for such activity. Although, we do our best to remove the perpetrators immediately.
My advice to you and anyone else is to report spam as soon as possible of you suspect it. Unlike other big websites, all individual reports are read in good time by admins.
Go here to report spam in private messaging to make sure they don't get the chance to strike again: http://www.freesound.org/contact/
Alternatively, navigate to the bottom of any page to find the link.
Regards,
Sam
I am the thing that goes bump in the night...
Freesound Housekeeper
Thanks for you reply!
Good to know I'm not alone.
I've marked every one of those messages as Spam and I must say, it's moderated rather quickly indeed.
Thumbs up for the admins!
Too bad there isn't a concrete solution to keep those spammers out though. Maybe monitor new users who send a lot of private messages or doing a lot of forum posts in a short period or something?
jorickhoofd wrote:
Thanks for you reply!
Good to know I'm not alone.I've marked every one of those messages as Spam and I must say, it's moderated rather quickly indeed.
Thumbs up for the admins!Too bad there isn't a concrete solution to keep those spammers out though. Maybe monitor new users who send a lot of private messages or doing a lot of forum posts in a short period or something?
Yes it is a shame.
The problem is that the PM spammers usually don't post in the forum so it's difficult to track until they actually send the message.
There is definitely room for improvement in spam prevention measures, I imagine most of which come at a price.
I am the thing that goes bump in the night...
Freesound Housekeeper
jorickhoofd wrote:
Thanks for you reply!
Good to know I'm not alone.I've marked every one of those messages as Spam and I must say, it's moderated rather quickly indeed.
Thumbs up for the admins!Too bad there isn't a concrete solution to keep those spammers out though. Maybe monitor new users who send a lot of private messages or doing a lot of forum posts in a short period or something?
Yes it is a shame.
The problem is that the PM spammers usually don't post in the forum so it's difficult to track until they actually send the message.
There is definitely room for improvement in spam prevention measures, I imagine most of which come at a high price; Freesound is a non-profit organisation so I assume its not really viable to do so.
I am the thing that goes bump in the night...
Freesound Housekeeper
Timbre wrote:
... only allowing one PM per day for new members until a probationary period has expired.
The clock for the probationary period should start when the first PM is sent,
otherwise someone could join, leave the account to mature for the probationary period,
them send a flood of PM spam.
Timbre wrote:
other internet forums limit PM spam by ...not allowing a member to send PMs until they have made a certain number of posts.
or only allowing one PM per day for new members until a probationary period has expired.
Yes. Like the anti-IMG spam measures for new users in most forums.
This would work.
I am the thing that goes bump in the night...
Freesound Housekeeper
