Freesound Forums

Hi all. I've noticed alot of comments on sounds containing hyperlinks. I guess for the computer savvy types already know to be careful when clicking them but for those that aren't: please use due diligence and be careful not to click on links from untrusted sources.
Of course these comments should be deleted and eventually will be as they are most likely spam.
Do not click links from untrusted sources, especially so in your email or even free sound comments or private messages.

This has been a PSA from g.i joe. lol
Take care

J.P

Thanks for the PSA, Erokia.

Are you seeing a larger-than-normal number of comments with suspicious links? Can you get in contact with us with a few examples? Perhaps we need to take a look at some additional measures to prevent new users from posting links.

I had deleted the comments on my sounds that contained the suspicious links.
Some of them were near identical in grammatical error from different user names.

Examples without the links

The user 'Haskins582' posted the following comment about Ambient Wave 58.flac:

Awesome album keep sharing this type of albums.

The user 'Albert444' posted the following comment about Ambient Piano Mix - 71.050 bpm - MSfxP10 - 20_10:

Much obliged for the information (Target EHR link)

The user 'Heaney251' posted the following comment about MSfxP10 - 18_3 - (Ambient Guitar & Bass 71.050 bpm)-(FS Remix #'s 534933 - 54131:

Thanks for the great album

(crediblebh link)

The user 'Heaney251' posted the following comment about MSfxP10 - 18_3 - (Ambient Guitar & Bass 71.050 bpm)-(FS Remix #'s 534933 - 54131:

Thank you so much for the great album

(crediblebh link)

If more comments like those persist I'll let you know. I can't verify if they were dangerous links or not but they seemed fishy.

alastairp wrote:
Thanks for the PSA, Erokia.

Are you seeing a larger-than-normal number of comments with suspicious links? Can you get in contact with us with a few examples? Perhaps we need to take a look at some additional measures to prevent new users from posting links.

Hey Alistair, It's definitely happening more often now, didn't used to be an issue. A certain 'super user' sends me spammers to remove regularly.

The format for these messages are exactly the same as the spam that comes into the forum moderation. I think they realised that the forum posts get deleted straight away, so decided to use comments instead.

We also need to be careful when thinking about placing restrictions. This is because the comments section is used regularly for people who want to thank others for using sounds and then share the URL. So trying not to disturb these people would be key.