Comment/forum spammers are getting more sophisticated... | Gen-Tech | Forums
A
A
A
Topic RSS
Offline
1
Offline
2
Offline
3
Offline
4
Log In
Register
HomeTopic RSS
Comment/forum spammers are getting more sophisticated...
April 18, 2010
5:17 PM
5:17 PM
Ashraf
Mr. Boss
Forum Posts: 1755
Member Since:
October 22, 2008
October 22, 2008
Offline
0
Okay so I have an anti-spam filter on the blog part of dotTech to protect dotTech from spammers. All comments – that are thought to be spam – are sent to the "spam" folder; I check the spam folder on a regular basis to make sure legit comments were not accidently marked as spam and to delete the spam comments. Lately I have noticed spammers are getting more sophisticated.
For example, I was *almost* tricked into allowing a spam comment. What the spammer did was copy a legit comment that was already posted:
So when I was looking over the spam comments I thought to myself "wait a second, I swear I remember reading this comment before – why is it marked as spam?" I was just about to mark the spam comment as not spam and allow it to be posted when I realized that it was a spammer that was duplicating a real comment. Sheesh – tricky, tricky.
April 18, 2010
5:54 PM
5:54 PM
karen
Washington, DC Metro Area
dotTechie
Forum Posts: 878
Member Since:
November 1, 2009
November 1, 2009
Offline
0
Glad you caught it. Unfortunately, spam is effective way to often which is why they (the spammers) keep doing it.
April 18, 2010
6:17 PM
6:17 PM
Locutus
Guru
Forum Posts: 1886
Member Since:
February 19, 2009
February 19, 2009
Offline
0
Wait, wouldn't that not really do anything? I mean, you have names-linking-to-websites turned off.
Oh, the site that was :(
April 18, 2010
10:55 PM
10:55 PM
Ashraf
Mr. Boss
Forum Posts: 1755
Member Since:
October 22, 2008
October 22, 2008
Offline
0
Locutus said:
Wait, wouldn't that not really do anything? I mean, you have names-linking-to-websites turned off.
That is exactly one of the reasons why I have it turned off – I can't sit here and ensure that every person that makes a comment is linking to a legit website.
However, to answer your question, yes it would do "something" if I approved the comment. You see the spam filters uses bayesian analysis. In other words, it "learns as it goes". Every spam comment that I mark as "not spam" is recorded as a false positive by the spam filter. So, the next time a comment – that may be spam – is made by the same person, that comment is more likely to be approved by the spam filter as opposed to if I didn't approve the first comment.
Forum Timezone: America/Los_Angeles
Most Users Ever Online: 253
Currently Online:
36 Guest(s)
Currently Browsing this Page:
1 Guest(s)
Top Posters:
phoenix_rising: 899
karen: 878
Wheezer: 786
yourpalal: 647
PCbasics: 612
ebony: 548
Member Stats:
Guest Posters: 9
Members: 7523
Moderators: 0
Admins: 3
Forum Stats:
Groups: 3
Forums: 17
Topics: 2192
Posts: 15804
Newest Members: HOGCALLER, raj08871, will56678, xmlld, vishnu, haseen
Administrators: Ashraf (1741), Locutus (1886), amnesia (270)
