Reported SPAM - split from spam post - please read mod reaction and request

Vern

Trainz Maverick
Reported as spam.

The admin really need to get moderated posting for new members implemented.

Edit by oknotsen (4th post):
These replies are cut from an actual (and removed) spam post (so not initially started by Vern). See my post below for why.
 
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Vern, look at his info. His join date is Feb 2018, no Trainz products registered, from India. You on the other hand have every Trainz product registered and your join date is Nov 2006.
 
Please stop replying as you let the bots know that the forum is active and more spams are about to come. Simply report.
 
Apparently something is seriously wrong as I have not received any reports the last 12 hours (and yes I checked my Junk box). My guess is something is wrong on the side of either N3V or Microsoft. I have reported this via moderator chat to N3V Administrators.

As a general note:
Replying to spam is effectively bumping spam and as a result helping the spammers. A topic at the top of the list is mentioned on the main forum page and as a result is picked up by search engine crawlers faster; usually exactly what spammers try to achieve.
Just report it (using that tiny triangle under the post) as that way all moderators and administrators will receive an email (if/when that is working again) with a direct link to the post.
 
Understood re replying but must repeat the earlier point, why oh why are N3V and the forum admin not taking the simple step of putting new users on moderated posting for the first two or three posts. Even if such a step needs to be approved by Tony hilliam.
 
Understood re replying but must repeat the earlier point, why oh why are N3V and the forum admin not taking the simple step of putting new users on moderated posting for the first two or three posts. Even if such a step needs to be approved by Tony hilliam.

They put a captcha on new members the last time there was a "big" spam attack here. But there was a ton of backlash over it. I'm not sure if the captcha is still around or not.

peter
 
Captcha is still in effect, as are some anti-spam measures.

However the current forum software does not provide a simple 'view moderated posts' menu without showing ALL moderated posts back to November 2006. This list is slow, cumbersome, and at times difficult to find legit posts in. As there are often new members who ask questions on our forums without a registered version of Trainz (either before purchase, or because they are having issues registering), we do not feel it's currently fair to these members to moderate all of their new posts. We are aware of the spam issues, however at this time the best method is to simply report them (I can confirm that I am still getting reports here) and then ignore them.

Regards
Zec
 
MORE SPAM!

Some new user named jyuzwif posted a link to a website for a free trial of some skin scare product called hydrabelle. I promptly reported it.
 
Please stop replying as you let the bots know that the forum is active and more spams are about to come. Simply report.
EXACTLY ... You have not even seen the tip of the iceberg with massive spam attacks and total internet DOS coming in the very near future ... Stop posting personal responses to BOTS SPAM attacks ... Simply "report"
 
There's another one in General this morning.

And I hear what you say Zec, but the situation has to be balanced against the (slight) inconvenience to a genuine new user and the at best nuisance effect of these posts. And what happens when the links get darker and more sinister - hardcore porn or other exploitation type sites. If the forum software does not readily permit management of the issue, then change or update it! As I noted after the previous attack, the Frontier (Elite Dangerous) forum has both captcha and moderated posting for the first two or three new user posts. I haven't seen any spam over there.

At the end of the day this is an official support forum run by the company developing and publishing the product, not some hobbyist gamer's board. Surely it is not beyond their ability to put adequate measures in place as it only reflects poorly on them otherwise.
 
however at this time the best method is to simply report them (I can confirm that I am still getting reports here) and then ignore them.
If you are serious about getting users to report spam then remove the 60 seconds minimum between consecutive reports. Forcing people to wait after each one just discourages reporting.
 
I still didn’t receive any reports.

Anyway,
Don’t worry about that 60 second limit. Every decent moderator knows to check for other topics made when getting pointed at a spam post / topic.
 
I noticed another one today which I have reported. It would help if people didn't reply to the spam posts though as it just brings it back to the top and possibly helping the spammer.

Shane
 
Recently I joined another forum that appears to use the same software as the N3V forum. To join I needed to pass through a Capcha test, then a reverse type of a given word and then a simple arithmetic test. On a post to an old(ish) thread I had to follow the same process.

Maybe it was because I was a noob for the forum but it was very discouraging for posts and perhaps it may be useful here. If I were a bot or spammer I'd probably go elsewhere.
 
Captcha is no longer spam bot proof though unless they use one that is often impossible to decipher!

Whatever, on here I just report spam and move on without commenting.
 
MORE SPAM AGAIN!

Advertisement for a website called [url removed; please think about how happy spammers are that you posted it] just appeared in the General Trainz section of the Forums. If you want to know more, just go the thread and see what it's about.
 
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MORE SPAM AGAIN #2!

More spam has appeared in the General Trainz section advertising some sort of skin care product. I've also noticed that my last post reporting span was at 10:56PM and it's 11:03PM. I don't know if this is true or not, but it may be possible that the spam bots send out links for their website at a specific time of day, so it may be possible to do something like a preemptive strike, having the moderators on the Forums and waiting for that specific time so that once the spam appears on the Forums, the spam is immediately removed.
 
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