15 New threads in 2 days

W

we3fan

I have never made a topic like this, but I just want to keep this forum clean, there was not a new thread in "Windows XP Help and Support" for 2 weeks and suddenly I noticed 15 new threads in the last 2 days, so I thought this is not "normal" for this forum, which I have been visiting regularly.

So I went to check the users who created these new threads in the last 2 days.
All thread title names seem to have similar structure.
All user names seem to have similar structure.

Info says that all these 9 users "Joined June 12, 2024 at 1:07 PM ... Last seen June 12, 2024 at 1:07 PM", so they all joined at the same day, at the same hour and at the same minute:

Info says that all these 5 users "Joined May 29, 2024 ... Last seen May 29, 2024", so they all joined at the same day:


Perhaps the new Forum Software is not showing this info properly to me, I am not sure.
I hope I am wrong and they are all legitimate users who follow up when someone offers them advice, but this sudden increase of new threads seems a bit strange.

Maybe it's all normal and there is no place for alarm, but I just wanted a Forum Admin to check this "situation".

Just trying to protect our forum.
 
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Your vigilance is appreciated. It's hard to tell since they are posting seemingly legit questions. What I find disturbing are users creating accounts yet never posting anything. I've already messaged the admin to see if maybe IP ranges need to be banned.

EDIT--

I have started banning those who create accounts yet never post. Why register on a forum if you aren't going to post anything? Buh bye.
 
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Definitely not a spammer.

image.png


Banned and I will ban all users that register but post nothing.
 
@ClippyBeer:-

As a mod of some years standing on at least 2 other forums, you soon get the hang of these characters. It's called 'Profile spamming'; taking advantage of the fact that on every forum, there's always a number of members that like to view all new members.....and they figure this is as good a way as any to get some "advertising" in!

BTW; how d'you like the XenForo software? I see Ian finally got around to modernising things. I approve...it's definitely one of the nicer forum packages out there.

Mike. ;)
 
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Hi Mike haven't seen you in a while. Actually, Ian no longer runs this or his other forums. He transferred ownership recently to new admin(s).

Leadership Transition Announcement

Hello XPForums Community, I am reaching out to share an important update regarding our forum’s administration. Ian, a long-standing administrator who has managed these forums with great care and enthusiasm, has decided to step down due to new commitments. He officially passed the administrative...
www.xpforums.com

I still don't get the point of creating multiple accounts on a forum that never post or for that matter, log on again.

This is the only forum of which I'm a moderator of and want to be. Xenforo is nice although I've always been partial to PhPBB.
 
Hiya, Clippy!

Moderating's a thankless task, mate. Somebody's got to do it, but no-one really wants to, y'know what I mean? If YOU could figure-out the motivation behind spammers, you'd be one of the first to do so!

I got invited to join the mod team at BleepingComputer, just after COVID kicked-in. Talk about being thrown in at the deep end....within a matter of weeks after the first lockdowns started, we were getting hit by an absolute tsunami of spam. Literally. We have a ten-member mod team over there, and we were snowed under; the stuff was coming in faster than we could deal with it. If it weren't for Grinler (Lawrence Abrams, the site's owner and a regular contributor to the infosec community) whipping up some specialised scripts to let us keep on top of things, I don't know what we'd have done.

You're lucky here, TBH. This is a relatively "niche" forum nowadays, so you're not really a big target. Unlike BC; it's been around since 2003, and is known worldwide ('cos Grinler's gone out of his way to make sure everybody knows about it!)

That's the downside of fame, I suppose..! And, er, congrats on the promotion... :p

It's not till you actually join forum staff that you begin to see just how much work goes on behind the scenes.....to keep such venues friendly, inviting AND welcoming. Most don't have a clue what it entails.

(BTW; I, too, prefer phpBB. Simpler to use, yet in many ways the tools are more powerful AND almost infinitely customizable. (*shrug...*) The 'Puppy' Linux forums have used it since, like, forever. I like it.)


Mike. ;)
 
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I never wanted to be a mod, I just wanted the nonsense to stop. It did. I know how spammers operate - they join several forums, post their spam then disappear. It's the ghost accounts (dozens of accounts are created daily but never post) that have me scratching my head. I'm familiar with BC although I never joined - I'm already on over a dozen forums. I wouldn't call it a promotion - more like "the guy that used to do this job quit so now we're making it your job with no pay increase" situation.:mad:

Forums are a hobby to me, something I do when I have spare time and on my schedule. I prefer being a content contributor, not a moderator. I am thankful that somehow this forums has been off spammer's radar - for now. Once this becomes a full-time job it will be time for me to relinquish my moderator role and pass the baton to someone else.
 
I'm a mod on another forum besides just my own, and I'm always scratching my head as to why admins just don't use existing tools to deal with spammers like no permissions without an approved post in a 'welcome' forum, no signature, etc, without permissions via an upgraded user group and more.

On my own forum, I have to approve the registrations so I can just look up the IP in advance and know if to approve or not approve. And they're just the same as a non-registered guest until they're approved, so nothing can be done. Simple.
 
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