SPAMMER ALERT: Influx of new spammer registrations

[Amy]

Last night we were hit with a massive influx of spammer registrations. I temporarily shut down the forum's ability to accept new registrations. I have opened that back up again, but if the huge numbers of spam registrations continue, I'll have to shut it down again until the spammers mass us by in favor of more fertile spamming grounds.

 

For any new crocheters who are trying to join the forum, I offer our sincere apologies for the inconvenience. Please be patient and bear with us until these spammers decide to move along somewhere else. Unfortunately, this could take several days, but hopefully it won't take that long.

[Amy]

We've had two spam registrations in the 45 minutes since I reopened forum registration. That's manageable, while I'm here on the computer to check frequently and shut them down.

 

However, if I have to leave to do other things, I will be shutting down registration again temporarily.

 

Spammers, it would really be helpful if you could tell your little circle of friends to move along to greener pastures. You're just wasting your time here. Your efforts will be much more productive somewhere else.

[TheKnottyMale]

I totally agree with you. There are THOUSANDS of us and we certainly won't hesitate to report a suspicious post. This is one battle they are going to lose

[PBLKNP]

That's really awful that they have to ruin it for everyone...

 

I suppose, if worse came to worse, you could do what Ravelry used to do and issue invitations.

[Amy]

Oh, this will be over in a day or two. The problem seems to happen once a year or so.

[CLLinda]

I think it's terrible. Keep up the good work of keeping them out, Amy!

 

[Peggy85225]

[Amy]

They're here in full force right now. I'm getting ready to go out to dinner with my husband later this evening, so I'm going to be away from the computer for quite awhile.

 

Therefore, I've temporarily disabled new registrations again. I'm very sorry to have to do that, but it's sadly necessary right now.

[RachelG]

I just don't 'get' why they think they have to do it. A lot of spam is just nonsensical piecing together of phrases that doesn't actually advertise anything. What is the point, exactly?

 

Anyway, I feel your pain. All of CPC's Encouragement and Testimonial or Tips and Tricks submissions are sent to me to be screened first before being posted. Approximately one out of every eight emails is something legit.

[redrosesdz]

Hi! I'm Sharon. I picked the wrong day to register, yesterday. I am not a spammer! Thankfully my registration went through. I feel your pain, though. I had to deal with spammers while running a forum many years ago. Good luck!!

[Amy]

Registration has been open again all day today. I'm still getting a lot of spam accounts, but the number has been reduced thanks to adding about 140,000+ known spam IP addresses to our banned IP list. Anyone who really has any of those IP addresses won't be able to register an account.

 

Unfortunately, if a spammer is able to mask their true IP address and register with a proxy, if that proxy hasn't been added to that huge list by someone else, I'm not going to be able to catch them. I may have to update this huge list every day for awhile, as new addresses will be added to the list every day.

 

You would think the spammers would create a list of forums that are well-managed and don't tolerate spam and circulate that around so nobody would bother wasting their time. You'd think the people paying the spammers would want to pay them for placing the spam where it's going to stick, not for trying to place it on sites where it will be gone in a matter of hours usually, if that long. (Well, except for overnight. I do have to sleep!)

[annmcc1976]

good work amy! mabey soon they will see their hard work is in vein and move on

[Amy]

Well, as much as we don't like adding mods to our forum software, I finally had to break down and do it. We have continued to receive way too many forum registrations from spam bots.

 

I've now installed a mod that will prevent most bots from registering accounts, so I hopefully will not have to shut down registration to legitimate new Villagers again.

[Nira]

I just want to thank you for all the good work you do! Silly spammers... crochetville is for hookers

[trudem]

Thank you for all of your hard work on our behalf. We do appreciate it.

[Amy]

The mod is working great! It's stopped a couple hundred registrations today, hasn't caught a real person by mistake, and doesn't appear to have let any spammers through.

 

The only bad thing is I get an email notification for each person it stops. My delete finger is really getting quite the workout!

[MrsForest]

I'm sorry this is happening to you. I dont understand why people do this. Maybe they should get a useful hobby/craft (crochet).

[tnkycrochetnut]

The mod is working great! It's stopped a couple hundred registrations today, hasn't caught a real person by mistake, and doesn't appear to have let any spammers through.

 

The only bad thing is I get an email notification for each person it stops. My delete finger is really getting quite the workout!

 

How about putting a crochet hook in the hand where your delete finger is. Then just use the hook to hit the delete button in between crocheting.

[RoseRed]

How about a knitting needle- they're pointier - lolol

[MrsForest]

Haha how fitting knitting needles. Sometimes they look like torture devices. You could secretly think your poking the person or bot. HEHE.