PM spam

Meister · 12-22-2009, 01:41 PM

Lately we've been getting spambots that bypass the whole Rules Acceptance thread setup by mass PMing users directly. So, a small change in the registration process: if you haven't signed the Rules Acceptance thread you can't use private messages anymore. We'll make sure users who run into problems during registration will have a way to contact us. There's also a 5-minute delay in the PM system now. If you've just sent a PM, you'll have to wait five minutes until you can send the next one. Let us know if that causes any problems for you.

e: do continue to tell us about PM spammers that slip through the net so we can ban them. Forwarding the offending PM to one or all of us is the best way.

Nikose Tyris · 12-22-2009, 08:02 PM

The 5 minute thing is going to be murder on messaging more then 1 person at a time.

Considering that's a fairly regular thing for me, that's definitely a concern. I usually find the 60 second rule chaffing.

Meister · 12-23-2009, 11:44 AM

I see what you mean. Alright, gonna set it back to 60 seconds - the other change should mostly take care of the problem anyway.

Nikose Tyris · 01-02-2010, 11:39 AM

Unfortunately it does not seem that is the case.

Meister · 01-02-2010, 11:43 AM

... so does that mean there's another one who slipped through, or...?

'cause if so who is it so he can be banned and so we can check how far he got through the "defense lines."

Nikose Tyris · 01-02-2010, 11:47 AM

He's already been banned- But he was able to send a PM with 0 posts.

I logged in to find a PM from a now-banned user. I didn't report it initially because it had already been dealt with- but I realized this morning that I should probably post here and mention it.

Also I deleted the PM, so uh, I'm sorry I don't have the name.

Meister · 01-02-2010, 11:53 AM

Ah okay. That was probably the one SO caught on Wednesday, then. Thanks for keeping an eye open though.

Thing about that was while I had disabled PMing for users who had followed the confirmation e-mail link but not yet done the rules acceptance post, I'd actually forgotten to disable PMing for users who hadn't followed that link. Duh. But yeah now this should be taken care of.

12-22-2009, 01:41 PM	#1
Meister Pure joy Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Germany Posts: 10,689	PM spam Lately we've been getting spambots that bypass the whole Rules Acceptance thread setup by mass PMing users directly. So, a small change in the registration process: if you haven't signed the Rules Acceptance thread you can't use private messages anymore. We'll make sure users who run into problems during registration will have a way to contact us. There's also a 5-minute delay in the PM system now. If you've just sent a PM, you'll have to wait five minutes until you can send the next one. Let us know if that causes any problems for you. e: do continue to tell us about PM spammers that slip through the net so we can ban them. Forwarding the offending PM to one or all of us is the best way.

12-23-2009, 11:44 AM	#3
Meister Pure joy Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Germany Posts: 10,689	I see what you mean. Alright, gonna set it back to 60 seconds - the other change should mostly take care of the problem anyway.

01-02-2010, 11:43 AM	#5
Meister Pure joy Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Germany Posts: 10,689	... so does that mean there's another one who slipped through, or...? 'cause if so who is it so he can be banned and so we can check how far he got through the "defense lines."

01-02-2010, 11:53 AM	#7
Meister Pure joy Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Germany Posts: 10,689	Ah okay. That was probably the one SO caught on Wednesday, then. Thanks for keeping an eye open though. Thing about that was while I had disabled PMing for users who had followed the confirmation e-mail link but not yet done the rules acceptance post, I'd actually forgotten to disable PMing for users who hadn't followed that link. Duh. But yeah now this should be taken care of.