BPL Forum Posting Policy Revision in Light of Recent SPAM Attacks

[Ken Helwig]

Wow, and of course the usual edited by kthompson…….

nice postive post

[Ken Helwig]

Dan, I have been thinking the same thing that it is someone that is disgruntled about BPL….really I do.

[Anonymous]

" Perhaps a trial membership, returnable (prorated) if no spamming took place, would be the best option?"

What is the reasoning that leads you to such a conclusion? If the registering party is guaranteed their money back after a month, what is the objection?

[Ken Thompson]

Positive, smositive

This is messed up. Been messed up

We have all messed up

Yes I'm being harsh, negative, mean, hateful, trolling, what the f ever else you want to add on there.

As BPL's favorite critic(just ask)this is my role.

I'm mad because I care. I don't need Ken H. to act as my conscience. You're not qualified anyway.

To Thine self be true.

Don't like it, don't read it.

Nice train wreck.

Let's fix this.

[a b]

I just thought of another way to allow our friends in and keep what we already have.

We archive the current site as it is.

Then we open a new BPL on brand new software and begin a-new with everyone.

[Roger Caffin]

Hi all

From Ryan just now:

I'm getting ready to leave in the morning to teach the WTS course in the Anaconda-Pintler Wilderness and will be away until next Monday.

1. I am unable to lock new registrations easily right now due to problems with the integration of registration for accounts with registration for subscriptions.

Therefore:

2. We will be installing a low-fee forum subscription that will allow users to post. When that happens, all users who were registered forum participants prior to the lockdown will be grandfathered in with a new subscription at no cost. I can't tell you when this will happen, but this is the short term solution, and would occur in a matter of 2 weeks perhaps.

That's all I can tell you right now, and it's about all we can do with the software we have; we are going to take some time to carefully evaluate longer term options.

'Low Fee' means a few dollars: not enough to scare anyone, but quite enough to stop the spammers who (I am told) get paid about $1 per 1000 postings.

Yes, the current Forum SW is a handicap, but it holds the Forum Archive. Do we want to lose that? Our first guess is No Way.

Cheers
Roger

[Roger Caffin]

Hi all

From Ryan just now:

I'm getting ready to leave in the morning to teach the WTS course in the Anaconda-Pintler Wilderness and will be away until next Monday.

1. I am unable to lock new registrations easily right now due to problems with the integration of registration for accounts with registration for subscriptions.

Therefore:

2. We will be installing a low-fee forum subscription that will allow users to post. When that happens, all users who were registered forum participants prior to the lockdown will be grandfathered in with a new subscription at no cost. I can't tell you when this will happen, but this is the short term solution, and would occur in a matter of 2 weeks perhaps.

That's all I can tell you right now, and it's about all we can do with the software we have; we are going to take some time to carefully evaluate longer term options.

'Low Fee' means a few dollars: not enough to scare anyone, but quite enough to stop the spammers who (I am told) get paid about $1 per 1000 postings.

Yes, the current Forum SW is a handicap, but it holds the Forum Archive. Do we ant to lose that? Our first guess is No Way.

Cheers
Roger

[James Marco]

Roger, Ryan, Good Job!

Yeah, I had suspected it was not about "what to do" so much as "How to do it."
Adding a single line of code is trivial. Determining where to put it in old code is often the more difficult task.

See below about not being able to code at ALL…

[Eric Blumensaadt]

How about:

1. Using CAPTCHA to enter BPL (not log on)
2. Creating TWO levels of membership
a. Standard Membership at standsrd fee for posting and reading articles
b. Posting ONLY membership at $1. fee
3. spam/foreign language recognition software protection (Sorry amigos)

ESET's NOD software may be of some help.

[G Kullenberg]

It seems that one way to counter the spam attack is to limit the number of allowed posts. I suggest that you consider a "tiered membership" in which $5/month buys you a limited number of posts, $15/month more posts/month, and $25 unlimited.

I don't mind paying for something that has real worth, and BPL certainly fits that description. The articles here are well worth paying for.

I also wish you'd bring back at least *some* ability to obtain gear of a UL/SUL nature. I miss the unique items you used to have available here, though I'm sure this was, for you, too much trouble and possibly too time-consuming an enterprise.

Good luck for the future. Not having this site would be a real loss.

[Damien Tougas]

James, if it were as simple as figuring out where to put one line of code, we would have done it a long time ago. BPL runs on a hosted application – we do not have access to the code. We can't just dive-in and do anything we want. Being a one of the tech advisors here, trust me when I say that we are doing all that we can :-)

[James Marco]

Damien,
Little you can do if you cannot even write code. Yeah, that is STILL the same problem, compounded by not being able to do ANY maintenece programming.

So, anything that was suggested, as far as coding, adding CATCHCAs, programming questions, etc isn't really possible. This means all you can do is set parameters on an existing program.

Economics is the only viable solution. That is, making it cost more to spam than what it they get paid to spam.

Yes, you guys are doing the best you can, given you arn't even allowed access to the code.

[Erik Basil]

" Being… one of the tech advisors here, trust me when I say that we are doing all that we can :-)"

Godspeed, then!

[Michael Ray]

> BPL runs on a hosted application – we do not have access to the code.

Wow. Being as this forum software is nothing like any other I've come across, it sure seemed like a homemade solution. Are you suggesting you don't even have access to the database that houses all the post history so we won't lose anything whenever you do switch to something else?

You should be getting after your host then to update their software to control spam. Other than that, you're pretty well screwed for now except doing the $1 membership thing I guess.

[Damien Tougas]

Michael, no I was not suggesting that we don't have access to the data. I was just responding to the issue of access to the code for quickly resolving problems.

[Michael Ray]

OK. That's good to know. I hope you've tested your backup strategy! ;)

Would have been nice to hear about the code problem from the start so we didn't suggest all these possible solutions. :)

[Mike M]

they're still attacking certain forums/threads- evidently the member only post isn't fully being applied to the entire site

[Roger Caffin]

I have noticed.
It is being investigated. One possibility is that these are 'dormant' accounts created some time ago. Dunno.

Cheers

[James Marco]

Roger, I noticed that just previos to the new spammer, un-paid members were also posting on that thread. ????

[Jim Sweeney]

What, I wonder, do the spammers get out of their attacks? This doesn't seem like a likely place to pick up customers for typical spam products.

[Jerry Adams]

Search Engine Optimization

If there's a link to their site, from BPL which is rated fairly high, then the rating for their site goes up

It has nothing to do with whether BPL readers will ever go to their site or buy anything

Then, when someone searches on google or whatever, for wedding dresses or whatever, their site will come up higher

[Ken Helwig]

sorry for my ignorance, but is it legal???

[Anonymous]

cut to the chase, impose a guaranteed refundable after one month registration fee and stop these a$$holes in their tracks while a longer term solution is developed? Along with this, I think it would be fairly easy to waive this requirement for known, upstanding non members who have already proven their good citizenship, e.g. Bob Gross, Bucktoof Willy, Newton, et. al.

[Jerry Adams]

Many people will be scared off it you ask them to pay anything – you have access to their financial info

Maybe paypal would be safe

[Erik Basil]

Use of PayPal would insulate the buyer from the website: no financial data would go to BPL or its servers. Some folks would still complain, of course.

There are two more issues with PayPal and/or refundable payments: 1) PayPal limits the time frame in which one may refund all of any fee paid (after that, the cut PayPal takes is permanent) and the dashboard for such work doesn't include alarm timers or the ability to code particular transactions after they occur. What seems like an "easy idea" wouldn't be so easy.

I know this because I process/account PayPal subscriptions to another website. So, my input to fellow BPL members is that: "a refundable fee isn't a viable solution to anything", because it would necessarily involve significant labor at the computer and shrieking by customers. Do you see whining and conspiracy theory, now? Ha ha ha ha!!!! Yeah.

"The Answer", visible to those outside the forest, is a migration to new forum software that includes modern, standard features. Here's hoping that move would not require migration to a new front end — if it does, that's why nothing can happen fast.

[Author]

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