Spam Activity

[DTLow 5,749]

These forums are getting to be unusable because of the amount of spam.
What activity is Evernote taking re vetting users?
As users, what action should we be taking, beyond trying to ignore it?  I was using the report option but that got old.

[jbenson2 2,149]

Yes, the Spam is out of control - primarily on the weekends when the Evernote employees are off.  

Back in December, I posted several comments about the increase in Spam with the new Forum software. I was removing dozens of Spam every time I logged on. The new Forum software makes it more difficult becasue  the Moderation Actions button does not appear on all the spam messages. I estimate 1/3rd of the spam messages did not have the Moderation Actions feature.

The Forum Administrator posted this message on Dec 21.

"We have new spam controls that actually work with Invision’s anti-spam system. These features either take a while to work themselves into efficacy, or they are not working. I’m hopping on regularly, filtering for all activity, and then clearing out spammish. Old schoolers will note we’ve had a some spam problems before, and I don’t want to ever go back again."

The amount of Spam today has been insane! I decided to stop assisting Evernote in moderating Spam and let Evernote figure out a workable solution themselves.

[CalS 5,311]

It's so bad today I can't see any reason to even try to find real posts.  Worst I have ever seen.

[Metrodon 2,188]

While Evernote have users doing the job for them they will never take responsibility for keeping the forums spam free 100% of the time. 

I visit a number of different forums and never experience the same volume of spam anywhere else.

Frankly, it's embarrassing. 

[ClutterBGone 155]

With so many crazy messages, has anyone found  a quick and easy way to place these users in the Ignore User List. As it stands now you need to click the message then hover over the name of "strange person." The profile opens, then you click on Ignore User, then you check the three Ignore boxes and Update Preferences.

"Whew," just put a box at the end of the strange TV watching messages, that we can check, and let's be done with it!!!!!!!

I know how to turn on my TV and pick the programs I want to watch!
David in Wichita

[DTLow 5,749]

43 minutes ago, ClutterBGone said:

place these users in the Ignore User List. As it stands now you need to click the message then hover over the name of "strange person." The profile opens, then you click on Ignore User, then you check the three Ignore boxes and Update Preferences.

Thanks @ClutterBGone that's what I was looking for, although I expect these spammers are changing usernames frequently.  How did you know about the Ignore User List; is their a guide I should have read?

[ClutterBGone 155]

2 hours ago, DTLow said:

Thanks @ClutterBGone that's what I was looking for, although I expect these spammers are changing usernames frequently.  How did you know about the Ignore User List; is their a guide I should have read?

If you hover over a username for a second a box will open and one of the options is to Ignore User, but it takes several keystrokes to get the job done, SO I want a BIG check box at the end of a message title that I can click and get the user Ignored. Simple!!  Thanks for the contact.
David in Wichita

1

 

[CalS 5,311]

Yeah, I just marked the whole site as read.  Seemed like a great opportunity to see if the option worked.  It does. 

[gazumped 12,213]

My Forum notification emails go to a specific Gmail folder so it's not so hard to pick out the odd valid topic from a hundred selected,  and I just deleted about 300 spam emails <sigh>  In normal circumstances I'd hide the small number that get through,  but these are coming in so fast it's not possible to stem the flood.  Hopefully the admins will do a clean-up on Monday,  but it would be good if it was easier for 'trusted' users (which used to be those with over 300 posts) to hide emails in bulk.  My process is:

1. Open a spam post.
2. Open all that user's posts (usually 5) in tabs
3. Tick the 'hide' option on each email and paste 'Spam' in the comments.
4. Close the tab.
5. Now go find the notification emails for those separate spams I just deleted and zap those too...

Even on a fast network connection that takes minutes rather than seconds.  To fight an attack like the current one it needs to be a lot easier.  I'll report this thread so the admins see it sooner rather than later - that's if they can find the report between all their spam notifications...

[Candid 167]

I agree. This morning at 9 AM Sunday east coast time, there are 12 pages of spam before the real form posts appear.

[jbenson2 2,149]

19 hours ago, Metrodon said:

I visit a number of different forums and never experience the same volume of spam anywhere else.

Frankly, it's embarrassing. 

I have not seen the magnitude of this problem at other forums.

Evernote is the one who should be embarrassed about their recurring spam problem. Hello, anyone home?

[CalS 5,311]

@gazumped

Thanks for sharing.  My method is to only receive emails for topics in which I have participated.  Otherwise, I have a stream which contains the forums I follow, topics listed from oldest to newest.  So whenever I log in I just cycle that stream.  Major PITA with a tsunami of SPAM.

[gazumped 12,213]

Hey Cal - don't get me wrong - I don't follow every topic;  that's one reason why I look up a user's previous posts on the forum itself;  I don't always get notifications for where these sneaky peeps hide their rubbish.  But (whisper it quietly) things have quietened down.  I was getting a new notification email every 20 seconds or so at one point.  It's been like an hour since the last one though...  <crosses fingers>

[CalS 5,311]

Well Gaz, the playoff ballgame is about to start here in the US (I'm about to head to the telly) and I'm assuming football is over for the day in the UK, so maybe they are taking a rest.

[gazumped 12,213]

<fingers still crossed>

[gbarry 2,659]

Sorry for the flood. I'm on it and working with our vendor on a more permanent solution. We've activated several additional features which should limit the influx further and are in clean up mode. Thanks for the clean up you've already done. 

[gbarry 2,659]

To clarify, we'll never expect the community here to be the ones to clean up or be the primary spam fighters. For our regular commenters, your spam fighting tools are calibrated so that you can nab or clear a one off. This kind of attack is something that we should be preventing with system controls. 

[gbarry 2,659]

Ok, with a few remaining exceptions that are related to single members, I believe we've effectively closed off their entry and arrived at a more permanent solution for spam on the new system. Again, apologies on the notification mess you received, especially if you were in our OT area, which appears to have been the hardest hit.