Posts: 12,037
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Joined: Nov 2008
Just to let you guys know that in several recent cases (we've had two so far this week), there are those who start to register here, but fail to finish the process in a timely manner. When someone registers, they instantly get a email that contains a link that they have to click on to verify their email address. Mikey and I get notified when someone hasn't done that yet, and we're given the chance to either leave it be in hopes that they complete the process, pass them through without doing so or deleting them entirely. We've been giving them some time to finish, but not always. Let's take "zasamuelgoolet5118" who tried to register yesterday. He only spent 20 seconds on line here, was from Russia and his bio says, "dating". No chance that he will come back and if he did, I'd expect him to bring along some spam with him, so I deleted him. If he's truly interested in railroading and doesn't think this is a dating site, he'll retry, but I doubt it. Oh yeah, we always check them out on SFS, if they appear there, we will pass them through, then ban them.
So if you see a "new member" and then a few hours later, he disappears, you now know why. As for those spammers, we always ban them to prevent them from re-registering.
Sometimes that's the only fun we get as mods and admins....
Don (ezdays) Day
Board administrator and
founder of the CANYON STATE RAILROAD
Posts: 12,037
Threads: 579
Joined: Nov 2008
We had two new members register the other day, they are both into vacation spots in Australia, but they don't show up in SFS, so I thought I'd try something different. Rather than banning or deleting them, I just thought I'd play with them a bit and so I put their posts on, "moderate, permanently" You can do that as moderators when you click on "moderate" in their profile. Just curious if they come back because usually they will put their spam in the profile if they don't post it in a thread. If they do come back and post, they're nailed....
So many options to deal with spammers, I can't wait for the next one to show up..
Don (ezdays) Day
Board administrator and
founder of the CANYON STATE RAILROAD
Posts: 10,237
Threads: 241
Joined: Dec 2008
I don't get many phone solicitations any more. Can we figure a way to mess whit these guys so we can all have fun.

Charlie
Posts: 12,037
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Joined: Nov 2008
(10-04-2023, 07:09 PM)Charlie B Wrote: I don't get many phone solicitations any more. Can we figure a way to mess whit these guys so we can all have fun. 
Charlie
Not sure what happens if they do try to post, I would expect there is some queue where moderated posts go and we get notified. I'll check that out tomorrow, just too tired right now to have fun anyway. My thought would be to edit their posts and let them through. "Hi, my name is ----- and I am a spammer trying to take your hard earned money....." Just say somethin' like this to make them look real bad, then send them a copy.
Don (ezdays) Day
Board administrator and
founder of the CANYON STATE RAILROAD
Posts: 12,037
Threads: 579
Joined: Nov 2008
We've been getting about one person a day start to register, but never finishes. I've been giving them 24 hours, then delete them, but now they all seem to be from Russia and their bio says either, "museum", or "xEvil", so I've been taking them out when I see one. I just changed the screening question to, "train passengers are picked up and dropped off at a_____", to see if that makes a difference. It would if they are robots.
BTW, they all show up on SFS when I check, usually it's their IP address.
Don (ezdays) Day
Board administrator and
founder of the CANYON STATE RAILROAD