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spammer? how to tell? (11 posts)

  1. bschwarting
    Member
    Posted 15 years ago #

    i have something that looks suspicious. the same IP has been used now for 4 blog sign ups. all of the IPs use gmail as well. how do you determine if it's spam or not?

    some digging shows it's a corporate IP address, so possibly legit.

    the hostname shows that it's a "webfarm"

    thoughts? suggestions?

  2. andrea_r
    Moderator
    Posted 15 years ago #

    If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck. :)

    Have they posted anything?

    I'd ban 'em.

  3. tdjcbe
    Member
    Posted 15 years ago #

    some digging shows it's a corporate IP address, so possibly legit.

    Could be a hacked box. Wouldn't be the first time. I would tell you all about those Area 51 boxes that I see in spam runs but then you'd get visited by those men in dark suits with those quiet helicopters.

    Drop the IP address into a regular google search as well as the groups search and see what you get back. If it's considered "bad," chances are someone else may have noticed it as well in the past.

    I myself am a firm believer of innocent until proven guilty. I'd make a note of them and wait until they show me a reason why they shouldn't be there.

  4. bschwarting
    Member
    Posted 15 years ago #

    Yeah I goggled all over and didn't find much. I agree it looks like a "duck", but I like the tdjcbe approach myself. Innocent until proven guilty. But when you are guilty, the wrath comes out!

    Just wasn't sure what everyones approach was. I'm at 5 accounts now with the same IP. I'll keep watching. I've emailed one users, see if i get a response. None have posted yet either. It's a new site, so I'll be patient I guess.

  5. t3ch33
    Member
    Posted 15 years ago #

    Quote:

    I myself am a firm believer of innocent until proven guilty.

    Not when it comes to spam. I had this problem once when I was using a shared server. The spammers set up at least 200 x-rated blogs and got that domain suspended by the host. I ended up getting a credit for the some other things that the host ended up skrewing up because of this mess, and wound up in the search engines more (albeit for x-rated terms), but it was hell. I think that you can limit the number of blogs per email address in the dashboard. That will be a good start for you. And, I also think that you can limit blogs by IP. Search the forums.

  6. lunabyte
    Member
    Posted 15 years ago #

    One thing for those in a niche area that makes it nice, you can spot blogs you don't want pretty easy.

    Say your site is about basket weaving. Someone signing up with a site that is obviously about something else is a dead giveaway.

    Gee, why would someone start a car site on here? Hmmm... bye bye.

  7. bschwarting
    Member
    Posted 15 years ago #

    t3ch33, good points. i didn't think of the search engine issues that could result. I'll be watching carefully. thanks for sharing.

  8. bschwarting
    Member
    Posted 15 years ago #

    lunabyte, yeah true. mine is very much a niche site, so I'll see if any random posts show up. i guess you can block sign ups by IP? I'll check in the dashboard, I'm sure you can.

  9. lunabyte
    Member
    Posted 15 years ago #

    I don't know about IP, IIRC you can only block email domains.

    I tend to block IP's at the firewall anyway. It's just safer that way.

  10. tdjcbe
    Member
    Posted 15 years ago #

    Not when it comes to spam.

    Sorry but I disagree with that. It's up to you as you how you feel about the topic but please understand that if that's the opinion you are taking, you are driving away possible clients. No maybe about that.

    Your case is different. Thet went ahead and set up those blogs. The poster is talking about when they just have the ip and email addressed and before they've done anything with the blogs.

    We block IP addresses as well. If they can't play right, they don't get access.

  11. bschwarting
    Member
    Posted 15 years ago #

    it was a duck :( porn really isn't the subject manner on my site:) oh well, they are all deleted now.

About this Topic

  • Started 15 years ago by bschwarting
  • Latest reply from bschwarting