Block URLs from thread titles?

[Deleted member 720373]

Would it not be possible to block URLs in thread titles to prevent the bot spammers that frequently hit the site?

I have personally reported 3-4 of these today, I know it's simple enough to report but if I am reporting this many in just a couple of hours then surely the mods must be inundated with reports throughout the day. Surely there would be a simple method to filter out any titles with http or .com .org or whatever in the title.

If a user wants to ask about a domain the full URL doesn't need to be the title of the thread.

See pic below for my latest report.

 

[TiagoS]

That would be great! Ghost threads with titles containing Urls and Chinese characters.

 

[Deleted member 720373]

That would be great! Ghost threads with titles containing Urls and Chinese characters.

Actually I forgot about the Chinese weekend spammers. This could save the mods a load of hassle if they could do this.

 

[Nut-Nights]

Ban all other languages except English as its the only allowed language on BHW.

 

[Deleted member 720373]

Ban all other languages except English as its the only allowed language on BHW.

Not entirely true, I speak 2 languages here. English and bullshit!

It's becoming second nature to me these days!

 

[Deleted member 720373]

This didn't get much of a response so bumping it up in case the mods or admins didn't notice it.

This is exactly the type of thread I'm referring to:

https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/http-tophealthydiet-com-testo-pure-prime.957539/

The thread title is a partial url. Surely this could be blocked as there is simply no good reason for having a url as a thread title.

I've reported 5-6 of these threads again today.

 

[HoNeYBiRD]

Good idea. It shouldn't be too hard to implement either.

+1

I reported a few of these back then when it started to become a thing, but honestly i don't bother anymore, they get removed without my report anyway.
Here's my ignore list: https://pastebin.com/raw/bH0xpPMJ. It practically consists of only these spammers, 200 at least, almost all of them is banned by now.

 

[RightFootFanatic]

Suggested that in May https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/filter-for-thread-titles.934510/

See answer from @Zwielicht

 

[MisterF]

Suggested that in May https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/filter-for-thread-titles.934510/

See answer from @Zwielicht

By the sounds there's a few updates being planned for BHW in terms of functionality etc.

 

[randybishop]

Good idea!

 

[Deleted member 720373]

Suggested that in May https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/filter-for-thread-titles.934510/

See answer from @Zwielicht

Hmm, I know he states it only takes a few seconds to remove and ban the offending poster but if I'm reporting 5-10 per day, I obviously don't see all of them so other members are reporting them and some just get picked up by the mods immediately.

It'd be interesting to know how many of these type of posts there are daily so the mods could actually see if it's taking up enough time for a filter to be worthwhile. I know it's not a major issue and they are obviously bots that are posting but it may just help to keep the forum a bit cleaner.

 

[proxygo]

how about increasing the post count on certain areas of the forum - would that work
or do more harm than good

 

[RightFootFanatic]

how about increasing the post count on certain areas of the forum - would that work
or do more harm than good

I reported those posts all over the forum that aren't that strict moderated like the shitlist

 

[Zwielicht]

Hmm, I know he states it only takes a few seconds to remove and ban the offending poster but if I'm reporting 5-10 per day, I obviously don't see all of them so other members are reporting them and some just get picked up by the mods immediately.

It'd be interesting to know how many of these type of posts there are daily so the mods could actually see if it's taking up enough time for a filter to be worthwhile. I know it's not a major issue and they are obviously bots that are posting but it may just help to keep the forum a bit cleaner.

The other mods and I ban a lot of those accounts each day before anyone even notices. Still, a bunch slip through, and those are the ones we get reports about (we can't be online 24/7).

There are even some spam threads most members don't notice. You can find them by searching for "http", sorting the threads by recency, and searching titles only. I've already cleaned those up, but that's how I find the remaining URL spam threads.

However, there's one problem with the idea of blocking URLs from thread titles: the spammers have already adapted. They've started using regular titles in some of their spam threads. Here's an example of what I mean:

how about increasing the post count on certain areas of the forum - would that work
or do more harm than good

The spam bots target a lot of the subforms newbies post in like the intro section.

Anyway, when it comes to adding restrictions, you have to balance restrictions and forum usability. You don't want to affect, or as I say "punish" the legitimate users of the forum whilst trying to combat spam. Imagine being a new member of Black Hat World and seeing restriction after restriction after restriction.

 

[Deleted member 720373]

Imagine being a new member of Black Hat World and seeing restriction after restriction after restriction

Yeah I can see where you're coming from. I just thought it may make your lives a bit easier.

The spam threads don't bother me in the least because they give me plenty of chances to perfect my trolling techniques and ultimately they will be deleted anyway.

Maybe the best way to target the bot posters then would be to add a couple more steps to the sign up process if that's possible, not so that it's too restrictive for users but so the account creator tools (that we know and use!) have a harder time verifying a new account.

I may be talking out of my ass here as I know nothing about how forums are set up.