Someone hacked the forum's user list

[Mr. X]

Looks like someone is now posting spam under user names. Like some black ops stuff under JimWeathersProductions.

[VegaTaxeca]

Yes, lots of spam messages the last couple of days, or maybe even a bit longer.

Edit: I ry to report them, but then the forum takes ages until something happens.

[shevek]

Whoa, I thought you meant someone else was actually posting *as* Jim Weathers.
That's not happening, but still, there are a lot of regular spam posts these days.

I hate to say it, because I'm really grateful for the incredible effort MH has always made for this community,
but he can't leave this board unattended for long periods of time.
He has to check in at least once every few days, in order to eliminate spam accounts.
Otherwise we'll eventually be overwhelmed by them.

[Philo Hunter]

Yeah... Every time I check in and see the recent topic header full of spam posts the forum feels a little more... not "dead", but on the way to feeling in danger of being abandoned?

Does anyone know how useful reporting the spam posts are? Is that just bringing the post to someone's attention who's going to see it anyways?

[Visitor]

I don't know if this board has the setting to require first time posters getting approval before the post appears, but that helped at another board that I'm on. At least only admins and moderators have to suffer with them.

[Mr. X]

Whoa, I thought you meant someone else was actually posting *as* Jim Weathers.

Yes that's what I meant OR they are spoofing his user name.

[Disciple]

Thanks for the reports, everyone. I'm getting to as many as I can, please keep reporting any you see.

[vnv7272]

Along those lines, i cannot find where to change my password.

[five_red]

I don't know if this board has the setting to require first time posters getting approval before the post appears, but that helped at another board that I'm on. At least only admins and moderators have to suffer with them.

phpBB has a permission group called Newly Registered Users that applies specific restrictions to new accounts. Once moderators have approved a given number of posts (default is three I think) the restrictions are lifted.

R5

[tallyho]

I'm going to report this thread as a means of flagging it up to MH

[Abductorenmadrid]

Yeah, this and the spam is getting to be an issue - unless one is a fan of vaping. Not entirely plussed with the random non-SHiP-themed "hot scenes" that are getting posted either.

[Malice]

Totally agree with Abductorenmadrid, it’s starting to get pretty annoying, and I’d love to help out with cleanup if possible.

[yc-batgirl]

I had a weird post in my latest story.

A new user talks about Batgirl but not about the story, or thanks for sharing...
And at the end of his comment, he give a link to a game that have nothing to do with superheroines.

[Malice]

Can we also start remove "people" like portevelubols, these kind of "guys" have started flooding the forum with spam and not the "good" kind.

[Mr. X]

Can we also start remove "people" like portevelubols, these kind of "guys" have started flooding the forum with spam and not the "good" kind.

Or Slyeek.

[HiDef]

There's a bunch of random "Groups" now too.

[Void]

I don't mean this in any way to sound like a slight on the existing mods - who I imagine are very busy with their own lives at the moment - but, is it perhaps time to expand the roster of moderators on the site? It could be handy to have one or two more people able to attend to the onslaught of bots and cynical spammers. I don't think anyone would object to AEM or Malice getting a nod in this respect.

While it is nice to see activity on the forum, I think the activity makes the forum look abandoned when it is clearly not activity from our community, if that makes sense.

On a mostly unrelated note to the ill health of the forum... Are we allowed to link to discord servers here that aren't the forum's own one? I'm sure I've seen others do it, but thought it worth checking before putting my foot in it.

[MightyHypnotic]

I will check into it. There is a change I can make.

[MightyHypnotic]

Ok I fixed the issue where a newly registered user has to have admin approval first. so there shouldn't be any more forum spam unless there's a few sleeper spammers out there somewhere. But we'll get them too!

[Malice]

There's a bunch of random "Groups" now too.

I reported them already, waitin' for heads to start rolling