Spam in Private Messages

[BobD]

Hi Gang,
Over the weekend, several people received spam in their inbox from the Woodcarving Illustrated Message Board. The people who received the message are people who have their account set so that if someone sends them a PM, the forum sends them an e-mail. I'm sorry this happened.

We have the forum set up so that if you want to join, you have to answer several anti-spam questions before the forum sends you an e-mail. To activate your account, you need to click on a link in the e-mail.

This often gets rid of automatic spam bots, but these bots are getting more sophisticated (and sometimes get through). Unfortunately, in India and Pakistan, you can pay a company about $1,000 U.S. to have live people join 10,000 forums. Most anti-spam measures won't stop a live person. The moderators and I ban entire e-mail address extensions and IP addresses, but this is usually after a person logs in and posts spam. We catch those spammers pretty quickly, but some live spammers are smart...if they send a PM, and are careful not to send it to a moderator or I, they can often send out several messages before they get caught. That's what happened this weekend. I have the option to ban a member and delete all of the private messages a person sent (so you may have received the e-mail, and found the PM missing when you logged in).

The only way for me to stop these kind of spammers is to require that each and every new member is manually approved before they can post. The moderators and I really don't have to time to do that.

These messages are not sent by Woodcarving Illustrated or the message board, and I am sorry if you've received one. One way to keep from getting these messages is to change your settings under the UserCP. Click on UserCP. Then click on Edit Options. Scroll down to Messaging & Notifications. Then click on the box next to Receive E-mail Notification of New Private Messages.

Best Regards,
Bob Duncan
Technical Editor

[Marci MN]

Thank you Bob. What a way to start your Wednesday Morning.
Marcia.

[Sixty_Vette]

Thank you!

[Blake Lunsford]

Thanks Bob! I received one of those and was wondering where it came from!

Blake

[artolver]

Thank you Bob, We received one of those spam messages this week-end also. Thank you for the help that you do and I will check the settings and do as you suggested!

[Merle Rice]

Hi Bob, I have a DUMB Question. I did what you said to do and my Box has a Check in it. Do I remove the check or leave it alone. Just an Old Dummy, Thanks. Merle

[BobD]

Hi Merle,
That's a good question (it's a cliche, but I really believe the only dumb question is the unasked question).

Click on the box to remove the check. If the box is checked, you will get an e-mail whenever you receive a private message.

[brent]

I have received several in the past year. You and all the others are doing a fantastic job of stopping them, One board I used to visit was hit so bad, it shut it down because the owner could n't keep up with the influx of spam posts. My thanks again for the job you've done so far.

[Merle Rice]

Hi Bob, Thanks for replying to my Question. I was one of theones that got the PM. but no message. I think it messed up my Pc for awhile but it's Ok now. Took the Check out of the Box and hope that takes care of future problems. Thanks again Bob. Merle

[BobD]

Hi Merle,
I don't think it would be possible for e-mail to screw up your pc. Even if there as some malicious code written into the private message, the forum strips it down to just text when it sends the e-mail to you. As long as you don't click on any of the links in the PM, the e-mail can't hurt your computer.

Bob