Bots posting to old threads to establish validity.

[wholybee]

Referencing this thread, but there are many:
https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...ml#post3913869

It seems more and more often that a users first post is reviving a very old thread. Is it an option to have a pop up that says "This thread is very old, are you sure you want to do this?" before reviving an old thread? That might break bots that are posting to random old threads, and also might help guide new users to not revive an old thread without knowing better.

[kayakerChuck]

Maybe we can redirect the bots to argue about which oil or anchor is best.

[SaylorMade]

Originally Posted by wholybee

Referencing this thread, but there are many:
https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...ml#post3913869

It seems more and more often that a users first post is reviving a very old thread. Is it an option to have a pop up that says "This thread is very old, are you sure you want to do this?" before reviving an old thread? That might break bots that are posting to random old threads, and also might help guide new users to not revive an old thread without knowing better.

Pretty sure this was not a bot.
Also it takes quite a big setup to have a bot create an account so it can post. (Assuming that it takes e-mail activation for a new account - I don't remember).
It's not worth it on this site to be brutally honest.

But sure, it is a good idea to have such a warning - but intended for humans

[CaptTom]

I agree the pop-up would solve a lot of problems. But not the problem with spammers trying to establish validity.

I think it's equally likely that these aren't bots, but AI-assisted human spammers in a third-world country. They get paid (a pittance) to post to as many forums as they can. Doesn't matter how popular the forum is or what the thread topic is. Just get their foot in the door so they can come back and make a post full of spam.

The goal is to get their spam links picked up by a search engine. If you host a web site, you'll get lots of spam e-mails claiming to be able to increase your rankings. This is how they do it. Build a network of interconnecting links and associate them with various topics which someone might search.

As users, the best thing we can do is ignore them. Definitely don't give them more credibility by responding. Ideally they should be reported to, and deleted by, the mods, but each forum has different rules for what they do - and don't - want reported. It can be more effort than it's worth to delete the posts, rather than just let them die. Or the forum could have software to automate that process. I always forget which forums wants me to report them, which don't. So I mostly stay silent.

[Dockhead]

Thanks, guys, for bringing this up. We DO want suspected bots (and AI-assisted human spammers) to be reported.

In general, don't hesitate to report something you feel is "off"; false alarms are inevitable and don't bother us. We don't mind doing the work.

Spammer and phishers are a real plague on this like any forum and we deal with them with extreme prejudice. It's really helpful to get a heads-up at an early stage.

Cheers, DH

[Wotname]

It's really helpful to get a heads-up at an early stage.

This ^^^^

CF gets a lot bad actors trying to post and the sooner we get them off the board, the better (and safer) it is. While we have some good automatic software blocks, some do get through nevertheless. We actively hunt them down. Some days are quiet and some days they pop up everywhere.

Especially report a suspicious PM.