Noticed a few fake accounts being registered lately. Rather than waiting for them to actually post (assuming they actually will), I made this thread. Just paste the profile links in of accounts that are blatant adbots. So that it's easier for staff to see 'em without trawling through the member list.
Two most recent ones are mattbrown (http://redwallabbey.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=3934) and Earleen Brown (http://redwallabbey.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=3930). Looking at these profiles shows that they're blatantly fake accounts created for advertising.
On top of that, looking at the birthdays today shows five more. immancime (http://redwallabbey.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=840), CHIEMIRHYZOZY (http://redwallabbey.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=824), hjuvke (http://redwallabbey.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=830), roumBoronerly (http://redwallabbey.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=849), and allensheeran (http://redwallabbey.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=2583). These are all adbots from 2011-2013, all of which have been gagged (except for the last one, but its profile is full of dodgy advertising). While these obviously aren't going to do much now, it still doesn't make sense to keep them around cluttering the memberlist, so may as well get rid of them.
Quote from: Ouroboros on April 08, 2019, 07:41:46 AM
it still doesn't make sense to keep them around cluttering the memberlist, so may as well get rid of them.
That is what I was thinking
Thanks all - deleted the obvious spambots.
daniellecramer (http://redwallabbey.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=2781)
cliffordclooney001 (http://redwallabbey.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=2483)
marcsmith355 (http://redwallabbey.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=2579)
serena_carli (http://redwallabbey.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=2904)
All obvious adbots.
Turns out there are 2 users called serena_carli, and they're both as fake as each other. Huh. (http://redwallabbey.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=2929)
Yeah, these spambots come in waves. I saw that a few had the same information on their profiles. I've banned all the accounts, their names, emails and IP's. Thanks for the heads up!
Most of them are really old tbh. What really confuses me is why some have just been left gagged for 8 years though. It's pretty obvious those accounts aren't gonna miraculously become productive members all of a sudden.
Not sure if there's some way to see a list of every gagged member on your end, but I feel like it's a good place to start for pruning down the member list. I'd wager there's not a single person on that list that was a real member before their gagging that is likely to benefit from not being banned. Realistically, any accounts on that hypothetical list that aren't single use bot accounts were probably banned and forgotten about by the previous administration, so the likelihood of them returning is too miniscule to even bother considering.
EDIT: btw, here's some more. This is the last lot of bots with birthdays set to April. After this lot, all members born in April are (most likely) real people. Hooray.
http://redwallabbey.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=2743 (http://redwallabbey.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=2743)
http://redwallabbey.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=635 (http://redwallabbey.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=635)
http://redwallabbey.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=555 (http://redwallabbey.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=555)
http://redwallabbey.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=607 (http://redwallabbey.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=607)
http://redwallabbey.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=636 (http://redwallabbey.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=636)