spam email notifications

[4corsa]

Also, I should add to the above that I'm using Tapatalk.

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

[docc]

4 hours ago, 4corsa said:

Thanks Docc.
It's a little different on my Android phone. You go to List View, select the "Subscribed" tab, and deselect the subforums. I deselected V11 24/7.

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk
 

 

4 hours ago, 4corsa said:

Also, I should add to the above that I'm using Tapatalk.

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk
 

 Thanks for noting the user interface sequence varies between operating systems.

  I have blocked seven [edit: eight, for today] new spammer accounts this morning, but each one will immediately post numerous posts to Technical Topics. These are the notifications you all are receiving because you follow that subforum.

Simply deselect Technical Topics from your Followed Content (for now).

[80CX100]

2 hours ago, docc said:

MEMBER IMMEDIATE ACTION:

Click on your username, top right.

Select "Manage Folowed Content.

Deselect "Technical Topics" subforum.

I did NOT receive any of this spam attack;checked the spam folder in my gmail,nothing there from V11Lemans.

I tried the a/m as instructed, I'm not sure I was in the right place, nothing like that jumped out at me;perhaps because I don't have it activated?Idk.

I did notice that I did NOT have "PUSH" notifications enabled in my browser.

Edit:  After reading through this whole thread I went back into my managed content for forums I followed and noted that I did NOT have any forums/subforums selected so that MAY be the method the spammers were using,if I got none of it. idk

Fwiw it seems the spammers might have just recently discovered the Moto Guzzi land of opportunity. Some of the pages I follow on Facebook which are normally clean, have just recently been inundated with spam ads etc.

I know it's a pita keeping ahead of hackers & spammers;it's a fine line balancing defense and usability.

I know there appears to be a security rule/bot in place on the forum, that if I am searching hard for something,the Forum thinks I'm a Bot and it will shut me down and warn me not to do anymore searches for a couple of minutes.

Same thing with likes/acknowledgements. There are times when I rip through a ton of content and click like on a bunch of posts, the forum rules script in place,thinks I'm a Bot and shuts me down,tells me I can't do that again for the remainder of the day.

Docc & Jaap tks for all your efforts to keep this going as safely & securely as possible.

It must feel like  babysitter job from hell sometimes

[4corsa]

I just unfollowed Tech Topics from my desktop site (not Tapatalk as before). However, I am still Subscribed to many individual posts within Tech Topics. I was still getting the spam emails right up to unfollowing, so I'll let you know if it does not work.

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

[docc]

I am sorry to report this pest has created two more accounts today (blocked, content deleted), but posted in 24/7 V11 subforum this time. 
 

Consider Managing your Followed Content appropriately....

[audiomick]

There's an "ignore" button there somewhere, too. I was going to try that and see if it made the posts "invisible", but docc was quicker.

 

Thanks for the good work, docc. I've been there myself in a forum that was ostensibly about Linux. Not much legitimate action there, but dozens of "users" who were only there to post that sort of bs. It's a pain...

[docc]

I try not to put images of myself on the web. Yet, your humble Moderator does not take these things lightly.

"Spammer! Sick 'em ! ! "

[footgoose]

22 hours ago, docc said:

I wonder if those who received these have the "Push" notifications enabled in their profile?

[Jan 24 edit: This is not the issue. Deselect "Technical Topics"  in "Manage Followed Content." ]

Push has never been enabled for me cuz I don't know what it is.

I have 88 pages of followed topics (mostly technical) to go through tonite. That explains why I got close to 300 spam  so far.

That's how I use the forum. I get alerts for the first new topic in every forum. Then follow that (most all) then get alerts for those every day. Maybe I'll start doing it the 'other' way. Just check in and browse.

[docc]

25 minutes ago, footgoose said:

Push has never been enabled for me cuz I don't know what it is.

I have 88 pages of followed topics (mostly technical) to go through tonite. That explains why I got close to 300 spam  so far.

That's how I use the forum. I get alerts for the first new topic in every forum. Then follow that (most all) then get alerts for those every day. Maybe I'll start doing it the 'other' way. Just check in and browse.

My suspicion that "Push" notifications might be significant has not checked out.

Very simply, those of us who have listed an entire subforum to follow are affected by the way this spammer opens an account and makes numerous posts immediately. If you follow that subforum, you will get a notification for every post.

For now, simply deselect the subforums from your follow list.

This should eliminate the annoying notifications. Otherwise, the Admin and your Moderator are working diligently at eliminating the pest.

[audiomick]

1 hour ago, footgoose said:

Push has never been enabled for me cuz I don't know what it is.

 

51 minutes ago, docc said:

My suspicion that "Push" notifications might be significant has not checked out.

About "push", look at this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Push_technology

Quote

Push services are often based on information and data preferences expressed in advance, called a publish-subscribe model. A client "subscribes" to various information "channels" provided by a server; whenever new content is available on one of those channels, the server pushes that information out to the client.

That indicates that following a topic/ forum / user and having "send me an e-mail for that" selected in your Notification settings constitutes a push function.

I've just turned off all the notifications for "topics I follow", even though I don't follow anything on principle. My method is to log on and search "unread content".

For those who choose to follow things, I would suggest turning off all notifications for followed content, be it user, topic or forum, and for the time being use the "manage followed content" function in your profile.

I haven't tried that, but it looks like it will show you new content in followed topics or whatever when you actively go in there and have a look. There will most likely still be a reference to the bs that the attacker is posting, but you wont be getting mails or notifications in the forum about it, and if you're lucky, our valorous Moderator and Admin will have removed the malicious content before you go looking.

As I mentioned further up, I have some experience with this sort of spammer. It seems that the ones who are currently targetting this forum are only posting in one board. The ones I have experienced would log on and immediately start posting more or less the same post in every single board and sub-board on the entire forum. Bastards....

Therefore, as I already wrote, I would  at the moment turn off all "push" notifications of followed content to avoid being snowed under by useless and annoying mails and forum notifications, and go looking for activity in the followed content myself.

Hope that helps a bit. Thanks again to docc and Jaap for their tireless efforts.

 

Edit: I just opted in to follow this topic to see what happens in "managed followed content".

[docc]

For me, trying to "moderate" the attack, the effects are two-fold:

1) The actual mal-user creating multiple accounts and posting multiple spam messages from each. Some twenty or so accounts in thirty-six hours with 2-8 posts on each.

2) This topic, of members getting email notifications. Again, this is not an email breach and you cannot solve it calling the notifications "spam." It is a notification you have asked for by following forum content. This has nothing to do with my early (yesterday!) suspicion about "Push" notifications. 

Yes, please, "Manage (your) Followed Content" while we try and deal with Effect(or) #1.

The annoying notifications are not a data breach. You can manage (prevent) these notifications individually, from your account.

[audiomick]

23 hours ago, audiomick said:

Edit: I just opted in to follow this topic to see what happens in "managed followed content".

So, now that there has been a new reply here I can report:

The "manage followed content" unfortunately doesn't seem to show one that a new reply has been made in the topic. That's a pity, I had hoped it would, but never mind.

I would still use this function as a way of keeping track of things I'm interested in if I were to be following things. As I mentioned, I prefer to simply search unread content when I log in, but each to his own.

For those who have collected a lot of followed content over time, I would suggest going in and clearing out what is no longer relevant (if anything).

As far as keeping track of interesting topics goes, the "managed followed content" provides a useful list of the topics that one has marked, and one can use that to quickly get to those topics, jump to the end and see if anything new has turned up. Not as comfortable as getting a notification, but surely more comfortable than cleaning out myriads of e-mails pointing to spam posts.

 

Edit:

I just had a look at the "ignore" function. It unfortunately doesn't do quite what I had expected. The posts from the ignored user remain visible in the "browse" view and in "unread content", i.e. that a post has been made. All that the "ignore" function seems to do is add a reminder that one is ignoring that user, and stops one from being able to see the text.

I had expected that content from ignored users would no longer be visible at all, thereby making it easier to find new content that is interesting. Apparently it doesn't, so not that useful....

[Joe]

I only search the All Activity function. It scrolls everything in chronological order.

[guzzler]

G'day folk's

I found I had the posts in tech topics too last night...bugger!

But looking in again this morning they're all gone..

Can only assume Doc and Jaap have managed to delete them and get rid of the ....head ?

A big Thank you fella's

Cheers 

 

[docc]

35 minutes ago, guzzler said:

G'day folk's

I found I had the posts in tech topics too last night...bugger!

But looking in again this morning they're all gone..

Can only assume Doc and Jaap have managed to delete them and get rid of the ....head ?

A big Thank you fella's

Cheers 

 

Yessir. This is ongoing. I got up at 1:30 am here and flagged three accounts and deleted their content.  One had posted to "Newer Models", the others in TechTopics. Jaap will then check my work and delete their accounts, at which point they completely disappear. Unfortunately, they are using a different IP address each time.

Another member shared a screenshot of a suspended Instagram user with the same username as one of these. So, it is not just us, here, being affected.

While I might say it has slowed today, I flagged three more accounts a couple hours ago. 

If you see spam posts, expect they will be gone within twelve hours. No need to report or message us about these. Know that we are on point.

Again, if you get some sort of notification (email) from the forum alerting you to these posts, you can disable that notification in your account by Managing Followed Content.

Thanks for your patience, y'all . . .