Thanks

[LisaBallard]

I know I say thanks a lot, but seriously, thank you for helping me keep an eye on the forum. Moderation is a 24/7 job and I am the only moderator handling the bots. I'm usually handling admin tasks and social media so your reports help me keep the forum clean. THANK YOU! Have a great weekend. Lisa

[Dragstews]

[Down]

I know I say thanks a lot, but seriously, thank you for helping me keep an eye on the forum. Moderation is a 24/7 job and I am the only moderator handling the bots. I'm usually handling admin tasks and social media so your reports help me keep the forum clean. THANK YOU! Have a great weekend. Lisa

Thank you for keeping this awesome site running!

[10scDust]

Kudos Lisa, you're doing a fine job, keep up the good work!

[ProfessorSquidbeard]

[tzienlee]

well, someone let in a load of spamers again, time to be a private site with vetting to join, it's hapening almost daily now, it's put me off coming here... the lack of security here worries me greatly....

[LisaBallard]

well, someone let in a load of spamers again, time to be a private site with vetting to join, it's hapening almost daily now, it's put me off coming here... the lack of security here worries me greatly....

I am sorry you feel this way. The spammers have been around since 2009, nothing new being a public forum. It's my job to delete them and that's where the member come in. I can't be on the site 24/7, but trust me when I say they are dealt with daily. Your information remains safe at all times.

[tzienlee]

sorry Lisa, I know you do yor best, thanks, I know it's a thankless job,
but I'm out of here once I've written this,... I'm not taking the chance, i've never seen so many 'break in's' ,
once you read this, PLEASE delete me totally from the forum,
it coulda been good, sorry,
all the best, have fun...... & good bye everyone.....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MjgykuVq64

[docmel]

Tzienlee

Its a free site, and a good one. And you are certainly free to leave. Or you could volunteer some time to help Lisa out............

[farmall]

Spammers aren't a threat on their own. Don't click their links and do report their posts. Links require interaction so don't interact.

Every site gets probed. Even the most innocent sites can be compromised and that doesn't require any sort of forum. Ask any PC tech who had to clean up "kids" computers how much shit is out there. Porn is probably safer since porn sites can't afford to lose revenue and can afford security.

That's why I report spam and move on. Since apparently (given the recent backup disaster) some of the higher ups may be clueless it would be wise to show them this post.

FUCKING RANGE BAN THE THIRD WORLD GAWD DAMNIT. No it's not perfect but it costs nothing. Anyone serious can use a VPN and if they live in a third world shithole they probably do to avoid their own government. I've mentioned this before. There is no excuse. Chop Cult is effectively a US/EU site and for what it offers others can figure out safe surfing like using Tor which at this point is basic internet literacy (I'm old as fuck and know about it so no boomer excuses apply. Windows 95 was 27 years ago...)

tzienlee, if you're that worried you can safely surf in a variety of ways and should learn how to effectively protect yourself. Easy way to try a variety of OS images is prepare a USB stick with Ventoy then paste the .iso image file or a variety and boot then run each to ensure your hardware is supported. Live booting resets your OS after every reboot unless otherwise commanded by you. If your Windows (Macs are a bit different) install pukes or slows down you can use a live Linux OS to rescue data then reload Windows using an .iso copied to the same USB stick. I'm happy to field questions (best posted in the Junk Pile for benefit of all).

More convenient is a virtual machine. Virtualbox lets you run as many OS instances (Windows, Linux, whatever) as your machine has power to support and in safe isolation from your main operating system.

Anyone seriously concerned with internet security should study it because COMPUSEC is not really intuitive. It's all good techy fun and knowing how to install, maintain, troubleshoot and most importantly rescue your data is free and empowering as fuck.

https://www.hostgator.com/help/artic...seeing-my-site

Unless measures are taken Chop Cult will be flooded by street shitter human bots and the usual automated bots, so take measures.

If third world shitholes are not to be range banned I would like a public explanation. If it were my site it would have been locked down from the start. It may be time for (not transparent, annoying to users) reCAPTCHA but do try rangebanning first. If those in charge of the server can't figure it out they need to build a test site in a virtual machine to sort out first but this is so basic even a dumb Boomer like me could manage it.

[DustyDave]

Spammers aren't a threat on their own. Don't click their links and do report their posts. Links require interaction so don't interact.

If those in charge of the server can't figure it out they need to build a test site in a virtual machine to sort out first but this is so basic even a dumb Boomer like me could manage it.

The site I Moderate was running me insane a few years ago. 50 to 100 fake membership requests a day and in desperation I tightened up the spammer rejection questions to ones that come up blank on google but most anybody that rides a vintage bike would know, then to describe their bike and then told them that they would be contacted by email before activation. When I write I ask then to either explain why I should believe that they are an old bike enthusiast and not a spammer or bot or to send me a picture of their bike. I only get a few bogus requests a month anymore and most are quite humorous, the best was a request describing his Harley and attached was a picture of my 40 Scout but most never make it past the describe your bike the bots usually resort to random letters and the spammers don't have time for research and say silly stuff. It's close to four years since we had any spam.
Dusty

[farmall]

Love the question method!

[rockman96]

I don't understand the sudden urgency. Tzienlee's been here a long time, and those damn spambots probably even longer... Why did he suddenly freak out over it? Lisa has said nothing is compromised. I'm not going to lose sleep over him leaving, but its a shame just the same.

[LisaBallard]

I don't understand the sudden urgency. Tzienlee's been here a long time, and those damn spambots probably even longer... Why did he suddenly freak out over it? Lisa has said nothing is compromised. I'm not going to lose sleep over him leaving, but its a shame just the same.

I am not sure what set him off, but he wasn't happy. Personally, I hate seeing members leave, especially the ones that keep the forum going. I made a few changes in the sign-up process so hopefully it will slow the bots down. Time will tell.

[farmall]

So how about banning continents whose only contribution to the internet is spam? Humans (to use the term loosely) can get round signup changes but if their IP range is banned they'll go elsewhere as the internet is vast.

I would therefore no one else should have the slightest problem doing so. Far more popular sites range ban. Shit works. No downside exists. It costs nothing but a few keystrokes. The enemy can't sign up in the first place if they can never access the process. In some fora range banning is a moderator option.

[quote]
Why did he suddenly freak out over it?
[quote]
There's no technical reason to do so. Those links cannot compromise a browser unless one makes the choice to open them.