Hey New Folks! Are you getting PM spam?

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MacAllister

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First - welcome to AW!

Second - I'm getting reports from new members about receiving PM spam soon after you've registered, with a link to a different online writers forum.

We do not endorse or recommend the spam-linked forum, and the messages are absolutely not being sent with our agreement, cooperation, or permission. We keep banning the persistent sockpuppet spammers, but they sneak back in via proxies.

If you've received one of these messages, please just forward it to me and I'll joyfully punt the spammers.

Thank you!
 

regdog

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regdog

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Maryn

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Another bump--and a word to the new arrival that reporting this as requested is not a bother to AW but a help, so you really shouldn't hesitate.

I know when I was new I didn't want to burden the owner or moderators with my little problems. Now I know I should have.

Maryn, not quite too old to learn
 

Maryn

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Oh, cool! It's like an initiation rite. Did you report it?

Maryn, sharing the secret handshake
 

MacAllister

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Excellent. Thanks for letting us know, fihr. :)

And thank you, Chantal! I sorta look at reporting spam like picking up litter - it's a bit of a nuisance, maybe -- but when everyone pitches in even a little, it turns into a huge public service, that makes it possible for others to not even have to see the mess in the first place.
 

Jack M Kaiser

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I got a message about another writing site, but like the typical idiot I am I not only went to the other site I also deleted the PM to make room. Sorry.
 

MacAllister

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Heh. You trusting soul, you, Jack.

No worries -- someone will think to hit the report button, sooner or later. Then we'll squish 'em like the little spammer-bug they are.
 
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MacAllister

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Heh - no worries.

I've actually used the language censor software to scramble the link -- so if you got to the other site, the spam was sent before I made that change. So the spammer has probably already been kicked.

Heh.

Absolutewrite: Where you can say fuck shit cunt! But you can't say ****************!
 

MacAllister

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Naw. It's not really that big of a deal -- the site isn't, to my knowledge, malware infected or anything like that. It's sort of tiny and one-sided, and was started as a grudge site by someone pissed off at writers.net -- but there's nothing to feel bad about or to worry about, just because you clicked a link.

And honestly? If they'd posted appropriately, in the Announcements/Self-Promo area? That would be fine. We've had people do that before, and I'm always happy to link to other writing sites. For one thing, no one site can be all things to all people, you know? Not even AW, as much as I love this place.

It's that they're spamming people, and continuing to register dummy accounts to spam people after they've repeatedly been asked to stop, that I find objectionable. No worries.
 

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It's that they're spamming people, and continuing to register dummy accounts to spam people after they've repeatedly been asked to stop, that I find objectionable. No worries.

Also, one of them keeps engaging in comma splices, and that's just sick.
 

Jack M Kaiser

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Is there no way to recognise the person making the accounts? I don't know the proper terminology for it, but how a site recognizes when you revisit so you don't have to log in every time.
By far this is the best writng site that I have been to yet!
 

MacAllister

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Well, what happens is they get banned, then go sign up a new account using public IPs or proxies and throwaway webmail addresses -- then they get lazy and either start using the account from home (which gets caught and banned) and they get reported, so they get banned.

We're amassing a pretty extensive set of IP tracks for the spammer/s, though, which makes it easier and easier to catch 'em.
 

BenPanced

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Heh - no worries.

I've actually used the language censor software to scramble the link -- so if you got to the other site, the spam was sent before I made that change. So the spammer has probably already been kicked.

Heh.

Absolutewrite: Where you can say fuck shit cunt! But you can't say ****************!

"Booger"?
 
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