Forwarding Questionable PMs

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AnneMarble

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If we were to hypothetically ;) get a questionable PM, would be forward this hypothetical PM to MacAllister? Or to someone else as well?

By the way, I deleted the picture in this hypothetical PM so that I wouldn't freak out MacAllister (hypothetically speaking). But I can forward the hypothetical original if so desired.

I'm wondering whether particular people were targeted (by this hypothetical event) or if this was just sent to random people. Anyone else get a surprise in their inbox, hypothetically speaking? Something sent from an "esteemed" new member? Something that made you go...
:Jaw:
 

benbradley

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I got it, there were at least five posts to forums with the same thing, all from jennifersworld, looks like they're delete now.
 

benbradley

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And about who got the PM's, I'm guessing they were sent to people online as listed in "what's going on"/Currently Active Users: 398 (63 members and 335 guests) near the bottom of the main page:
http://absolutewrite.com/forums/index.php

Perhaps this system needs a "delete user and block IP" option in the Report screen. Also, one might put newly registered posters on "moderate" so their posts don't show up until/unless they're approved by a moderator. And yes, I know, it's more code to to write to do these features...
 
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AnneMarble

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benbradley said:
And about who got the PM's, I'm guessing they were sent to people online as listed in "what's going on"/Currently Active Users: 398 (63 members and 335 guests) near the bottom of the main page:
http://absolutewrite.com/forums/index.php
That's what I get for having a name that starts with the letter A. ;)

Edited to add: Whoops, it's not in alphabetical order, is it? :D
 
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Dawno

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Anne, any Supermoderator or Admin can ban users who send stuff like that. Birol went and deleted all the threads she could find and banned the perv..uh, perp.

Nothing we can do about the PMs that were sent. I didn't get one but I did have the misfortune to follow one of the links. I am going to go watch some Disney movies now. And drink a couple ounces of Irish Mist.
 

Rolling Thunder

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Dawno said:
I didn't get one but I did have the misfortune to follow one of the links. I am going to go watch some Disney movies now. And drink a couple ounces of Irish Mist.

Want the one I got? :D
 

AnneMarble

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Dawno said:
Anne, any Supermoderator or Admin can ban users who send stuff like that. Birol went and deleted all the threads she could find and banned the perv..uh, perp.
:hooray:

Dawno said:
Nothing we can do about the PMs that were sent. I didn't get one but I did have the misfortune to follow one of the links. I am going to go watch some Disney movies now. And drink a couple ounces of Irish Mist.
Or watch an Orlando Bloom movie? :D
 

Birol

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That's a good question right now.
Anne, if you could please delete that PM, it would be appreciated. On top of having the threads linked in the hypothetically non-existent mod room, someone also forwarded a PM to me already.

Thanks.
 

AnneMarble

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Birol said:
Anne, if you could please delete that PM, it would be appreciated. On top of having the threads linked in the hypothetically non-existent mod room, someone also forwarded a PM to me already.

Thanks.
OK, he's gone.
:hooray:
 

MacAllister

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I'm going to go and poke around. I actually may be able to mass-delete the PMs it sent.
 

pink lily

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I'm active in another forum, where spam or offensive PMs are dealt with by the Admins. Usually, the spammer/offender is banned.

It's one thing to send a PM, it's another thing to use the PM system for spam or harassment.
 

Birol

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That's a good question right now.
The offender was banned. We're just not certain if when can get the PMs that were sent back before they're opened, especially by the underaged.
 

MacAllister

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Oh the user is already banned. I was just trying to figure out if I could spare anyone who got a PM they haven't opened yet from the, um, experience.
 

Birol

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That's a good question right now.
Mac, if it would help, I can forward you the PM that was forwarded to me. You know, there might be a code or something in there you could use to retrieve it.
 

pink lily

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Ohh, the PM spammer/offender was banned. That's what I get for replying to threads after bedtime.

Nice to know that AW doesn't tolerate nonsense via PM.
 

PeeDee

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It was very interesting to get spam in my PM box, though. I've never, ever had that happen before. That was really new. We see a fair amount of spam appear in the forums themselves, I wonder if we'll start seeing more spam appear in the PMs now. Sounds like someone's written a new macro...
 

broughcut

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did you get that hello message a week or so ago from the Israeli 'progamming team'? That script registered with and posted the same message to 30,000+ php boards on New Year's day... How do they do that and beat image verification?
 

PeeDee

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Hm. I didn't get that. These things must just happen when I'm not around.
 

Dawno

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broughcut said:
did you get that hello message a week or so ago from the Israeli 'progamming team'? That script registered with and posted the same message to 30,000+ php boards on New Year's day... How do they do that and beat image verification?

They outsource. There are companies that hire employees to register on forums or type in the verification blocks on blogs and post spam messages. If the hourly wage is $.02 you can get a lot of spam out at a low cost.
 

pink lily

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Dawno said:
They outsource. There are companies that hire employees to register on forums or type in the verification blocks on blogs and post spam messages. If the hourly wage is $.02 you can get a lot of spam out at a low cost.
They advertise on Craigslist for "data entry, work from home" "jobs." I answered one such ad, thinking I'd be entering orders, but the job description said that the work involved joining free forums to post "messages." You get paid per reply. I wrote back, saying, "you're hiring people to be spammers?" Ugh.
 

benbradley

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broughcut said:
did you get that hello message a week or so ago from the Israeli 'progamming team'? That script registered with and posted the same message to 30,000+ php boards on New Year's day... How do they do that and beat image verification?

I didn't get that one but I've read of one way how this is done. Those who do this also "just happen" to run a free porn website. The verification image is copied and sent to the computer of someone requesting free porn with the message "Type these numbers to receive your free porn" and the digits typed in are sent back to the verification screen.
 
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