OK, that's it, I put Polycount nnder lockdown on my browser, Ghostery, AdBlock and NoScript, and yes, I just got an alert on Chrome too, although I'm not sure which thread from.
"Yontoo.Pagerage is a browser extension for Internet Explorer, Chrome and Firefox that enables customization of ones Facebook profile. However Yontoo.Pagerage gets installed as bundled software without proper display of an EULA and privacy policy. Yontoo.Pagerage also displays advertising which is not stated when installed as bundled software."
Anyway. Uninstalled it and removed all apps associated with it. Polycounts clean for me again.
Time for a format then. You have no clue whether your machine is actually secure or not now. Who knows what kind of rootkits/etc. it left behind or if something else brought it here. Whatever you do on your PC until you format it could be compromised. I'd argue it's not even worth removing malware, just nuke it from orbit, it's the only way to be sure.
You can format. But I had this happen a while ago. It was just a stupid plugin that I didnt know had installed. It wasnt the same as Stingers though. Just go through your addons in firefox or chrome or whatever you're using and see if there is anything you don't recgonize.
That's why I NEVER allow anything on Facebook, just keeping it for the standard things...but trying to get family to use Google+ instead, so I can close the damn thing.
Isn't it possible to ban and delete all of the accounts posts?
Yes but this doesn't account for multiple accounts etc, very rarely do we get a bunch of spam from one account, usually its just a few posts each from a large number of accounts.
I vote that we all receive random-number generators that produce a different code every two hours - used to log into the forum.
Then, we all have keys to wear around our necks which have to be turned at the exact same time as at least three other members in order to post.
... What?
...Or a captcha/human-friendly question and answer on sign up? Or first post approval?
Something needs to be done here, as having bots all over the site is bad for everyone. Surely first post approval is as much work as looking at a reported post list and deleting/banning accounts?
We need a mandatory eye scan upon posting. It will solve the spambot problem AND we'll all look super cool, not that we would know first hand, we would be blind.
...Or a captcha/human-friendly question and answer on sign up? Or first post approval?..
They don't work because a lot of spam these days is human generated and not bots or scripts. The onlyway to deal with it is to manually approve registrations (even then the odd one or two can still get through).
Next step: Require personal domain e-mails for registering on the forum, no more gmail, hotmail, random mail, only mails which is tied to an portfolio. Done!
I went through about 20 reported threads last night and manually searched around for suspicious activity and usernames - in total I spent about 2-3 hours last night. It's not as easy as everyone assumes.
Everyone can do their part by reporting spammers, don't assume it's so blatant that someone else already reported the post.
Hm, first post approval is sort of a pain, and can turn me off to a forum fast... So, something like, on registering, they ask a silly easy question (like "What is 1 + 1? (Just type 2 in the box below")) wouldn't work, because lots of bots are real humans? Do they get paid for what they do? And by who? It seems super odd to me.
At any rate, I don't want Justin Meisse and others wasting so much of their time. I think, if it continues as it has, there needs to be a solution put in place, at least to test it out.
Because when I report a post, and it asks me to type why I'm reporting it, I'm getting bored and creative. The first few times I wrote a sentence about why I was reporting it. Then just "Spam." Now, it's things like "Spammity-Spam", and "Super-Spam".....
I'm sure it isn't pretty to see me degenerating into insanity like that.
So, are there any easily implementable security measures built into the forum system to keep spam out?
Hm, first post approval is sort of a pain, and can turn me off to a forum fast... So, something like, on registering, they ask a silly easy question (like "What is 1 + 1? (Just type 2 in the box below")) wouldn't work, because lots of bots are real humans? Do they get paid for what they do? And by who? It seems super odd to me.
At any rate, I don't want Justin Meisse and others wasting so much of their time. I think, if it continues as it has, there needs to be a solution put in place, at least to test it out.
Because when I report a post, and it asks me to type why I'm reporting it, I'm getting bored and creative. The first few times I wrote a sentence about why I was reporting it. Then just "Spam." Now, it's things like "Spammity-Spam", and "Super-Spam".....
I'm sure it isn't pretty to see me degenerating into insanity like that.
So, are there any easily implementable security measures built into the forum system to keep spam out?
If you're from place like Korea and China, they have what they call 'internet human armies' where they get paid per post count, I read about it, and it's kinda a shitty deal since it can vary all the way from changing the argument of a an original topic, to simply spamming.
And not matter what silly question you ask, they will answer it with a simple search on Google.
I honestly suggest either rolling back to a quick check and allow message approach or if you plan on adding a question thingy, ask something really art specific, such showing an image from one of the winners from DW, and asking the artists name, but honestly, moderator approved entry would be much cleaner in all cases.
Maybe an automated somewhat crowd sourced removal process would work.
Something like: 3 Polycounters with post count > 1000 or join date > 2 years ago report a post as spam, then it automatically gets removed along with all other posts by the same user and the user is banned.
Idea: We turn back on first-post moderation so that the spammers aren't getting through. We, as moderators, would then need to focus on approving first posts and squashing spammers.
Idea: We turn back on first-post moderation so that the spammers aren't getting through. We, as moderators, would then need to focus on approving first posts and squashing spammers.
Well, considering removing all these threads and posts is also a fair bit of work for you guys, I would say this is a good move. Same amount of workload for the mods unfortunately, but a better payoff (an sti free polycount).
Ideally, this would be a constructive discussion, rather than the apparent nay-saying and other silliness that's going on. It's a problem that I'm sure we'd all like to see cleaned up, users, mods and admins alike.
Make the entry questions about game art. That'll serve two purposes in getting rid of most bots and would probably get rid of a lot of the human spam too, as they won't know what a Gaussian or Fresnel term is. If an artist doesn't know, they're likely to go Google it and come back with an answer.
With that in place, you have a drastically reduced first post approval queue to work through. And if it gets too much, look at who's been reporting the most legit spam and give them access to the queue - They care enough to actively report it to spend that same time scanning through a list and click a few buttons.
You could also disallow anyone with a post count below 5 the ability to create a thread. It's not a big hurdle for bona fide users and, whilst it won't get rid of spam in existing threads, it'll stop the RSS feeds from getting clogged up as badly as they are. Rarely do I see a spam account with more than 5 posts.
As said, you're already working through the "Reported Spam" list. This is just another list, but with the benefit of keeping potential spam behind the approval queue, rather than filling up the forums with crap about handbags and NFL t-shirt offers.
You would meet the requirements to report/ban me with your join date of Mar 2009. You'd just need to convince two other Polycounters that also meet the same requirements to report/ban me too
The number of Polycounters needed could be increased to 5 (or any number), but then how many individual spam posts get reported by more than three Polycounters? That might reduce the effectiveness of the method.
I do see what you mean though, sadly it probably would still be abused at some point. Post counts, and join dates don't necessarily mean reasonable people.
Also it's probably not possible to implement anyway, given the resources the Admins have at their disposal. Oh well never mind... bad idea on my part :poly136:
I think better than requiring first post moderation (because that can be a huge pain in the ass and a turn off for some users), simply adding more moderators could help, coupled with encouraging good use of the "report" function.
I know we just recently added moderators, and perhaps you wouldn't want to be giving more random folk any type of significant responsibility - but perhaps create a brand of moderator that only has the ability to say...move threads? You could then create a hidden moderator-only forum section (if there's not one already) where spam threads get moved, and more "seasoned" or trusted moderators would delete the threads/ban the user(s) as time allowed, which might help streamline things a bit without having too many people capable of outright banning/deleting/what have you. In the event it is as simple as just a few more moderators, maybe go through the "reported" posts you folk get, and hand pick a few of the people who already seem to report threads appropriately, and at times when current moderators don't seem to be active?
Maybe that's a dumb, overly complicated idea. I guess I just feel that the spam problem, while something I do run across halfway regularly - isn't spamming the fuck out of everything with porn and isn't really a massive detriment to my experience here. Not worth first post moderation or a more drastic, global change, anyway.
make some easy 3d or game related related signup question with a reload button, in case the one is too difficult. The goal should not be to make signup difficult, but cumbersome enough to deter people who don't really care about 3D and game art.
1st post moderation also sounds good to me. If you really care about joining PC then you can sure wait a while until you get approved. And its only a 1 time thing anyway.
I also agree that that first post approval is good, and as mention maybe add more moderators but with less control that only can look on new posts and accept them. Would not be so hard to see what a good post looks like or?
What about something so simple as putting in some extra filters, which has terms that the mods can update, such as URLs or words like "cleaningcassette" which obviously wouldn't be used by anyone normally, and anyone who post anything with these or has this in their profile, is getting thrown into the 'dungeon' and their posts/threads are hidden, until a mod has approved their profile as legit. This will only apply to any user with posts less the 100, and if they have visited the dungeon and then gotten approved, it won't affect them again.
Yeah this is getting a bit crazy now. Not only is almost every new topic spam, but also many of the replies. Sooner or later my comp will catch a nasty virus from some link in here.
Replies
Haha, even our threads about spam get spam. You've got balls Allen416...I'll give you that.
Scifi environment [wip thread] ( 1 2 )
This is scary. :<
www.polycount.com contains content from rmgameart.com, a site known to distribute malware.
The images in the thread are hosted by http://rmgameart.com/stuff/wip/plan.jpg, there's no issues with polycount itself.
Uh oh....
Well. Today on opening PC. I've found a new one.
Random words throughout PC are being converted into hyperlinks to what looks to be the same I-Pad2 competitions and some other spam adverts.
Anyone else seeing this or similar?
Its not happening on any other sites as far as I can tell.
Injection maybe?
Nothing on this end// Maybe a link was to a malware and you inadvertently had it installed//
On researching "easy inline" adverts it could be Malware at my end.
Something call Yontoo installed itself on my computer. Apparently its something I might have picked up from a Facebook app!...ffs.
http://forums.spybot.info/showthread.php?t=62640
"Yontoo.Pagerage is a browser extension for Internet Explorer, Chrome and Firefox that enables customization of ones Facebook profile. However Yontoo.Pagerage gets installed as bundled software without proper display of an EULA and privacy policy. Yontoo.Pagerage also displays advertising which is not stated when installed as bundled software."
Anyway. Uninstalled it and removed all apps associated with it. Polycounts clean for me again.
Sorry if this caused a panic ;P
Yes but this doesn't account for multiple accounts etc, very rarely do we get a bunch of spam from one account, usually its just a few posts each from a large number of accounts.
"Hey Guys, tighten up the ***** on level 3"
Type in the correct name.
I seen that earlier as well :S
I thought something was wrong so i just came back on polycount later and its gone now
Then, we all have keys to wear around our necks which have to be turned at the exact same time as at least three other members in order to post.
... What?
...Or a captcha/human-friendly question and answer on sign up? Or first post approval?
Something needs to be done here, as having bots all over the site is bad for everyone. Surely first post approval is as much work as looking at a reported post list and deleting/banning accounts?
Everyone can do their part by reporting spammers, don't assume it's so blatant that someone else already reported the post.
At any rate, I don't want Justin Meisse and others wasting so much of their time. I think, if it continues as it has, there needs to be a solution put in place, at least to test it out.
Because when I report a post, and it asks me to type why I'm reporting it, I'm getting bored and creative. The first few times I wrote a sentence about why I was reporting it. Then just "Spam." Now, it's things like "Spammity-Spam", and "Super-Spam".....
I'm sure it isn't pretty to see me degenerating into insanity like that.
So, are there any easily implementable security measures built into the forum system to keep spam out?
If you're from place like Korea and China, they have what they call 'internet human armies' where they get paid per post count, I read about it, and it's kinda a shitty deal since it can vary all the way from changing the argument of a an original topic, to simply spamming.
And not matter what silly question you ask, they will answer it with a simple search on Google.
I honestly suggest either rolling back to a quick check and allow message approach or if you plan on adding a question thingy, ask something really art specific, such showing an image from one of the winners from DW, and asking the artists name, but honestly, moderator approved entry would be much cleaner in all cases.
Something like: 3 Polycounters with post count > 1000 or join date > 2 years ago report a post as spam, then it automatically gets removed along with all other posts by the same user and the user is banned.
*bans*
Well, considering removing all these threads and posts is also a fair bit of work for you guys, I would say this is a good move. Same amount of workload for the mods unfortunately, but a better payoff (an sti free polycount).
Make the entry questions about game art. That'll serve two purposes in getting rid of most bots and would probably get rid of a lot of the human spam too, as they won't know what a Gaussian or Fresnel term is. If an artist doesn't know, they're likely to go Google it and come back with an answer.
With that in place, you have a drastically reduced first post approval queue to work through. And if it gets too much, look at who's been reporting the most legit spam and give them access to the queue - They care enough to actively report it to spend that same time scanning through a list and click a few buttons.
You could also disallow anyone with a post count below 5 the ability to create a thread. It's not a big hurdle for bona fide users and, whilst it won't get rid of spam in existing threads, it'll stop the RSS feeds from getting clogged up as badly as they are. Rarely do I see a spam account with more than 5 posts.
As said, you're already working through the "Reported Spam" list. This is just another list, but with the benefit of keeping potential spam behind the approval queue, rather than filling up the forums with crap about handbags and NFL t-shirt offers.
You would meet the requirements to report/ban me with your join date of Mar 2009. You'd just need to convince two other Polycounters that also meet the same requirements to report/ban me too
The number of Polycounters needed could be increased to 5 (or any number), but then how many individual spam posts get reported by more than three Polycounters? That might reduce the effectiveness of the method.
I do see what you mean though, sadly it probably would still be abused at some point. Post counts, and join dates don't necessarily mean reasonable people.
Also it's probably not possible to implement anyway, given the resources the Admins have at their disposal. Oh well never mind... bad idea on my part :poly136:
I know we just recently added moderators, and perhaps you wouldn't want to be giving more random folk any type of significant responsibility - but perhaps create a brand of moderator that only has the ability to say...move threads? You could then create a hidden moderator-only forum section (if there's not one already) where spam threads get moved, and more "seasoned" or trusted moderators would delete the threads/ban the user(s) as time allowed, which might help streamline things a bit without having too many people capable of outright banning/deleting/what have you. In the event it is as simple as just a few more moderators, maybe go through the "reported" posts you folk get, and hand pick a few of the people who already seem to report threads appropriately, and at times when current moderators don't seem to be active?
Maybe that's a dumb, overly complicated idea. I guess I just feel that the spam problem, while something I do run across halfway regularly - isn't spamming the fuck out of everything with porn and isn't really a massive detriment to my experience here. Not worth first post moderation or a more drastic, global change, anyway.
1st post moderation also sounds good to me. If you really care about joining PC then you can sure wait a while until you get approved. And its only a 1 time thing anyway.
At first i was thinking it polycount ad system
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=104102
spam thread by socceru5k57