# How do you report spam threads?



## alwysonvac (Feb 21, 2017)

How do you report a post in this new format? 
84 spam threads so far.
http://tugbbs.com/forums/index.php?members/liqinf1.91031/


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## paxsarah (Feb 21, 2017)

At the bottom of each post is a "report" link. You can also ignore the user (which is what I did in this instance after reporting it).


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## theo (Feb 21, 2017)

alwysonvac said:


> How do you report a post in this new format?
> 84 spam threads so far.
> http://tugbbs.com/forums/index.php?members/liqinf1.91031/



I already sent a message to admin via "contact bbs admin". I for one am reluctant to open posts with embedded Chinese characters in order to "report" the spam (which you need to do in order to "report" a post at all, afaik). Can't possibly know what link or junk one might be inadvertently exposed to in doing that. Some (non-Chinese) spams I've seen on TUG on occasion have actually included a complete URL as the subject line, so if you "open" such a spam message to "report" it, you have instead just clicked on a highly questionable link.

I think the new TUG Xenforo BBS software is great and certainly very user friendly, but being a real techno-dunce I just don't know or understand anything at all about its' security vulnerabilities. 

Just noticed that ever-savvy admin Makai Guy is now online, so the Chinese invasion is likely to  soon meet its' match.


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## WinniWoman (Feb 21, 2017)

The entire forum site was in Chinese today. Some of it still is.


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## theo (Feb 21, 2017)

mpumilia said:


> The entire forum site was in Chinese today. Some of it still is.



I suspect that admin Makai Guy Doug will successfully crush this overnight Chinese invasion in relatively short order.


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## Makai Guy (Feb 21, 2017)

alwysonvac said:


> How do you report a post in this new format?
> 84 spam threads so far.
> http://tugbbs.com/forums/index.php?members/liqinf1.91031/


Best method is to report the post via the report link at the bottom of a problem post as this is seen by ALL bbs Staff members.  Contact Admin goes only to Brian and me.

That particular user has been banned and we're in the process of deleting all his spam posts.


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## theo (Feb 21, 2017)

But Doug, is it not fair to say that in order to "report" a post, you must first access (i.e., *open*) it? 

I for one, in my complete techno-ignorance, am reluctant to "open" any post with foreign language characters in order to "report" it, having absolutely no idea what I may have just "clicked on" in opening a post whose unknown characters are just Greek (...or Chinese) to me.


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## Makai Guy (Feb 21, 2017)

The thread title in the thread list is just text.  The underlying link is just to the post on the bbs, even if the visible text appears to contain a site URL or undecipherable foreign characters.  Once you go to the post, though, don't click on any links in the post if you don't know where they go.


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## theo (Feb 21, 2017)

Makai Guy said:


> The thread title in the thread list is just text.  The underlying link is just to the post on the bbs, even if the visible text appears to contain a site URL or undecipherable foreign characters.  Once you go to the post, though, don't click on any links in the post if you don't know where they go.



Very good and useful information to know --- thanks Doug! I am now proudly only 99.99% clueless.


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## alwysonvac (Feb 21, 2017)

Thanks, I didn't notice the "Report" option right below the post (next to the date/time posted).


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## DaveNV (Feb 21, 2017)

I regularly report spam posts. Usually a one word notice is all the Mods need to handle things quickly.  So when I see something I know shouldn't be there (especially the annoying sports game links), I click Report, type "Spam" and click the send button.  Done deal. 

Dave


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## BellaWyn (Feb 21, 2017)

Makai Guy said:


> Best method is to report the post via the report link at the bottom of a problem post as this is seen by ALL bbs Staff members.  Contact Admin goes only to Brian and me.


This is very helpful to understand Doug.  Thank you.

Have reported the obvious Spam before but occasionally have also reported stuff like "guest needs help" or some other request for mods when a poster is obviously lost.  Wasn't sure if this is appropriate or not but it seemed logical at the time.


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## Daniel Mark (Feb 22, 2017)

Thanks this is very helpful


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## WinniWoman (Mar 1, 2017)

The Chinese are still at it again as of this morning. Too many to report individually. Wonder why this is happening all of a sudden?


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## paxsarah (Mar 1, 2017)

It must be automated. I just report one from each userid and then ignore the profile (several users in this case), which cleans things up for my view, at least.


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## alwysonvac (Mar 1, 2017)

Yeah this one has a little over one hundred posts. 
Maybe there should be a limited on the number of posts by newbies for an initial period.


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## frankf3 (Mar 1, 2017)

alwysonvac said:


> Yeah this one has a little over one hundred posts.
> Maybe there should be a limited on the number of posts by newbies for an initial period.



This is a great idea!   Not sure how easily it could be done for guests.    I've also seen some forums put all new registrations under moderation (first 5 or 10 posts have to be approved by a mod before being visible).   That step typically crushes spammers, but recognize it's a huge burden on the mods if the site gets a lot of new sign ups.


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