MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

Dear forum users,
The number of spam messages is increasing and the amount of time to remove them also increases. I will remove the spam messages. I have also disabled the registration of new users. New members are welcome, but I will then personally create an account for them. If you want become a member of this forum please send me an email with the following information:
your username, your email.
I will then create an account with a password (you can and should change it after you log in).

All the best, Oliver.

Hello Oliver. I don't think this is an ideal solution. In spite of the spam it feels like the forums get new real members frequently. The chances of a prospective member reading this section and emailing for registration are slim to none--there's a reason this sort of method is only used on small communities where new members aren't really desired.
Obviously you having to personally handle all the spam is a huge imposition and not viable in the long term, but I think you would do better to delegate spam removal and/or enact some other measures (such as requiring manual approval of an account's first x number of posts) which will allow things to keep chugging along a little better without damaging the site's SEO with spam or eating upall your spare time with maintenance.
I am a mod over at gemologyonline.com. As you would imagine spam is a major problem when you discuss that sort of subject matter given the relative advertising value of a gem-related click (likely similar to the situation for microscope clicks). Requiring new accounts' first ten posts to be manually approved has prevented any spam from getting through in years while still allowing new members.

I'd be willing to share some of the work in approving new member messages, should that be the desired solution. There are likely other long time members willing to help.

Both of those solutions would work. Best would be the one that requires the least amount of work, presented in a way that does not present a discouraging initial barrier to new users. If the method used by gemologyonline is also used by other sites, it is probably the solution with the least overhead (although vetting 10 posts seems like a lot--would fewer work just as well?). Of course, a lot depends on what the software allows.

i just don't get the point of their bs.. no one will click on their garbage.

I would also be willing to volunteer to help moderate spam. You have quite a few of us willing to assist, your efforts and the site in general are appreciated, please consider letting some of us help.

EYE C U wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 04, 2022 2:46 pm

i just don't get the point of their bs.. no one will click on their garbage.

It's probably SEO spam. Put links mext to keywords on a decently ranked site and hope google's algorithms will push them higher in results before figuring out what's going on. Half of the posts try to make the links invisible for that reason.

Dubious wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 04, 2022 12:57 am

(although vetting 10 posts seems like a lot--would fewer work just as well?).

I agree 10 would be excessive here. It was likely set that high for handling non-bot scammers.

I would have to agree with Scarodactyl, as a recent new member, getting someone to figure out how to join might lead to a slow death of the forum, and there are not many places like it. I have also seen several new members join in the couple of months I have been here.

As a brand new member, I think what you folks have discussed here (2nd post on down) is a very realistic way to manage spamming, and still keep the ability to bring in new members.

I did want to also echo that giving a few established, willing to help members, moderator privileges (editing, deleting posts, threads) along with approving the first few posts of new members, would make this a lot less of a hassle for the admin.

Thanks for keeping this forum alive, guys and gals. Keep up the great work!

First of all,
Nice to see Oliver's face icon. Enjoy his videos etc...

On Youtube and Blogger-
There is a "REPORT ABUSE" button.
If we had that then all the administrator would have to do is check those "Reports."

But the whole New Member thing is where a watch is needed as they usually join for the purpose of spamming and their first posts are spam.

-Dennis

Dennis wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 05, 2022 4:37 pm

First of all,
Nice to see Oliver's face icon. Enjoy his videos etc...

On Youtube and Blogger-
There is a "REPORT ABUSE" button.
If we had that then all the administrator would have to do is check those "Reports."

But the whole New Member thing is where a watch is needed as they usually join for the purpose of spamming and their first posts are spam.

-Dennis

There is already a report button, I know I use it regularly and that sometimes someone else has beat me to it so I know I am not alone in my efforts. Even with that, the admin or moderators still need to investigate the report to ensure it's accurate before deleting and/or suspending an account and I suspect that is a good part of the time Oliver is losing. There's a lot of background work that goes into this stuff that might seem trivial on the surface, but it adds up until one day you realize you're a slave to a process and the burnout starts to take it's toll. I'm hoping a solution can be found which frees Oliver up to enjoy more of his life without adding extra complications or worry for him.

Oh yea.
I never noticed the "Report button." It looks like an explanation point.
Thanks.
-Dennis

Hello,
I have again re-opened the registration of new users, but I will have to approve of it myself. If this is not a feasible solution, then I will try to change the security questions. Adding members manually also takes time...
Oliver

Thank you for your effort on this, Oliver.

Oliver, THANK YOU for all you do!! Cheers, sir!

admin wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 05, 2022 8:29 pm

Hello,
I have again re-opened the registration of new users, but I will have to approve of it myself. If this is not a feasible solution, then I will try to change the security questions. Adding members manually also takes time...
Oliver

Thanks !!

BEST SERVED FRIED

Thanks

Oliver

!
Unfortunately new user TinaJohnson has already spammed since yesterday. Someone said earlier that they are trying to boost page rankings for their sites my linking them to well established and reputable sites, I think this is indeed what is happening, rather then tricking people directly to click.

I had a quick look for official extensions for phpBB to help, but there is not much to help. The focus there was on the Q&A on registering which Oliver has done with a CAPTCHA, so either they have a human registering or they are getting around answering the question. Apparently many of the CAPTCHAs including the ones in the stock phpBB have been cracked long ago, so it is possible the current question and CAPTCHA in use have been cracked. It might be worthwhile to change them and see if that helps.
https://www.phpbb.com/support/docs/en/3 ... a-captcha/
https://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=2122696

There is however a AntiSpam extension "Stop Forum Spam" by a third party developer with good reviews which would help with spamming human & spambots
https://www.phpbb.com/customise/db/exte ... orum_spam/
It blocks registering and posting on usernames, IP addresses and email addresses for known spammers (via a central database) to stop them reusing these and allows mods and admins to report posts to the database to stop new registrations and posts.
So this would help, but not do everything we might want.

The built in Newly Registered user group allows you to assign permissions to moderate new users posts, but that requires maintaining an active group of moderators which is not the easiest thing to do.

If you need someone to look into this more, I work in IT and can parse some of the options for you.

I suspect the spam artists know how to fool sites/administrators to the point of setting up their accounts. However, they would be unlikely to fool experienced site users with successive postings--even if they had the expertise, it would take too much of the scam artist's time. Therefore, the solution suggested by Scarodactyle that is used at Gemologyonline.com seems best--simply use volunteers to vet the first X postings by a new user. It works at Gemologyonline.com and should work here.

Sad to say the site is near unusable with the likes of "joreid" crapping over more than a dozen posts. One hopes there is a hell for spammers.

I see no value in second-guessing how Oliver chooses to run his site
and don't really mind banging the [!] icon for scam posts by @joreid et. al.
in part because a fair number of resurrected topics are interesting.

PeteM wrote: ↑

Sat Oct 08, 2022 5:32 pm

Sad to say the site is near unusable with the likes of "joreid" crapping over more than a dozen posts. One hopes there is a hell for spammers.

Perhaps by chance, many spams appear when the post is exactly 2 years old.

I don't think Oliver chooses to allow spam, so it's not really about how he runs this site...
Until the present topic, I did not realize the "!" button was for reporting spam. Better than nothing, I guess, but what happens once the message is flagged? Doesn't Oliver or someone still have to wade through the postings to determine why they were flagged?
Spam may have brought some interesting discussions back to the forefront, but there are better ways of finding old topics. At present, the "Active Topics" function (which I like) is pretty much useless.

Whatever anti-spam provisions were implemented, they don't seem to be working. Nine new spam messages just appeared, most advertising drugs, apparently posted from a new account established today. It would make sense to try measures that have proven to work at other sites.

Lol this time they really went hard.

I used to think answering questions here would be a service to kids and hobbyists interested in microscopy. Now it's look at pond critters, learn about crystal meth, Xanax, and Quaaludes?

Not sure how this gets resolved, but many other hobbyist interest (and most professional) sites I contribute to have near zero spam; some of them with 10x the traffic and users. It's a shame - Oliver has otherwise created an outstanding resource.

Is there another currently active microscopy forum in English?

Javier wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 30, 2022 12:08 pm

Is there another currently active microscopy forum in English?

I know of https://www.quekett.org/ (very old British club devoted to microscopy), and https://www.photomacrography.net (slightly different focus but a lot of good stuff). And I believe there are a few Facebook groups. I haven't found anything better than MicrobeHunter.com, though.

FWIW, I've been active over the years in another hobbyist discipline and seen what was once the best and most active forum degrade, another take its place, and the active and informative posters move en masse within a year.

That new and improved forum (improved by the quality of its posters) quickly became the world's largest (and profitable) for the individual hosting it. Sadly, over the next ten years it, too, managed to degrade. In this case due mainly to the intrusion of political partisanship and conspiracy theories.

Forums, like gardens, can be wonderful and amazing places. The trick to keeping them so is to pull the weeds as soon as they appear.

Dubious wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 30, 2022 2:10 pm

Javier wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 30, 2022 12:08 pm

Is there another currently active microscopy forum in English?

I know of https://www.quekett.org/ (very old British club devoted to microscopy), and https://www.photomacrography.net (slightly different focus but a lot of good stuff). And I believe there are a few Facebook groups. I haven't found anything better than MicrobeHunter.com, though.

Thanks!