Dear Moderators, Thanks

Bill Masen - December 4, 2021

Thanks to the mod team for keeping this current wave of spammers from posting, its much appreciated.

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Thank you for taking the time to thank us Bill! It really means a lot that people appreciate the work we do.

I’m curious how you knew we had an unusual amount of spam the last few days? I hope none of it leaked through.

 

I also noticed the increase, so will respond on Bill’s behalf. And yes, thank you for keeping this forum clean.

I get a lot of notifications saying <username> commented on <post>, then don’t find any new comment by that username on the post. I assume these were blocked by moderation. Several recent examples had usernames that were obviously spammers, and actually put their message into their username.

Ideally, such moderated comments wouldn’t generate any notification, or better yet would generate the notification later if/when they were released by moderation. But that behavior is probably just built-in to the forum software that you’re using.

 

Yup what Erics said, we get notifications of new posts, but there is nothing there when we look. The give away is often the posters name as it often mentions assorted pharma.

 

FWIW we did build a delayed notification queue to give us humans time to intercept, but there was a bug with preventing on-site notifications (seems like it was blocking email notifications though). Will fix that asap while continuing on longer-term stuff.

 

Thanks Bill and Eric. A new spam/bot ring has been attacking us the last few days, 24/7. We had a lot of countermeasures in place (tech and human), but it is somewhat limited against the savvy ones. So, to Erics point, we’re actually in the middle of rebuilding the site from scratch, in part so we can better control this stuff. 

eg. We may turn on a step where, when registering new account, you have to click link in email to confirm account before being able to post anything.

p.s. yall also may find it interesting we’ve seen an uptick in russian disinfo efforts, particularly around Ukraine.

 

“yall also may find it interesting we’ve seen an uptick in russian disinfo efforts, particularly around Ukraine.”

I do find that interesting. I don’t think I’ve been exposed to that variety yet.

I actually think that seeing through disinformation is a very important preparedness skill, and that we also need to find ways to blunt disinformation both at the individual and community levels. Unfortunately, I think it would be hard to discuss in depth without triggering a lot of political partisan responses, just because so much disinformation has political motivations.

 

You are right, seeing through disinformation is a great preparedness skill! There was a good forum post the other day about that exact thing: Evaluating information – a prepper skill

 

Thanks for pointing out that discussion. Looks like a seed that might grow into a great guide one day. 🙂

 

I will throw my hat in the ring also and say a big thanks too. 

It’s actually interesting to see these attacks in progress and the tenacity of these folk. 

Hmmmm Russian disinformation what can you say? That could be a thread on it’s own. 

 

We are very grateful for your wise advice and help on the forum Jenny! Thank you for being here with us.

 

I’m jumping in too, to say a huge ‘Thanks’ to the mods.

Spammers are tenacious little so-and-so’s. 

 

I would like to add my gratitude as well. Over time I’ve really come to trust The Prepared and it is one of the few sites I read on a regular basis, in large part because of the excellent moderation. Like others below, I have gotten many notifications that were clearly cleaned up before I had to waste my time on them!

The one issue I’ve had with notifications is that the unsubscribe option is an easy to click link – and easy to accidentally click. But if I want to see the actual post, I have to copy and paste a link or log in and then find the post on the Forum. Not a huge deal but maybe something that can be upgraded if the site is being rebuilt anyway.  

 

Thanks for the kind words, M.E. Have passed on the feedback. 

 

I join in the thanks for the spam clean up, moderation on the site, and the explanation as to what the empty comment notices actually meant.  There was another thread/rant that I think I mostly missed because of good moderators.  I too find that I read this site way more regularly than just about anything else.  

 

That means a lot Alicia! Luckily we have a great community here and there isn’t as much moderation needed as other forums. We have set out clear ground rules of how people need to behave and treat each other and it’s turned into a helpful and positive prepping forum.

I appreciate you being here and the wonderful comments and help you offer to others.

 

Thanks Gideon.  I’ve been on a virtual work island, then in blissful disconnection until New Year’s.  And unfortunately it appears that the meme is correct – 2022 is really becoming 2020, too.  Ahhhhhh!