Directory spammers

Tsection uses email verification - you need a valid email address in order to submit and your listing isn't added to the queue for approval until you check your email and copy and paste a unique code into your browser (or click on a link contained in the email).

Has worked really well so far.

Still get the odd page that is spam, but at least you know that your email rejection notice is going someplace it will be read!

 

Biggest problem recently has been with Norton Firewall. New installations, and subscription upgrades (which has personally been very annoying), have been applying default firewall settings without asking the user how they want it configured.

 

If you're behind a company firewall then you wouldn't have any way of reconfiguring it to show your ref info. (unless you're the sys.ad. of course )!

TSection's method of sending a verification email would work best IMO. As would including a ransom note on the submission form...

 

i have one ip to be added into the spam list:
84.10.169.164
This guy auto submits (81 sites) with different url and with repetitive description all into a category

 

Exactly.

UUdir uses this method. Same IP cannot submit within 12 hours. It's harmful and I have warned them if they don't change it they will lose users. I will start classifying sites on their user friendliness soon, and this sort of thing will be one of the areas I target as bad. It's not user friendly.

 

I dont think there is any need to ban just on the basis of IP.

As a directory owner, I think its my responsibility to review each and every site, spend some time on understanding the content and then approve the listing. After reviewing more than 1700 sites, to some extent I can identify, who is spamming who is not. At times people dont submit to proper category, in that case I would review the site and then move to a proper category. At times, I have to edit where there are spelling mistakes, title not written properly and so on.

If I have to fight Spam, I would rather like to have image verification or email verification, rather taking unanimous decision to ban the IP. Why should I ban an IP, when I can reject the spam or bad entry.

 

I agree, but at present I only have IP banning available, and I need to do something to stop the junk this spammer keeps sending me. Over 400 in one night is too many.

Each submission would need completely rewriting by me before I could enter it in the directory (see my original post for why). I checked out some of the sites originally and found:
little or no content
page not found errors
and, at this point I stopped even looking at them, multiple viruses

 

Yes they are automated. I know for sure, because my add link page was down for several days, but these submissions were still coming through.

I am looking into something like image verification, but currently IP banning is all I've got, and even rejecting that many submissions takes time.