There's a spammer in your PM section :(

[English Bob]

I don't come here very often - it's nothing personal, you understand, just that there are a lot of forums out there and not enough hours in the day... So when I get a notification of a private message here, it's a bit of an event. When I see the PM in question is probably generated by a script, is from a new member with a mostly empty profile (some information having been filled in by hitting keys at random), and contains a link to a web site which in turn is a load of links - well, you get the picture. If I'm the only one to have been singled out, then I'll be quiet and feel special. :laugh:

If not, then the mods have probably been spammed too and already know about it.

-edit-

Ooh, first post in my two and a half years as a member. Bad EB.

-second edit-

I should probably add, for the benefit of anyone else who's received one of these PMs - don't visit the link. I couldn't see anything wrong with it, but I used a browser which has no support for the usual exploits. It may be a cover for drive-by malware installation.

[startrekfan001]

i got it too, just a few minutes ago.

[Gemini1999]

I got one yesterday - it kind of surprised me as I don't really spend much time on this board as I'm just an admirerer of CGI, not a contributor. Then I find out that the PM is from someone that I don't even know. The message was pretty simple: "Hi, I'm new, how are you" or something to that effect. I just responded with a "Fine, and you?" and left it at that. No further messages - I just figured that it was some kind of mistake.

Bryan

Edited to add: I've reported the individual to the admin staff of the board so they can look into it.

[evil_genius_180]

You guys need to inform members of the staff via PM of the user names of these possible spammers so we can investigate. Since Warrior has taken steps to stop the horrible spam we were getting on the boards last year, the spammers might have switched to the PM system.

If you're using the 3DG 3.6 theme for the boards (you can change this at the bottom of any page) simply go to the info button at the top of the page and you can view the staff list so you can PM us and we can check this out. Thanks for bringing this to our attention.

[evil_genius_180]

The time is now 2:22 PM (14:22) EST on January 16, 2008. I have contacted the member in question and attempted to resolve the situation with the private messaging. If anyone receives a private message that was sent after this time (sorry, you'll have to convert that to your time zone) please inform me either in this thread or (preferably) by PM. Thanks everyone.

If you got one before that, please just delete it and accept my apology on behalf of the entire 3DG staff.

[evil_genius_180]

The user creating the PMs ignored my attempts to PM him/her, so I was forced take more permanent steps. I've also deleted all the spam PMs, so if you were directed here from your e-mail saying you had a PM and you don't, sorry for that but we don't tolerate spam on this board (or in the private messages) at all.

If anyone sees anything else like this in the future, please inform the staff immediately so we can resolve it. Thanks.

That was quick.

[Gemini1999]

Originally Posted by dougkeenan

That was quick.

You know what they say....

"Mess with the bull, and you get the horns..."

They don't call him "Evil Genius" for nuthin'

[evil_genius_180]

Well, we have a zero tolerance policy for spam here. Anybody who was around last year when we were getting hit by that spam bot many times a day knows why I have a short fuse when it comes to that stuff. And circumventing whatever anti-spam countermeasures Warrior installed in the board last year by using the PM system is just dirty.

But, this was a person (presumably) and not a spam bot, so I attempted to give him/her a chance to stop what they were doing. But, they decided to ignore my PMs and continued to just sit there scanning the member list and PM-ing people, (I could see them doing this on the Who's Online screen and Admin CP.) so I was forced to take action to protect everyone else's privacy.

So, we'll attempt to put that behind us and go on with our usual routine.

[English Bob]

Originally Posted by evil_genius_180

If you're using the 3DG 3.6 theme for the boards (you can change this at the bottom of any page) simply go to the info button at the top of the page and you can view the staff list so you can PM us and we can check this out.

That's good advice. The default vBulletin 3 style is lacking many of the bells 'n' whistles of the others.

[evil_genius_180]

Yeah, I didn't notice for a while that Warrior had added other themes and I was putting up with that default style myself. It was OK while it was necessary but sucks otherwise.

[Lee]

This guy hit over at SFM to, and I have yet to get a pm... I feel SO left out..*pouts*...

Nice quick work EG.

Well, at least I'll find out if I've ever posted in here before. :^)

Good to see you're on top of things EG!!!

[evil_genius_180]

I"m not really sure it was a guy. (or a girl, for that matter.) It might've been a spambot, like we had hitting the forums last year. But this one was smart and hit the PM section, to get around the spam guards on the forums. I didn't click on the link (so it wouldn't be traced back here) but I checked out that site and it looked like some randomly generated info site.

[Darrell Lawrence]

...and people wondered why I have him as an Admin...

[mikala]

Great work EG! Crappy that the spammers have gotten this desperate.

[aarathi]

I got yesterday. Please take any action against spammers. Otherwise they destroy our beautiful site.

I've even gotten that pm on a family friendly games forum, called blitwise, so far, I seem to be the only one there who's gotten one...............
man, spammers, come on, if I wanted spam, I'd go buy a can of it off the shelf at the supermarket, seeing it online is just plain aggravating.