Flagging spammers?

[Jraef]

It seems to me there used to be a method of flagging posts as spam (steam whistle icon?). Did this go away or is there another way to do it? I have been seeing spam getting in recently, don't know if the moderators are viewing all fora.

Case in point today: http://www.practicalmachinist.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php/topic/3/1809.html
"She" hit the Transformers and Phase Converters forum with 4 posts like this, and "she" is a repeat offender. I'd like to see their IP blocked if possible.

 

[swarfed]

Flagging and blocking are great ideas! Shouldn't the icon be a picture of a small blue can of meat?

 

[cruzinonline]

Too bad there isn't some way we could have fun with these guys. I read the anti-spammer site someone else posted and I too would like to screw with these people. Then again, I'm sure it's a waste of time but...it sure feels good to give as good as you get.

On another note, I noteiced one of the cashiers check was from MY bank. It's located in a little town in Ga with only about 6 branches. No one in Chatham county has ever even heard of it. How did htese kooks from Nigeria get a hold of that? Even had the right logo. Wow, and I thought living in Mayberry was one way to protect myself from the electronic world.

 

[Carl Darnell]

If you could find them what ever you do is probably illegal. But if you could go to their home on a dark night and---------------. Nawww, I guess I'll stay home and bitch about it. You did say Flogging the spamer didn't you.

 

[Ken_Shea]

You did say Flogging the spamer didn't you.

Yes, that is what he said

 

[sfriedberg]

Spammer reported.

 

[technocrat]

flogging spanner is more on topic

 

[WizardOfBoz]

Too bad there isn't some way we could have fun with these guys.

That's what I would have hoped the phone companies would offer. Using a community app, phone numbers and caller id's that match a number, or word, or a pattern (in my case, it would be calls id'd as from "city, state"). The community database would then be polled before your phone even rang. Offending calls would be diverted to an answering service that would answer "Hello? .... Hello?... Just a minute, let me get my headset .... Oh, where is it? Just hold on.... Damn! Just a second... HEY DAVE! Can you pickup? Hold on just a second - Dave will be here in thirty seconnds..." Then "Dave" would "pick up" with a similar routine. "Hello? Hey, Barely can hear you, can you check your audio settings?". Then the narrative diminishes in volume and with each lower volume the caller is urged to turn up his headset. Then "HEY! THAT'S GREAT! NOW YOU'RE LOUD AND CLEAR. But I'm not the person you want to talk to. HEY, DARLENE! CAN YOU PICK UP?!"

With a community app, you could put together thousands of pre-recorded messsages and, hopefully, never have to speak to these folks again. Here's a more active approach...

 

[eKretz]

If you report it, (lower left part of the post) the moderator of that forum section should get a notification. I have been banning the spammers when I see them, but I don't get notifications outside my forum section.

 

[HHollow]

That's what I would have hoped the phone companies would offer. Using a community app, phone numbers and caller id's that match a number, or word, or a pattern (in my case, it would be calls id'd as from "city, state"). The community database would then be polled before your phone even rang. Offending calls would be diverted to an answering service that would answer "Hello? .... Hello?... Just a minute, let me get my headset .... Oh, where is it? Just hold on.... Damn! Just a second... HEY DAVE! Can you pickup? Hold on just a second - Dave will be here in thirty seconnds..." Then "Dave" would "pick up" with a similar routine. "Hello? Hey, Barely can hear you, can you check your audio settings?". Then the narrative diminishes in volume and with each lower volume the caller is urged to turn up his headset. Then "HEY! THAT'S GREAT! NOW YOU'RE LOUD AND CLEAR. But I'm not the person you want to talk to. HEY, DARLENE! CAN YOU PICK UP?!",,,,,,,,

My local phone cooperative in Montana does this, pretty much. Only for their own subscribers.

 

[WizardOfBoz]

My local phone cooperative in Montana does this, pretty much. Only for their own subscribers.

Cool! Frankly, I'd pay for that. But then again, you're in a coop, and coops tend to be more responsive to their members I think.

 

[sfriedberg]

bosleyjr, I thought he meant the coop treats their members that way, not that they use that technique on spam callers bothering the members. HHollow, can you clarify?

 

[HHollow]

bosleyjr, I thought he meant the coop treats their members that way, not that they use that technique on spam callers bothering the members. HHollow, can you clarify?

Local coop weeds out spam callers who spoof dummy phone numbers. I wager they would probably open up their IP phone api in case someone wanted to create a bot to answer robo/spam callers.

 

[reggie_obe]

More effective would be unleashing a hacker against the spammer to cripple their IT infrastructure.