Offtopic: Google Groups users fight against spam.

[JC]

I noticed the spam in c.l.c++ has been getting really intense
recently.

If you use Google Groups to read the newsgroup, view the message and
click "More Options" in the top right corner, then "Report This
Message" and report is as spam. Even if you just report one every time
you view the group, it probably helps.

With luck, if enough messages from the same addresses are reported, it
will raise some red flags and Google will add them to the spam
filters.

Jason

 

[Ian Collins]

I noticed the spam in c.l.c++ has been getting really intense
recently.

Has it? A decent news server and some simple client filters is the best
solution.

 

[Qu0ll]

I noticed the spam in c.l.c++ has been getting really intense
recently.

If you use Google Groups to read the newsgroup, view the message and
click "More Options" in the top right corner, then "Report This
Message" and report is as spam. Even if you just report one every time
you view the group, it probably helps.

With luck, if enough messages from the same addresses are reported, it
will raise some red flags and Google will add them to the spam
filters.

Honourable sentiments Jason but the fact is that most spammers use a
different (fake) email address with each message so filtering them will have
zero effect. Unfortunately the spammers already thought of that.

Even for the few who repeatedly use the same or similar addresses (such as
those advertising their blog spots or selling book coding solutions), they
will quickly see if they are being filtered and just start using a different
address.

I hate spammers more than anyone but unfortunately Google don't see spamming
through Google Groups as a major issue or they would have done something
about it years ago.

The simple thing to do is to plonk any post coming from Google Groups. I am
yet to see many legitimate posts from there.

--
And loving it,

-Qu0ll (Rare, not extinct)
_________________________________________________
(e-mail address removed)
[Replace the "SixFour" with numbers to email me]

 

[REH]

The simple thing to do is to plonk any post coming from Google Groups.  I am
yet to see many legitimate posts from there.

Unfortunately for some of us, Google is the only way to access usenet.
My company no long provides a usenet server, and their firewall blocks
access to all outside servers.

REH

 

[REH]

Er...  What?

What? What? Google is the only way I can access usenet at work. I
assumed that was clear enough.

Well, clearly not to all outside servers, since you can get to Google.

We were talking NNTP servers, not HTTP.

If you have a home machine, just make sure it has some reachable IP
address (e.g. note its DHCP address), and run an ssh or VNC server on
it.  If you don't have a home machine...  Well, maybe somebody ought to
set up an NNTP server that works over port 80.

My company doesn't allow accessing any Internet protocol over any
port, but the standard one. And trying to subvert that is a good way
to get fired.

REH

 

[Qu0ll]

Unfortunately for some of us, Google is the only way to access usenet.
My company no long provides a usenet server, and their firewall blocks
access to all outside servers.

Yes, that is a problem - I hope I didn't offend you. It also indeed
unfortunate that so much of the spam in newsgroups comes via Google Groups.
Sadly there is no easy way to deal with spam in Usenet.

--
And loving it,

-Qu0ll (Rare, not extinct)
_________________________________________________
(e-mail address removed)
[Replace the "SixFour" with numbers to email me]

 

[Default User]

I noticed the spam in c.l.c++ has been getting really intense
recently.

I haven't seen much at all. A better solution is to use a real news
service/reader. There are a few free servers that work reasonably well.
A low-cost and very good service is <http://news.individual.net>
(text-only).

Naturally, there are some people who can't do this, either due to
firewall restrictions or the inability to load and configure a reader.





Brian

 

[Default User]

...

The simple thing to do is to plonk any post coming from Google
Groups. I am yet to see many legitimate posts from there.

You do realize that you are replying to someone posting from Google
Groups, right?

Additionally, regular contributors James Kanze and Michael Doubez use
Google Groups. If you check headers, you'll see a number of other good
legitimate posts from GG users.

I haven't seen any substantive spam for a long time. Between what my
news service does and my own set of filters, it's all gone and without
the sort of collateral damage these "block all Google Groups" campaigns
lead to.




Brian

 

[REH]

Naturally, there are some people who can't do this, either due to
firewall restrictions or the inability to load and configure a reader.

What would be great is a good http front-end to usenet, like google
does, but more like a real, full-featured reader. Do you know of
anything like that?

REH

 

[Qu0ll]

You do realize that you are replying to someone posting from Google
Groups, right?

Additionally, regular contributors James Kanze and Michael Doubez use
Google Groups. If you check headers, you'll see a number of other good
legitimate posts from GG users.

No, I didn't realise. Clearly then it would be silly to just plonk any post
from Google Groups. As I said in another post, I don't think there is any
easy way to deal with spam in Usenet.

--
And loving it,

-Qu0ll (Rare, not extinct)
_________________________________________________
(e-mail address removed)
[Replace the "SixFour" with numbers to email me]

 

[Default User]

What would be great is a good http front-end to usenet, like google
does, but more like a real, full-featured reader. Do you know of
anything like that?

The best I've seen is this:

<http://www.recgroups.com/>


Unfortunately, it's a one-man operation that only carries a handful of
newsgroups, although he might be pursued to add clc++.

There are some sites that feed usenet groups through various forum
packages like PHPBBS. However, I don't think those are much better than
GG, really.




Brian

 

[Default User]

I can see 8 spam posts on screen as I read your message.

That's unfortunate. I don't know to how much of the filtering job is
done by NIN, and how much by my own set of filters. The massive spam
began in other groups, notably for me rec.food.cooking. At that time, I
started a set of Subject filters for the typical keywords.



Brian

 

[Ian Collins]

That's unfortunate. I don't know to how much of the filtering job is
done by NIN, and how much by my own set of filters.

I don't see any spam or entries in my logs for the past 24 hours, so it
must be NIN.

 

[James Kanze]

You do realize that you are replying to someone posting from
Google Groups, right?

And of course, if he plonks any post coming from Google, he's
not likely to see any legitimate ones from Google.

Additionally, regular contributors James Kanze and Michael
Doubez use Google Groups. If you check headers, you'll see a
number of other good legitimate posts from GG users.

As someone else has already pointed out, some of us don't have
the choice.

I haven't seen any substantive spam for a long time. Between
what my news service does and my own set of filters, it's all
gone and without the sort of collateral damage these "block
all Google Groups" campaigns lead to.

The problem is that if you're posting via Google Groups, you're
also reading via Google Groups, and you do see spam (no
filters). And there has been a recrudescence lately. (It seems
to go by periods. Google ends up doing something about it,
after a certain period of time, and it stops. Then the spammers
figure out a way around whatever Google did to stop them, and it
restarts.)

 

[jasonc]

Honourable sentiments Jason but the fact is that most spammers use a
different (fake) email address with each message so filtering them will have
zero effect.  Unfortunately the spammers already thought of that.

Google does filtering by content as well as source addresses. Their
email spam filters are actually some of the best I've seen. Flagging
spam messages in Google Groups presumably gives them more data to use
as a basis for filtering.


[snip]

I hate spammers more than anyone but unfortunately Google don't see spamming
through Google Groups as a major issue or they would have done something
about it years ago.

I think they do; at least it says they do on the reporting page. Not
that that means anything necessarily, but it's to their advantage to
at least pay attention to flagged content if not actually filter it,
as it gives them more information for spam filtering in general, and
Google does like information.

The simple thing to do is to plonk any post coming from Google Groups.  I am
yet to see many legitimate posts from there.

:-( I use Google Groups for usenet access almost exclusively; even
though I have other alternatives, it is the most convenient (and
integrates well with the other Google services I use, e.g. email).


Jason

 

[jasonc]

I can see 8 spam posts on screen as I read your message.

Obviously I won't get past reading the titles!

Here is a screenshot of what I'm looking at right now:

http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/2193/spampqo.png

Amusingly, there is enough spam on the page that the Google Ads are
entirely wholesale shoes and handbags. On the current front page of
c.l.c++, where there is slightly less spam than usual, one ad is for C+
+ Developers, the other two are for handbags.

Jason

 

[Default User]

As someone else has already pointed out, some of us don't have
the choice.

And if it weren't for a chance event a while back, I'd probably be in
the same boat at work.

The problem is that if you're posting via Google Groups, you're
also reading via Google Groups, and you do see spam (no
filters).

I've heard that there are browser plug-ins to provide some filtering
capability for GG. No idea where to get them, what they do, or how well
they work.




Brian

 

[Default User]

I think they do; at least it says they do on the reporting page. Not
that that means anything necessarily, but it's to their advantage to
at least pay attention to flagged content if not actually filter it,
as it gives them more information for spam filtering in general, and
Google does like information.

I'd say, considering their resources, that their response has generally
been slow and inadequate. As pointed out, the news service
news.individual.net has virtually eliminated this spam at the source.
If they're able to, there seems little reason Google couldn't.

:-( I use Google Groups for usenet access almost exclusively; even
though I have other alternatives, it is the most convenient (and
integrates well with the other Google services I use, e.g. email).

Wow. Compared to a real newsreader, GG is so clumsy that I'd be
hard-pressed to find many benefits.



Brian

 

[gw7rib]

Wow. Compared to a real newsreader, GG is so clumsy that I'd be
hard-pressed to find many benefits.

To be fair, we're always being told that newsreaders hide the title
away somewhere inaccessible, meaning that we have to put the question
in the body of the post, and that the post we are replying to, instead
of being just up the screen, is lurking somewhere not-easily-findable
or possibly has been junked altogether, requiring us to include
suitably-quoted parts of the post we are replying to in our own posts.
To then turn round and say that GG has no benefits over these
newsreaders seems a bit having-it-both-ways.

 

[James Kanze]

James Kanze wrote:
I've heard that there are browser plug-ins to provide some
filtering capability for GG. No idea where to get them, what
they do, or how well they work.

It would be difficult, because Google often changes the format
in ways that make recognition difficult. I use a browser plugin
(It's All Text!) to get a reasonable editor, but it doesn't work
with Google Groups---there I still have to copy paste to the
editor, then back again.