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AUDIO FORUMS >> General Discussion and Support >> Forum Spam
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Message started by Steve Deckert on 01/13/26 at 16:36:25

Title: Forum Spam
Post by Steve Deckert on 01/13/26 at 16:36:25

I just wanted to share that every day I deny at least one, usually several, malicious applications for membership to this forum. All of them are real people. I figured out how to defeat forum spam bots several years ago, and it has been so effective that not one has gotten through. So these people, that apply daily, are writing anything from stupid to compelling reasons for wanting to join in the application section. They use AI to create the reasons, which makes it nearly impossible to tell if it's legit or not. I use AI to investigate them via their IP address, locations, emails, etc., to figure out if they are real or not. On the rare occasions that one gets through, he doesn't last long and when discovered is deleted, banned, and all their posts erased.

Also, this forum runs on its own dedicated Unix server, is fully funded by Decware, has zero advertisements, zero spam. I believe it may be the only one on the internet that can say that.

It is old school, which shifts from being a bad thing when you're young, to being a good thing when you get older. That said, it existed before there were smart phones, before Google ever existed, before social media, and has no plans to embrace any of them. Not everything has to grow and evolve and change because - believe it or not, not everything the present generation comes up with is actually better than what the previous generation came up with. In fact some of it is greatly diminished.

On top of manually protecting the forum from human spammers, the forum has elaborate bot protection, and just to give you an idea, it automatically defended itself against over 12,000 attacks in 2025.

Then there are the members of this forum. No where on the net does such a large and tight group of respectful audiophiles exist. We don't have a lot of drama. People don't get attacked for having an opinion. Everyone here is the reason this hobby is so great. We're in our 30th year now and I just wanted to say thank you to each and every one of you who read and post in this forum.

Steve : )

Title: Re: Forum Spam
Post by JHC on 01/13/26 at 18:16:34

Thanks for this Steve. I have been a long time lurker but only recently have I started posting and contributing. This is the only audio forum I am a member of because of the generosity of the community (lack of ads helps) and lack of drama. Thanks for all the hard work to you and the more seasoned member.

Title: Re: Forum Spam
Post by Doug on 01/13/26 at 18:31:16

Thank you, Steve!

I greatly value my Decware Audio Forums membership for a lot of reasons, including the way it is set up and run!

Title: Re: Forum Spam
Post by Donnie on 01/13/26 at 19:01:33

I hate spammers!

Title: Re: Forum Spam
Post by CAJames on 01/13/26 at 20:43:41

Thank you Steve. Network security was my day job for many years and I appreciate what an unending responsibility it is. We have an amazing community here and a little spam is a small price to pay imo.

Title: Re: Forum Spam
Post by Steve Deckert on 01/13/26 at 22:33:30

I've been doing computers since 1981. Decware was originally a software company. When you consider what it costs to advertise to a targeted audience on social media, and actually get an ROI, it would take more spam than seconds in a lifetime to make any money. I don't understand who the dumb f*cks are that do it unless it has nothing to do with making money and is simply a way to make people miserable because spammers themselves are miserable and misery loves company.

Title: Re: Forum Spam
Post by CAJames on 01/13/26 at 23:40:45

It is mostly low level vandalism, like internet graffiti. Beginning hackers, we call them “script kiddies” in the biz, download scripts, aka bots, that scan the internet looking for sites with vulnerabilities, and since the the code for this site is pushing 20 years old there are plenty. Since ChatGPT it is easy for the bot to read the site and make posts in relatively coherent English. The script kiddy gets her or his hacker tenderfoot badge and they move on. Generally it is nothing more than a waste of bandwidth and disk space, but they also post links that are potentially more dangerous.

Title: Re: Forum Spam
Post by JD on 01/13/26 at 23:47:19

Amen Steve

JD

Title: Re: Forum Spam
Post by Dominick on 01/13/26 at 23:49:36

Thanks Steve!! This is the only forum that I check and enjoy reading every day. It’s a great place to share one’s passion with fellow audiophiles with zero drama. Thank you again for all of your hard work to combat spam and bots that try and invade this pristine space.