Scratch
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#1 2011-08-09 14:22:37
Any way to solve image spam problems?
You see, image spam is a way phishing emails and scammers can get around email spam filters. If this occurs on the forums, what can we do?
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#2 2011-08-09 14:42:57
- MyRedNeptune
- Community Moderator
- Registered: 2007-05-07
- Posts: 1000+
Re: Any way to solve image spam problems?
a1130 wrote:
If this occurs on the forums, what can we do?
Block images temporarily (it's been done once). I doubt every troll and spammer will be doing that.
I know what you're thinking! "Neptune! Get rid of those filthy advertisements and give us back the Zarathustra siggy, you horrible person!" Well, don't worry about it, the Zara siggy will be back soon, new and improved! ^^ Meanwhile, just do what the sig tells you to. >.>Offline
#3 2011-08-09 14:52:41
- Death_Wish
- Scratcher
- Registered: 2011-07-26
- Posts: 1000+
Re: Any way to solve image spam problems?
You gave me an idea... (?)
Nah, joking, but it would be impossible to do it without a weird image-scanner that scans the images for text, and can tell what the text is. But, then, they'd only do it in different fonts. So, the only way to do it would be blocking images, and as it barely ever happens, I believe this will only be done temporarily when trolls attack, as MRN said.
With a straight flush.
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#4 2011-08-09 14:55:51
Re: Any way to solve image spam problems?
Aren't New Scratchers not allowed to post images anyway? If they posted a link to an image it would still be a little harder to filter, but you still would have to actively try to access that image to see what they said.
There's also the fact that a lot of spammers post links to try to boost their site's ranking in Google and other search engines, so posting images with their text would defeat the purpose of what they're doing.
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#5 2011-08-09 15:36:17
Re: Any way to solve image spam problems?
Harakou wrote:
Aren't New Scratchers not allowed to post images anyway? If they posted a link to an image it would still be a little harder to filter, but you still would have to actively try to access that image to see what they said.
There's also the fact that a lot of spammers post links to try to boost their site's ranking in Google and other search engines, so posting images with their text would defeat the purpose of what they're doing.
Indeed. SEO poisoning (trying to push infected websites to the top of Google search) has also been a threat. Also, scams and fake antivirus programs are trying to get themself to be advertised with Google Ads.
There have been weak attempts to block image spam (see this Wikipedia article). But it seems like image spam has been around for a while in the world of email: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image_spam
EDIT: Wait, the example of image spam in the article was kinda inappropriate- view if you want to though.
Last edited by a1130 (2011-08-09 15:38:14)
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