• Spam

    From Vorlon@21:1/195 to Avon on Wed Nov 29 11:29:34 2023

    Hello Avon!

    Can you please add googlegroups to the soupgate block list.

    The gated raspberry pi newsgroup has started to get flodded with spam from googlegroups.


    Vorlon


    --- GoldED+/LNX 1.1.5-b20231021
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair ---:- dragon.vk3heg.net -:--- Prt: 6800 (21:1/195)
  • From Blue White@21:4/134 to Vorlon on Wed Nov 29 09:33:35 2023
    Vorlon wrote to Avon <=-

    Hello Avon!

    Can you please add googlegroups to the soupgate block list.

    The gated raspberry pi newsgroup has started to get flodded with spam
    from googlegroups.

    As now have other areas, like F1 and COBOL (which I may not get from FSX).



    ... Gone crazy, be back later, please leave message.
    --- MultiMail/DOS
    * Origin: possumso.fsxnet.nz * SSH:2122/telnet:24/ftelnet:80 (21:4/134)
  • From Avon@21:1/101 to Vorlon on Thu Nov 30 20:32:49 2023
    On 29 Nov 2023 at 11:29a, Vorlon pondered and said...


    Hello Avon!

    Can you please add googlegroups to the soupgate block list.

    The gated raspberry pi newsgroup has started to get flodded with spam
    from googlegroups.


    Vorlon

    I will work to block googlegroups at the NNTP server.... thanks for the heads up

    Kerr Avon [Blake's 7] 'I'm not expendable, I'm not stupid and I'm not going' avon[at]bbs.nz | bbs.nz | fsxnet.nz

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (21:1/101)
  • From Avon@21:1/101 to Blue White on Thu Nov 30 20:33:08 2023
    On 29 Nov 2023 at 09:33a, Blue White pondered and said...

    Vorlon wrote to Avon <=-

    Hello Avon!

    Can you please add googlegroups to the soupgate block list.

    The gated raspberry pi newsgroup has started to get flodded with spam from googlegroups.

    As now have other areas, like F1 and COBOL (which I may not get from
    FSX).


    yes it seems like it's a bigger issue than just a few newsgroups sadly.

    Kerr Avon [Blake's 7] 'I'm not expendable, I'm not stupid and I'm not going' avon[at]bbs.nz | bbs.nz | fsxnet.nz

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (21:1/101)
  • From Avon@21:1/101 to Vorlon on Thu Nov 30 22:29:10 2023
    On 29 Nov 2023 at 11:29a, Vorlon pondered and said...

    Can you please add googlegroups to the soupgate block list.

    The gated raspberry pi newsgroup has started to get flodded with spam
    from googlegroups.

    I have added a filter to the gateway that I hope will nobble this and have also taken steps to try an implement filtering at the NNTP server to remove incoming posts coming from googlegroups. Admittedly it's a fairly drastic step but I think based on what I am seeing globally in news peers it's a major issue at the moment with spammers using Google Groups to inflict some major damage to Usenet :(

    Kerr Avon [Blake's 7] 'I'm not expendable, I'm not stupid and I'm not going' avon[at]bbs.nz | bbs.nz | fsxnet.nz

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (21:1/101)
  • From Blue White@21:4/134 to Avon on Thu Nov 30 11:19:38 2023
    Avon wrote to Blue White <=-

    yes it seems like it's a bigger issue than just a few newsgroups sadly.

    If you are on Dovenet, you can see that some of them are even posting in
    the Synchronet support newsgroup/echo. So, yes, someone is busy at work.

    The weird thing is that posts seem mostly unrelated. Were before it was
    sex or viagra, it is now on all sorts of topics, and sometimes a few of
    them even manage to be somewhat on topic. :O

    Aside from being annoying, it is difficult to determine the endgame with
    these.



    ... DalekDOS v(overflow): (I)Obey (V)ision impaired (E)xterminate
    --- MultiMail/DOS
    * Origin: possumso.fsxnet.nz * SSH:2122/telnet:24/ftelnet:80 (21:4/134)
  • From ogg@21:2/147 to Blue White on Thu Nov 30 14:28:55 2023
    On 30 Nov 2023, Blue White said the following...

    Avon wrote to Blue White <=-

    yes it seems like it's a bigger issue than just a few newsgroups sadly

    If you are on Dovenet, you can see that some of them are even posting in the Synchronet support newsgroup/echo. So, yes, someone is busy at work.

    The weird thing is that posts seem mostly unrelated. Were before it was sex or viagra, it is now on all sorts of topics, and sometimes a few of them even manage to be somewhat on topic. :O

    Aside from being annoying, it is difficult to determine the endgame with these.

    I was reading the alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent newsgroup this morning and it was reported that some are seeing a significant decrease in google groups spam. They are thinking that Google itself has taken some sort of action. But the truth is they will just move on to other areas. It's a never ending battle!

    ogg
    Sysop, Altair IV BBS
    altairiv.ddns.net:2323

    ... A penny saved is not very much

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2023/04/30 (Windows/64)
    * Origin: Altair IV BBS (21:2/147)
  • From Vorlon@21:1/195 to Blue White on Fri Dec 1 17:53:36 2023

    Hello Blue!

    29 Nov 23 09:33, you wrote to me:

    Can you please add googlegroups to the soupgate block list.
    The gated raspberry pi newsgroup has started to get flodded with
    spam from googlegroups.

    As now have other areas, like F1 and COBOL (which I may not get from
    FSX).

    Yeah, the comp.lang.c group was getting flodd as well.. All from googlegroups. @-(


    Vorlon


    --- GoldED+/LNX 1.1.5-b20231021
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair ---:- dragon.vk3heg.net -:--- Prt: 6800 (21:1/195)
  • From Stephen Walsh@21:1/195 to Avon on Fri Dec 1 17:56:32 2023

    Hello Avon!

    30 Nov 23 20:32, you wrote to me:

    Can you please add googlegroups to the soupgate block list.
    The gated raspberry pi newsgroup has started to get flodded with
    spam from googlegroups.

    I will work to block googlegroups at the NNTP server.... thanks for
    the heads up

    Thanks for that. It's alo been a issue in other groups and all from googlegropus.



    Stephen


    --- GoldED+/LNX 1.1.5-b20231021
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair ---:- dragon.vk3heg.net -:--- Prt: 6800 (21:1/195)
  • From Vorlon@21:1/195 to Avon on Fri Dec 1 18:00:18 2023

    Hello Avon!

    30 Nov 23 22:29, you wrote to me:

    Can you please add googlegroups to the soupgate block list.
    The gated raspberry pi newsgroup has started to get flodded with
    spam from googlegroups.

    I have added a filter to the gateway that I hope will nobble this and
    have also taken steps to try an implement filtering at the NNTP server
    to remove incoming posts coming from googlegroups. Admittedly it's a fairly drastic step but I think based on what I am seeing globally in
    news peers it's a major issue at the moment with spammers using Google Groups to inflict some major damage to Usenet :(

    Yeah, I know it's like using a front end loader's bucket, when really only spoon is needed.
    Unfortunatly the spam is so wide, that blocking googlegroups is the best option.



    Vorlon


    --- GoldED+/LNX 1.1.5-b20231021
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair ---:- dragon.vk3heg.net -:--- Prt: 6800 (21:1/195)
  • From Vorlon@21:1/195 to ogg on Fri Dec 1 18:08:12 2023

    Hello ogg!

    30 Nov 23 14:28, you wrote to Blue White:

    Aside from being annoying, it is difficult to determine the
    endgame with these.

    I was reading the alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent newsgroup this morning and it was reported that some are seeing a significant
    decrease in google groups spam. They are thinking that Google itself
    has taken some sort of action. But the truth is they will just move
    on to other areas. It's a never ending battle!

    Google dont give a flying f**k, and yeh some newsgroups go for a really long time with no spam and then bamm... Flodded...


    Vorlon


    --- GoldED+/LNX 1.1.5-b20231021
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair ---:- dragon.vk3heg.net -:--- Prt: 6800 (21:1/195)
  • From boraxman@21:1/101 to Vorlon on Sat Dec 2 01:12:19 2023
    I was reading the alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent newsgroup thi morning and it was reported that some are seeing a significant decrease in google groups spam. They are thinking that Google itself has taken some sort of action. But the truth is they will just move on to other areas. It's a never ending battle!

    Google dont give a flying f**k, and yeh some newsgroups go for a really long time with no spam and then bamm... Flodded...


    Vorlon

    Google wouldn't be allowing this in order to kill of NNTP, would they?

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (21:1/101)
  • From Avon@21:1/101 to Blue White on Sun Dec 3 11:14:00 2023
    On 30 Nov 2023 at 11:19a, Blue White pondered and said...

    The weird thing is that posts seem mostly unrelated. Were before it was sex or viagra, it is now on all sorts of topics, and sometimes a few of them even manage to be somewhat on topic. :O

    Aside from being annoying, it is difficult to determine the endgame with these.

    I agree... asides causing folks to leave the news groups etc. :(

    Kerr Avon [Blake's 7] 'I'm not expendable, I'm not stupid and I'm not going' avon[at]bbs.nz | bbs.nz | fsxnet.nz

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (21:1/101)
  • From Avon@21:1/101 to Stephen Walsh on Sun Dec 3 11:14:58 2023
    On 01 Dec 2023 at 05:56p, Stephen Walsh pondered and said...

    Thanks for that. It's alo been a issue in other groups and all from googlegropus.

    No prob, can you post something here in the coming 7-14 days and just let me know if things have improved or not... I'm a tad time poor but want to focus on this if it's continues to be an issue. Hopefully not.

    Kerr Avon [Blake's 7] 'I'm not expendable, I'm not stupid and I'm not going' avon[at]bbs.nz | bbs.nz | fsxnet.nz

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (21:1/101)
  • From Avon@21:1/101 to Vorlon on Sun Dec 3 11:15:13 2023
    On 01 Dec 2023 at 06:00p, Vorlon pondered and said...

    Yeah, I know it's like using a front end loader's bucket, when really
    only spoon is needed.
    Unfortunatly the spam is so wide, that blocking googlegroups is the best option.

    Yep, sadly I agree.

    Kerr Avon [Blake's 7] 'I'm not expendable, I'm not stupid and I'm not going' avon[at]bbs.nz | bbs.nz | fsxnet.nz

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (21:1/101)
  • From Avon@21:1/101 to boraxman on Sun Dec 3 11:15:39 2023
    On 02 Dec 2023 at 01:12a, boraxman pondered and said...

    Google wouldn't be allowing this in order to kill of NNTP, would they?

    I kinda of doubt that, I don't really see how Google would see NNTP as a threat.

    Kerr Avon [Blake's 7] 'I'm not expendable, I'm not stupid and I'm not going' avon[at]bbs.nz | bbs.nz | fsxnet.nz

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (21:1/101)
  • From Avon@21:1/101 to Stephen Walsh on Sun Dec 3 16:08:47 2023
    On 01 Dec 2023 at 05:56p, Stephen Walsh pondered and said...

    Thanks for that. It's alo been a issue in other groups and all from googlegropus.

    Checking the daily reports at news.bbs.nz it looks like in the last 24 hours the filter I applied had removed 57,585 posts coming in from Google Groups. Yikes!

    Kerr Avon [Blake's 7] 'I'm not expendable, I'm not stupid and I'm not going' avon[at]bbs.nz | bbs.nz | fsxnet.nz

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (21:1/101)
  • From Vorlon@21:1/196 to boraxman on Sun Dec 3 17:55:35 2023
    Hi Boraxman,

    On Saturday December 02 2023, Boraxman said to Vorlon:

    I was reading the alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent newsgroup
    thi
    morning and it was reported that some are seeing a significant
    decrease in google groups spam. They are thinking that Google
    on to other areas. It's a never ending battle!

    Google dont give a flying f**k, and yeh some newsgroups go for a really
    long time with no spam and then bamm... Flodded...

    Google wouldn't be allowing this in order to kill of NNTP, would they?

    Who knows, they start project and then kill them so often it's like tossing
    a coin for the next move...

    \/orlon
    aka
    Stephen

    Rocking FSXnet with an Amiga 4000 and Zeus BBS.

    --- Zeus BBS 1.5
    * Origin: -:-- Dragon's Lair --:- dragon.vk3heg.net Prt: 6800 (21:1/196.0)
  • From Vorlon@21:1/196 to Avon on Sun Dec 3 17:57:45 2023
    Hi Avon,

    On Sunday December 03 2023, Avon said to Stephen Walsh:

    Thanks for that. It's alo been a issue in other groups and all from
    googlegropus.

    No prob, can you post something here in the coming 7-14 days and just
    let me know if things have improved or not... I'm a tad time poor but
    want to focus on this if it's continues to be an issue. Hopefully not.

    It's going to continue to be a problem as the spammers have found a way
    around the google system.

    \/orlon
    aka
    Stephen

    Rocking FSXnet with an Amiga 4000 and Zeus BBS.

    --- Zeus BBS 1.5
    * Origin: -:-- Dragon's Lair --:- dragon.vk3heg.net Prt: 6800 (21:1/196.0)
  • From Vorlon@21:1/196 to Avon on Sun Dec 3 17:59:03 2023
    Hi Avon,

    On Sunday December 03 2023, Avon said to Stephen Walsh:

    Thanks for that. It's alo been a issue in other groups and all from
    googlegropus.

    Checking the daily reports at news.bbs.nz it looks like in the last 24 hours the filter I applied had removed 57,585 posts coming in from
    Google Groups. Yikes!

    Yeah, it's going to block the non spammers as well, they are a side affect
    I'm afraid... Most of the old timers try to point out new commers bade
    choice, but in most cases it goes in one ear and out the other....

    \/orlon
    aka
    Stephen

    Rocking FSXnet with an Amiga 4000 and Zeus BBS.

    --- Zeus BBS 1.5
    * Origin: -:-- Dragon's Lair --:- dragon.vk3heg.net Prt: 6800 (21:1/196.0)
  • From boraxman@21:1/101 to Avon on Sun Dec 3 22:40:24 2023
    Google wouldn't be allowing this in order to kill of NNTP, would they

    I kinda of doubt that, I don't really see how Google would see NNTP as a threat.


    Not a direct threat, but the technology can't be censored or controlled. There is a definite trend in tech of moving towards centralised platforms. Federation exists, but I would not be surprised if there were people in Big Tech companies who are concerned that there are parts of the internet which are outside of their benevolent steering and moderation.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (21:1/101)
  • From poindexter FORTRAN@21:4/122 to Vorlon on Sun Dec 3 09:49:00 2023
    Vorlon wrote to Avon <=-

    Yeah, it's going to block the non spammers as well, they are a side
    affect I'm afraid... Most of the old timers try to point out new
    commers bade choice, but in most cases it goes in one ear and out the other....

    alt.sysadmin.recovery has an interesting feature - self-moderation.
    There's no moderator, you need to be able to figure out how to add an
    approved flag to your post. I figured out how to hack that into
    Synchronet, but forgot to put it into \exec\mods so I'll need to figure
    it out again.




    ... Is this now?
    --- MultiMail/Win v0.52
    * Origin: realitycheckBBS.org -- information is power. (21:4/122)
  • From Vorlon@21:1/196 to poindexter FORTRAN on Sat Dec 9 15:27:42 2023
    Hi Poindexter,

    On Sunday December 03 2023, Poindexter Fortran said to Vorlon:

    Yeah, it's going to block the non spammers as well, they are a side
    affect I'm afraid... Most of the old timers try to point out new
    commers bade choice, but in most cases it goes in one ear and out the
    other....

    alt.sysadmin.recovery has an interesting feature - self-moderation. There's no moderator, you need to be able to figure out how to add an approved flag to your post.

    That's one way to get the spammers to not show up in the group... I bet
    though that one day they will figure it out. #-,<


    \/orlon
    aka
    Stephen

    Rocking FSXnet with an Amiga 4000 and Zeus BBS.

    --- Zeus BBS 1.5
    * Origin: -:-- Dragon's Lair --:- dragon.vk3heg.net Prt: 6800 (21:1/196.0)
  • From Nigel Reed@21:2/101 to All on Sat Dec 9 07:05:37 2023
    On Thu, 30 Nov 2023 14:28:55 -0600
    "ogg" (21:2/147) <ogg@f147.n2.z21.fidonet> wrote:

    On 30 Nov 2023, Blue White said the following...

    Avon wrote to Blue White <=-

    yes it seems like it's a bigger issue than just a few
    newsgroups sadly

    If you are on Dovenet, you can see that some of them are even
    posting in the Synchronet support newsgroup/echo. So, yes,
    someone is busy at work.

    The weird thing is that posts seem mostly unrelated. Were
    before it was sex or viagra, it is now on all sorts of topics,
    and sometimes a few of them even manage to be somewhat on topic.
    :O

    Aside from being annoying, it is difficult to determine the
    endgame with these.

    I was reading the alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent newsgroup
    this morning and it was reported that some are seeing a significant
    decrease in google groups spam. They are thinking that Google itself
    has taken some sort of action. But the truth is they will just move
    on to other areas. It's a never ending battle!

    Once very nice usenet admin has a script that captures a lot of the googlegroups spam and publishes the articles to news/lists.filters -
    other usenet admins can use a script to read this group and
    automatically cancel the messages. I'm seeing


    grep Cancelling news|grep googlegroups|wc -l
    83672

    And that's in 7 hours.
    --
    End Of The Line BBS - Plano, TX
    telnet endofthelinebbs.com 23
    --- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux
    * Origin: End Of The Line BBS - endofthelinebbs.com (21:2/101)
  • From Avon@21:1/101 to Nigel Reed on Sun Dec 10 12:42:30 2023
    On 09 Dec 2023 at 07:05a, Nigel Reed pondered and said...

    grep Cancelling news|grep googlegroups|wc -l
    83672

    news.bbs.nz removed 67,640 in the last 24 hours...

    Kerr Avon [Blake's 7] 'I'm not expendable, I'm not stupid and I'm not going' avon[at]bbs.nz | bbs.nz | fsxnet.nz

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (21:1/101)
  • From Nigel Reed@21:2/101 to Avon on Sun Dec 10 04:45:45 2023
    Re: Re: Spam
    By: Avon to Nigel Reed on Sun Dec 10 2023 12:42:30

    grep Cancelling news|grep googlegroups|wc -l
    83672

    news.bbs.nz removed 67,640 in the last 24 hours...

    Thanks for not passing that junk onwards.
    --- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux
    * Origin: End Of The Line BBS - endofthelinebbs.com (21:2/101)
  • From Avon@21:1/101 to Nigel Reed on Mon Dec 11 11:23:06 2023
    On 10 Dec 2023 at 04:45a, Nigel Reed pondered and said...

    news.bbs.nz removed 67,640 in the last 24 hours...

    Thanks for not passing that junk onwards.

    No prob, yep it's a mess for sure.

    Kerr Avon [Blake's 7] 'I'm not expendable, I'm not stupid and I'm not going' avon[at]bbs.nz | bbs.nz | fsxnet.nz

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (21:1/101)