Parron...

[IADad]

Something's not right about this guy...

I wasn't sure if the CG Support thread was public or how much cg support monitors mod talk so I PM'd the following to CG Support (thought you should all know):

I'm not clear on whether the support thread is viewable by all members or just mods and admins, so I thought I'd better send private until I know.

User "Parron" seems like he's up to something, I'm not sure if he's just a non native english speaker or some kind of spammer/harvester. I goggled the IP and I got this:
119.152.30.53

[/URL]

The Project Honey Pot system has detected behavior from the IP address consistent with that of a leave a comment[/URL].

The thing is I'm not certain this project honey pot is legit either. So, not sure how to proceed. Any advice on suspect posters or how we should handle them?

I'm posting this to mod talk too so the others mods know.

 

[cg stephen]

Good eye on this.

Project Honey Pot is legit. Another place to check is StopForumSpam.com

If you suspect an account is a spammer, check the services for hte IP and email. If you find them on the list, I'll ban the IP's. That will keep them from accessing the forums. Most logically, a non-spammer will freak out and email me about why they were banned. A spammer will usually change IP's.

We can then ban the entire account and email.

If you see Parron or Reece return, go ahead and ban them.


As for the CrowdGather support forum, it is only visible to staff mods, SM, Admin, so feel free to make support requests there. I posted a sticky there with a few tips on how to use the forum.

Thanks for the report and great job on being vigilent!

-Stephen

 

[IADad]

Thanks Stephen.

I thought the support thread was limited since it was in that private section, but a couple things in your stickied post actually confused me:

there was the thing about giving SMs the opportuity to respond to an issue first...you see to us mods, there isn't much distinction, we just know somebody above our powers needs to see it. The other thing was the part about if it was private to email, that made me worry about a post there being "public" vs "private."

So, my take away, is I can just post stuff like this to the support forum unless it's more urgent like a site attack.

Sometimes just those human eyes sayign, hmmm something doesn't seem right make a difference.

 

[IADad]

Oh, and I thought from this that you were going to delete and IP Ban, I see he's still out there, did you want me to do a delete and ban?

 

[cg stephen]

Thanks Stephen.

I thought the support thread was limited since it was in that private section, but a couple things in your stickied post actually confused me:

there was the thing about giving SMs the opportuity to respond to an issue first...you see to us mods, there isn't much distinction, we just know somebody above our powers needs to see it. The other thing was the part about if it was private to email, that made me worry about a post there being "public" vs "private."

So, my take away, is I can just post stuff like this to the support forum unless it's more urgent like a site attack.

Sometimes just those human eyes sayign, hmmm something doesn't seem right make a difference.

Sorry for any confusion:

The distinction between "private" and "public" is if you have something to say that you are not comfortable with anyone but yourself seeing, send a direct email. All other items should be posted in the CG support forum in the staff area (this one).

Anything posted in the CG support forum will still be off-limits to non-staff since the forum exists in the private staff area.

As for the Site Managers

The usually chain-of-command on sites with larger sites is:

Mods > Super Mods > Admins > Lead Admin (Site manager) > CG Support

It's different on some sites, in the case of this one it's:

Super Mods > CG Support

We don't technically have a Site manager here, so it's pretty much a direct route from issue to support forum. When the site starts adding mods, they would generally refer an issue to a Super Mod and up instead of directly posting it in the support forum.

The reason we need Site Managers is because, from time to time, a message needs to be sent to all sites that is better distributed via email. If helps if we have a person from each site that is active enough to receive the message and respond and/or act on the event (alert the site staff, posts a message, change a setting, etc).

Having a person as a contact point from each site helps me respond to support issues and the needs of both CG and each individual site.

If anyone from the site would like to be that contact, please let me know and I'll update my distibution list.

Hope that clears up your questions.

 

[cg stephen]

Oh, and I thought from this that you were going to delete and IP Ban, I see he's still out there, did you want me to do a delete and ban?

Since we were originally unsure if the account was a spammer or a person with broken english, an outright ban was not necessarily in order.

I did ban the originally IP, but it seems that the account changed IP connections. If the account continues with the same type of posting, go ahead and ban and delete the posts.

 

[IADad]

FYI, they came back in and edited each of their existing posts to include a spam link, I did a delete and ban.