JenSocial: Social Web Directory and Ning Tips

Social Web Directory :: Social Network Directory :: Ning Tips and Ning Support

Help with Spam Problem? Is the Ning spam watchlist actually working?

Got spammed today. Left ridiculous comments on almost all members. I've suspended that member for spam and patiently deleted all of his comments on members, one by one. Now when I visited the member profile again, the comment have appeared again (no it wasn't reposted, the timeframe of the comment is exactly the same as the one I've just deleted.)

Is there any way that when a spammer gets "suspended as spam" that all of his comments (anywhere in the network) get deleted simultaneously?

Also the spam watchlist is confusing. One member was working as a software mechanic, and she got listed in the spam watchlist. Whereas this spammer today's profile answers were all "mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm" and never got into the spam watch list?

1 member favorited this

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by ShineOnMS on December 1, 2011 at 4:26pm

Hi Wave

I recently had the same issue and I lost 13 members from 1 member and only 2 messages!

it seems that in ning if you suspend the offending memer you can also go in via the members tab on your my network and remove all content, this is only available to the NC my dad is a admin and he couldnt get it to work, anyway this will remove all messages ! - However the member will still get a "new message" in their email inbox they just wont be able to find when they try to log in !

I sent out a email telling my members they offender had been removed and what i was doing to resolve it, then put my network on lockdown (part private only main page available ) because when i kicked out the spammer they started visiting members profiles and trying to get email address from them i.e typing in member name, city, date of birth there are websites that will give you email addresses and started emailing and contacting directly !

I then put my network to approve all members and now cross reference and check every new sign up with both facebook and twitter and I use woopra to show me my live stats so if i see that the person tries again i can spot where they coming from and try and close that avenue down

I also turned on content filtering in ning it cause a few pains i.e tried to write a blog post title with word assesments - was changed a****ments so I then had to change to tests !

I turned on the content moderation for a period this showed my members good and bad that i was taking the problem seriously

I also increased sign up questions asking for more info and increased difficulty of the sign up quiz to make relevant to my niche and then added in some info to my help section about privacy settings !

So far its made a real difference - my members are happy they protected and send me positive messages thanking me for protecting them but my new sign ups has slowed down !

If i have any further news on this I will let you know !

Ryan