KNOWN ISSUE: Spam Attack

1. 74

   jimmythejockposted 13 years ago

   My Hubs seem to be the target of spammers tonight, anyone else having the same problem?, thank goodness hubpages is recognising the spam before it gets published.....jimmy
   Maybe catchpa for non members?

   report
   1. 92

      Judi Beeposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, got two on one hub, minutes apart.  Deleted and gone!

      report
   2. 88

      Pamela N Redposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, I thought it was just me. Someone trying to get free publicity. You'd think they would realize it won't work and give up.

      report
   3. 0

      klarawieckposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Yeah! Spam in German! Figures!

      report
      1. 98

         Rochelle Frankposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         I got some German spam too--now if it had been Bratwurst, I would have kept it.

         report
      2. 87

         quicksandposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         The "content" in Russian and Chinese are represented by the long string of question marks.

         report
   4. 60

      FatFreddysCatposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Just found a long, rambling comment (it had to be ten or twelve paragraphs long) on one of my movie Hubs that had absolutely nothing to do with the subject at hand, so I guess that means they got me too!

      report
   5. 88

      mistyhorizon2003posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Yep, I had a load of these, extremely lengthy posts consisting of tonnes of spam links. Fortunately my comments are all set to not be seen until approved by me, so I got to delete them all unseen, but there must have been at least 15 such 'comments' on various hubs, often more than 3 on one Hub.

      report
   6. 86

      snakeslaneposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I was baffled by a comment left today on one of my hubs. Saw the delete forever option which I had not seen before, did that, and then wondered if I should have reported the comment. Now I see it's site wide, and there are filters in place. Good to know thanks.

      report
   7. 58

      Dale Hydeposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I have been following this, but no evidence on my hubs yet as to receiving emails or notifications of comments. I have not had the time, nor will have the time, to review each individual hub for comments however until the weekend.

      report
      1. 60

         Randy Godwinposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         You don't have to, Dale.  Got to Hubs->Comments->Moderate and you can delete them from there without having to chase them down one by one.
         
         
                            

         report
   8. 90

      moonlakeposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Had spam today also.

      report
   9. 0

      SirDentposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Kudos to HubPages spam filter.  I got a bunch o9f spam co9mments also but the filter blocked them from being seen.  Way to Go HubPages.

      report
   10. 81

       WannaB Writerposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       Seems like every time I look at my email I'm notified of more of these -- mostly on two hubs in the technical topic. So far I've seen the long comments in German and Italian, as well as in English. I'm also getting the ones that are mostly question marks. I'm getting very tired of deleting these, but I, too, am glad HubPages is filering them as spam so they don't get seen by the public.

       report
   11. 69

       Missing Linkposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       I'm having problems also.  It is adversely affecting me.

       report
   12. 76

       Chris Achilleosposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       Had one on one of my hubs and have deleted it.

       report
   13. 95

       Cardisaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       I haven't had a chance to check my account regularly this past week and lo and behold there were over 100 spam comments on various hubs. I deleted them all and place the "only signed in users can comment" moderation on. I hate doing that because some of my visitors leave genuine comments. Apparently these people realized that my hubs were not being monitored and too advantage of the situation.
       
       I think it would be a good idea to also check you Adsense account for weird activity just to make sure.

       report
       1. 88

          Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this

          Why?  Just set it to "comments must be approved before appearing". 
          
          Did you notice that nearly all the spam comments were caught by the spam filter anyway?  So other than having to go through and "delete forever", it's not causing a lot of extra work, and if they never appear on your Hubs, they're not harming your account in any way.

          report
          1. 95

             Cardisaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

             Hey Marisa, I just worry that those bots might also work against Adsense too.  I noticed increased activity this past week so I emailed Google. Might be nothing. I also did have my settings to be approved before appearing but I am a worry wort!
             
             I did delete all the spam the hard way ...lol

             report
   14. 74

       David 470posted 13 years agoin reply to this

       Yeah, I had a bunch of spam comments stuff like
       
       zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz1957..............zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzznike shoes.....etc..
       
       It's making me angry because I had about 15 spam comments all at once that were very long....I thought they were going to be actual comments, but they were not...

       report
   15. 64

       breakfastpopposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       I too am  getting some horribly weird posts from unknown sources.

       report
2. 41

   wavegirl22posted 13 years ago

   awww Jimmy no likey spam. .

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   1. 74

      jimmythejockposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Hey Wave girl sending you some love across the pond 80)

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      1. 41

         wavegirl22posted 13 years agoin reply to this

         love my jimmy always and forever

         report
3. 72

   Cagsilposted 13 years ago

   Yes, I had a bunch of SPAM on one of my hubs, and the same person posted single SPAM comments on two other hubs.
   
   I received the email notification about the comments, but when I checked my comments, I had none. So I traveled to the hub(s) and found them, delete Forever them.
   
   Apparently HubPages identified them as SPAM and not real comments.

   report
   1. 74

      jimmythejockposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Hey Casgil you don't have to go to Hubs, there is a drop down in comments that you click on and it shows you spam.....jimmy

      report
      1. 59

         paradigmsearchposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Hey, thanks for this, I didn't know. Found a whole bunch. Half were spam and half were falsely accused.
         
         http://hubpages.com/my/hubs/comments?co … ilter=Spam
         
         edit: actually, more like 80% were spam.

         report
         1. 76

            DzyMsLizzyposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            Yeah--I also found about 4 "falsely accused" .. as well as a couple that were not technically 'spam' but simply stupid remarks only marginally related (by stretching the definition of 'related') to the topic.

            report
      2. 75

         Uninvited Writerposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         I just did that. I have about 6 or 7.
         
         I also found a comment that was made 3 years ago but was not spam but marked as spam...oops

         report
   2. 80

      Blake Flanneryposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I got a bunch of these too, but HP took care of them for me, except one or two.  Very similar IP's were used.

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      1. 62

         Trish_Mposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Interesting.  I have had to sort all of mine out. How does HP deal with this, please?

         report
         1. 62

            Trish_Mposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            I have changed my comments response, so that they now have to be checked before appearing.

            report
4. 82

   Gordon Hamiltonposted 13 years ago

   Jimmy, I was just about to start a thread on this when I noticed yours. One Hub is getting blasted with comments which are long and comprised mainly of question marks with links randomly included. Strange that the "name" is different in each instance. Poorly executed auto-spam, maybe?

   report
   1. 74

      jimmythejockposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      mine are the same Gordon, I have had about 15 of them so far.....jimmy

      report
5. 75

   Uninvited Writerposted 13 years ago

   I know it's off topic but I can't get the main page of the forum to load, I can only get into the forums through direct links.

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6. 94

   JKennyposted 13 years ago

   Yep, saw a spam comment on one of my hubs, something about payday loans- deleted it less than five seconds later.

   report
   1. 91

      alexadryposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Got 7 on one hub and several on others. most are about designer handbags:( Many had the ip address 175.44.27.23, I googled it and appears to be a spammer's ip address.

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      1. 88

         mistyhorizon2003posted 13 years agoin reply to this

         That IP address sounds familiar to the one I 'semi' made a note of mentally when deleting the multiple spam on my hubs tonight.

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      2. 76

         DzyMsLizzyposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         I'm not seeing IP addresses--just gobbledygook bogus "names" ...

         report
7. 0

   Arlene V. Pomaposted 13 years ago

   I quit counting!  I have been hitting the "DELETE FOREVER" key all day, so now I am breaking for lunch with my lovely and talented hubby.

   report
8. 72

   Alastar Packerposted 13 years ago

   Got one about expeditions or something to Venus in 1761-69 and gobbledegook about the mesosphere and globe transits. Nike links were under all three paragraphs.

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9. 99

   leahleflerposted 13 years ago

   I got spammed, too - glad to see I wasn't the only one. One was simply a comment filled with ???????????????????????? and the others were nonsensical.

   report
   1. 59

      paradigmsearchposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I got a bunch of those too.

      report
   2. 76

      DzyMsLizzyposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Got a bunch of ???? and in between, promotion designer handbags, luggage and fragrances.... Sheesh.
      Several in German as well, and one in some language not readable on this site, as it was all just a bunch of little squares.

      report
10. 75

    Uninvited Writerposted 13 years ago

    I think the question marks are probably in Chinese

    report
    1. 59

       paradigmsearchposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       Good theory!

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11. 89

    Len Cannonposted 13 years ago

    Yeah, I think I've gotten like 10 in the last three hours. So disappointing to get so many new comments and realize none of them are legit.

    report
    1. 76

       DzyMsLizzyposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       I hear you on that one, Len... such a letdown.  It's fun to interact with legit commenters.

       report
12. 75

    IzzyMposted 13 years ago

    Me too, luckily HP detected them as spam so just had to hit the delete forever button.

    report
13. 95

    cocopremeposted 13 years ago

    Yup. Me too. Been deleted comments for hours.

    report
14. 70

    Reality Bytesposted 13 years ago

    I learned how to find spam comments without searching through each hub. I had a lot of spam. I thought I was being ignored by the spammer.  I wasn't! 

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15. 59

    paradigmsearchposted 13 years ago

    Looks like that filter is really earning its keep today.

    report
16. 75

    Uninvited Writerposted 13 years ago

    It's still going on I got two more

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17. 59

    paradigmsearchposted 13 years ago

    I also just got 2 more. Spam filter auto-exterminated both of them.

    report
18. 0

    Arlene V. Pomaposted 13 years ago

    Left for lunch and came back to 33 spam comments from non-Hubbers.  They have attacked three of my hubs.  Maybe I should collect them before doing a mass DELETE FOREVER???  How does one use the spam filter, Paradigmsearch?  I don't even know if I have one.

    report
    1. 88

       mistyhorizon2003posted 13 years agoin reply to this

       HP have the Spam filter, it just means the comment shows as spam at the bottom of the comment. All you have to do is decide if it is or not, and if it is hit the 'delete forever' button, and if not hit the 'not spam' button, and then the 'approve' button.

       report
       1. 87

          PegCole17posted 13 years agoin reply to this

          Does a comment show up to the rest of the world before we find it and decide to delete it? A comment on one of my hubs was full of four letter words and suggestive phrases and links. I hit the delete forever button that was below it.
          
          Since then I've changed the setting to 'approve before posting'. I never had that kind of a comment here before.

          report
          1. 88

             mistyhorizon2003posted 13 years agoin reply to this

             If HP has already automatically categorized it as spam, I don't believe it shows up unless you override the the fact it has been designated as spam, and change it to an approved status. If it has not been designated as spam it will show up to the world, unless you have your comments set to 'approve before posting' as you have now done. You should therefore be okay now

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             1. 87

                PegCole17posted 13 years agoin reply to this

                Thanks Misty. I may go in and change my default settings on all comments to "approve before displaying". This is good enough reason.

                report
19. 0

    Arlene V. Pomaposted 13 years ago

    These spammers have fallen in love with three of my Hubs because they keep hitting.

    report
20. 66

    Froggy213posted 13 years ago

    Wow--they have attacked terribly. I had to delete about 30 spam comments.

    report
    1. 66

       Froggy213posted 13 years agoin reply to this

       In just the time I posted this I had 4 more and 1 got through as not spam

       report
21. 0

    Arlene V. Pomaposted 13 years ago

    This reminds me of grade school and writing C.V. on my palm.  Now, I need a "Cootie Vaccination" for spam!!!

    report
22. 60

    Randy Godwinposted 13 years ago

    Go to Hubs->comments->filter,  Arlene! 
    
    
                                 

    report
    1. 74

       christopherantonposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       I’m glad to see I'm not the only one. I've deleted about 50 spam, since this morning. Many of the more just a series of question marks and some of them seemed to be advertising websites that sold shoes. They are a right nuisance. I hope the perpetrators get fed up soon and I hope they are not automatically been generated.

       report
23. 59

    paradigmsearchposted 13 years ago

    The party continues. 3 more critters just showed up.
    
    And here's the spam-finder-killer link for thos who don't know. http://hubpages.com/my/hubs/comments?co … ilter=Spam

    report
24. 78

    MyWebsposted 13 years ago

    The spammers have left me over 10 so far. I hope they give up soon. I'd bet many hubbers don't have to approve comments before they are posted so their tactics are probably working on at least some hubs.

    report
25. 59

    paradigmsearchposted 13 years ago

    They're multiplying. 2 more. That filter really is coming through here; it's catching them all.

    report
26. 59

    paradigmsearchposted 13 years ago

    I just did the "Disable any further comments from being posted". Someone remind me to undo it tomorrow.

    report
27. 76

    Patty Inglish, MSposted 13 years ago

    Today, I have a significant amount of spam from China, but yesterday it was from anonymous people in USA.

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    1. 59

       paradigmsearchposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       That makes me suspect infected computers. Looks like we may be dealing with professional hackers here. I've also deleted all my links on my profile page.

       report
    2. 89

       rebekahELLEposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       I just got one from China after I read one of your hubs!

       report
       1. 76

          Patty Inglish, MSposted 13 years agoin reply to this

          O no! did you catch it from me?

          report
28. 66

    prettydarkhorseposted 13 years ago

    Hackers everywhere. I read in the news that LinkedIn, e-harmony and even porn sites passwords are being hacked. In other news, "people who work at the White House were among those targeted by the China-based hackers who broke into Google Inc.'s GOOG -0.40% Gmail accounts, according to one U.S. official" - WSJ http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 … 57124.html
    
    What is happening to the cyber world? More regulation in the offing by the gov't?
    
    And here in HP, I deleted more than 50 spams so far I think. Maybe we have a glitch here and HP staff needed to fix the filter that is why there are many spam comments from different IP addresses. Still some spams are on the loose and get away with the filter. Or it can be real hackers and spammers.
    
    I changed my comments setting :
    
    Yes to both until tomorrow.
    
           1 Disable any further comments from being posted           
           2 Comments must be approved before they appear

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    1. 76

       DzyMsLizzyposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       Oh, just GREAT!  Pffft...

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29. 64

    Sinea Piesposted 13 years ago

    Me too. Several long comments on the same hub. Deleted forever.

    report
30. 0

    Arlene V. Pomaposted 13 years ago

    Thank you, Randy, Paradigmsearch and Paul from HubPages staff.  Done!  What a relief.
    
    SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

    report
    1. 60

       Randy Godwinposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       I don't know if it gets all of it, but the filter helps!  Spam does leave a bad taste in one's mouth, though!  But if traffic keeps tanking I might just be glad to see some for the numbers, if for nothing else.  
       
                                        

       report
31. 92

    AliciaCposted 13 years ago

    The spam filter is doing a great job at realizing that my comments which have links are spam, but it didn’t recognize that a comment that didn’t have a link was spam. That comment was referring to sunglasses, but also to a script that “aids you to assist you to control Wp consumer accounts. Achievable to alteration users' details, exactly which includes password” and then "Right after this, have the ability to take advantage of these account time for obtain Wordpress".

    report
32. 82

    Peggy Wposted 13 years ago

    The same thing is happening to many of my hubs.  Crazy!  Sometimes words (that make little sense and have nothing to do with the hub) are left and other times a series of question marks or other marks are left.  Thank heavens HP is recognizing many of them as spam.

    report
33. 76

    Patty Inglish, MSposted 13 years ago

    Bump

    report
34. 61

    CASE1WORKERposted 13 years ago

    I had 3 last night before I went to bed; now bright and early on a wet Friday morning I have to clear the spam filters of a lot of dross- well at east the filters got the lot!

    report
    1. 76

       Patty Inglish, MSposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       Yes, all of a sudden I received several dozen.

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35. 61

    CASE1WORKERposted 13 years ago

    oh my, and they hit my second account too! iDIOTS!

    report
36. 59

    2patriciasposted 13 years ago

    I am wondering if there is some sort of Spam festival going on!  I think this is an all time record.  Getting several paragraphs - sometimes nonsense, others all question marks.  Then it ends with a link to a website.  Not always the same website.
    The consistent factor = annoyance here.

    report
37. 0

    fordieposted 13 years ago

    Yep - have seen 3 today. They seem to be looking for dormant accounts

    report
    1. 81

       WannaB Writerposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       One hub they hit is one that is very popular. The other isn't quite as popular. Both are technical hubs. My account is far from dormant, and it's being hit.

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    2. 76

       DzyMsLizzyposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       Agreed, WannaBWriter--I was hit hard yesterday, and my account is nowhere near dormant.
       I resorted to changing my global settings to "only registered users may comment."  That will definitely end the problem for you.

       report
38. 71

    sofsposted 13 years ago

    I have had to 'deleteforever' six comments this morning. Four in German and two in  Dutch... They don't seem to be filtered as spam. Another hubber has been spamming me in a couple of Hubs.. grr...

    report
39. 74

    Moon Daisyposted 13 years ago

    Yes, me too.  I got a few last night then a load more this morning.  They sound similar to everyone else's.  Don't understand the point of them as they seem to be mostly a load of random words and phrases with some links.  (Don't know why that would persuade anyone to click on them, lol!)

    report
    1. 74

       Moon Daisyposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       And just got another one.  Some of them don't even have links attached, so what is the point of them? <confused>

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       1. 76

          DzyMsLizzyposted 13 years agoin reply to this

          I think if you look closely (not that any of us are interested in what these morons have to say), you'd find "disguised links," not formatted as such, but clearly a pointer to a particular website.
          Since scattered in through all the nonsense gobbledygook are multiple mentions of particular "brand-name" (knock-offs, no doubt) merchandise.

          report
40. 74

    jimmythejockposted 13 years ago

    been getting hit all morning with them, every few minutes, its getting very annoying now.....jimmy

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    1. 82

       Gordon Hamiltonposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       Just signed on to find 36 from when I cleared everything and went to bed at 3am, Jimmy. Definitely getting irritating.

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41. 65

    Steve Lensmanposted 13 years ago

    I've been getting spam too, deleted three in the past few minutes.

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42. 59

    2patriciasposted 13 years ago

    Still they keep coming - the spammers, I mean.
    I read a suggestion above the question marks are Chinese.  In between the question marks are recognisable brand names.
    It is disappointed to see that we have been left new comments only to find more spam.

    report
43. 75

    Uninvited Writerposted 13 years ago

    I had a whole whack. Until this passes I am not accepting comments and I also changed it to only signed in users can post which I think I will keep after.

    report
44. 82

    Peggy Wposted 13 years ago

    Thanks for this link:
     
    "And here's the spam-finder-killer link for thos who don't know. http://hubpages.com/my/hubs/comments?co … ilter=Spam"
    
    Just deleted a BUNCH more but also found some that had gone into the spam folder from HP authors that were NOT spam.  So this is a helpful link to check once in a while.

    report
45. 91

    Pamela99posted 13 years ago

    I posted the same problem as I didn't see this posting. I had 17 just on one hub. Can't you stop comments on some of these hubs that are older and have a lot of comments anyway? I have been deleting for 2 days now and yes it is very annoying.
    I have tried Peggy's solution and it does make dealing with the problem much easier.

    report
    1. 76

       DzyMsLizzyposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       Pamela99--Yes, you can.  Either in the edit mode on the hub itself, or from the comments global settings in the "my account" section, you can choose to stop accepting comments for that hub.
       I did not want to do that, so I changed my settings to "only registered users may comment."
       Hopefully, this storm will blow over soon.

       report
46. 88

    mistyhorizon2003posted 13 years ago

    Sigh, went to bed around 05.00am having deleted about 25, then woke up again at 13.45 to find another 45 to delete my way through.

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47. 79

    DonnaCSmithposted 13 years ago

    same here

    report
48. 61

    Tom Koeckeposted 13 years ago

    Not only was I spammed, but they didn't show up as comments that needed to be approved. I just happened to see one in the feed.

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    1. 90

       andyozposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       I've had the same thing.  I think this means that they get spotted as spam so don't actually make it onto our Hubs.

       report
49. 90

    moonlakeposted 13 years ago

    Their still coming on my hubs. First I was getting really nasty comments now I'm getting spam. Last one was from Gofoffedialot.

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50. 76

    Patty Inglish, MSposted 13 years ago

    bump

    report
    1. 0

       SirDentposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       zit

       report