[FAT CAT 2+2]

I have private messages coming through that are scammers.
I see no way to report the private messages.
How do I contact administration to have these bums removed from this forum?

[78w72]

There should be a red triangle on the upper right corner area of the message, click on that to report the message... or just find a post from B-man or stuart who are moderators and send them a message with details, but teh red triangle is the easiest way to report any message. the scammers are common on here lately, just dont reply or give them personal info.

[Stuart]

What he said. Let us know one way or the other, we try to stay on top of them but they often have a chance to send out some PMs before we can get to them.

[Cammer-6]

I ll ask again why Admin doesnt make rules that help the mods do their job a little easier.
Rule would be New members get a time out from posting in classifieds or PMs until
a period of 10 days and or posting 10 valid responses in a tech section.
Ive sent this suggestion to admin a while back and have received no response.
This is not to bash but try and improve. And Thanks PY for this wonderful forum.
And Mods for being the secret sauce

[78w72]

Originally Posted by Cammer-6

I ll ask again why Admin doesnt make rules that help the mods do their job a little easier.
Rule would be New members get a time out from posting in classifieds or PMs until
a period of 10 days and or posting 10 valid responses in a tech section.
Ive sent this suggestion to admin a while back and have received no response.
This is not to bash but try and improve. And Thanks PY for this wonderful forum.
And Mods for being the secret sauce

I agree with a rule like that, other forums use it but not as many days or posts, usually I see 5 posts required before you can send a message to members, that would stop some of the scam accounts from sending messages the minute they sign up, but most scammers are smart enough to get around that, they will just wait the timeframe out then send their messages. Another option is to require some questions to be answered before approving membership like most facebook groups do to avoid scammers, a few basic questions like, name a pontiac car or other things related to this forum they are trying to sign up for, weeds out lots of fake accounts that arent here for pontiac reasons.

Think the mods addressed that rule request recently though, something about it will negatively effect the legit new members that want to post or message people right away & deter them from signing up or staying a member. I dont see that being a big issue though, i have no problem waiting a short time before I can private message a member on a forum I just signed up at. But each forum is different so they do what they feel is best.

[242177P]

I hate that mods have to wait for an actual spam post before they can pull the trigger on some new registrations. Often they'll have a commercial name, and their About Me reads like a sales pitch. I expect their presence attracts more of them.

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by 242177P

I hate that mods have to wait for an actual spam post before they can pull the trigger on some new registrations. Often they'll have a commercial name, and their About Me reads like a sales pitch. I expect their presence attracts more of them.

We check the registration of new members several times daily, and if the name and About Me info shows they're just here for spam we ban them immediately. They're promoting all kinds of products and services from counterfeit money to escort girls in Mumbai, but interestingly a significant proportion are offering resume writing, term papers and such. We also check their IP address, and if they're in Nigeria, Pakistan, Ukraine, etc. they also get banned immediately.

Actually, the ones who are sending out PMs with scam responses to parts wanted ads are most often somewhere in the US. They don't have suspicious screen names and don't include any info in the About Me blank. This makes those people harder to weed out until they actually send PMs and someone reports them, although we do occasionally catch them in the act.

[BILL BOWMAN1]

Close the doors. Or by invitation only.

[einstein]

Originally Posted by BILL BOWMAN1

Close the doors. Or by invitation only.

Awesome option.
.
Maybe a requirement could be one or two long-standing members sponsor any new candidates... keeping it within the Pontiac community.

[misterp266]

Originally Posted by BILL BOWMAN1

Close the doors. Or by invitation only.

Not a great way to grow the hobby.
I think we should all be smart enough by now to not get taken by a scammer. The mods do a great job with them and with our help, I don’t think it’s that big of a problem. A nuisance yes, but tolerable.

[b-man]

Just be smart and ignore and delete scam communications.

As you probably can see there’s not much we can do and getting the admins to fix the problem even if they can has been trying.

Welcome to the internet 2023.

[Ogre]

Most of this thread is about spam selling/solicitations. If they are PMs, obviously others cannot see them.

My personal methodology to help out is sign on and click "New Posts" at the top, just to see if any of my interests are new (or updated). If I see a suspicious "new" post, I check to see if it's a first post (or zero poster), and what the post is about.

I'm sure Stuart and Bart get tired of me flagging suspicious posts, but that is my way of trying to help our hobby site and help remove "junk" new members.

Ogre

[FAT CAT 2+2]

berrykr is his name.
I reported him by way of the little red triangle.
Thanks 78w72 for the guidance as to where to find that little report button. I just couldn't seem to find it.

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by FAT CAT 2+2

berrykr is his name.
I reported him by way of the little red triangle.
Thanks 78w72 for the guidance as to where to find that little report button. I just couldn't seem to find it.

Thanks, I got the report and suspended them.

[72projectbird]

Originally Posted by einstein

Awesome option.
.
Maybe a requirement could be one or two long-standing members sponsor any new candidates... keeping it within the Pontiac community.

That's a great way to kill this place. The last thing us Pontiac guys need is less members.

[burd]

Just ignore them, I get no post members saying they have parts for me. I don’t buy anything off a new member.