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dragonLZ (99.34)

TMF Team, you SUCK!

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45

January 07, 2011 – Comments (23) | RELATED TICKERS: TMF , DO , JOB

Yes, I'm really, really sick of SPAM comments, and I see other bloggers are too.

And you still didn't do a thing.

I don't care that this is a free site (I know some of the bloggers will say "this is a free-of-chare site, if you don't like it, leave) - it is free for me, but I know Fool is making tons off money off of it.

Yes, you can say I have no right to complain (as I don't pay anything), but I don't care.

I don't have to pay for the air I breathe either, but when it stinks, I say IT STINKS.

From what I see, most or all of the TMF guys around here are nice guys and gals, but when it comes to your IT (or any other department dealing with the SPAM) it looks like you are a bunch of incompetent losers.

I know I sound like a complete lunatic, but I had enough. I think I, and everybody else, were patient long enough.

I love this site, I love the content, I love the people one "meets" around here, but it's time to say it as it is:

When it comes to fighting SPAM, you SUCK BIG TIME.

23 Comments – Post Your Own

#1) On January 07, 2011 at 11:54 AM, dragonLZ (99.34) wrote:

That's nice.

First comment is SPAM.

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#2) On January 07, 2011 at 12:16 PM, Jbay76 (< 20) wrote:

Very emotional but spot on comment.  This has been an issue for most of last year as well and it is a shame.  SOmeon posted today a possibel solution of makign everyone submit a cc account so tht if you post spam, you get charged.  For the record, I do not think that is a good idea.  Why cant TMF just contract David in Qatar to write some spam program, thats his expertise and he has already suggested as much?

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#3) On January 07, 2011 at 12:21 PM, kdakota630 (33.35) wrote:

I hate to agree, but... I agree.  Enough is enough.

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#4) On January 07, 2011 at 12:22 PM, kdakota630 (33.35) wrote:

Nice job on the related tickers, BTW.

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#5) On January 07, 2011 at 12:23 PM, TMFTwitty (95.11) wrote:

Fools, I know it's frustrating. It is for us too. Please try to keep in mind we are currently blocking about 80% of the attacks, and have a lot of people working on a permanent solution. Look for a change soon. It's not easy fighting a network of thousands of spambots from all over the world. I won't tip our hand by giving details of our action plans, but rest assured we are not laying down.

Richard

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#6) On January 07, 2011 at 12:26 PM, RJA101 (89.37) wrote:

When I see obvious SPAM, I usually mark it, and it is (usually) removed shortly. 

Maybe if TMF just put a dedicated check box for marking SPAM, instead of having to write it out, the process would at least go faster.

But I agree, TMF needs to get its act together on, at least, obvious SPAM removal.

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#7) On January 07, 2011 at 12:27 PM, RRobertsmith (48.48) wrote:

why are the closed out picks in my score still motely fool your system stinks!

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#8) On January 07, 2011 at 12:39 PM, TMFBabo (100.00) wrote:

@RRobertsmith: I took the part below from the CAPS help section on how scoring works:

Your player score is simply the sum of the scores of all your active and ended picks. Player score counts for 2/3 of your player rating.

 

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#9) On January 07, 2011 at 12:42 PM, TMFJake (60.34) wrote:

I system does currently stink.  As TMFTwitty mentioned, we are rolling out a permanent solution soon, as in not another bootstrapped bubble gum and bailing wire type of solution but a permanent, robust, tested by many other companies type of solution.  It won't be live in a day or two, but it will be rolled out within a week.  We're doing our best to take down spam in the mean time. 

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#10) On January 07, 2011 at 12:46 PM, dragonLZ (99.34) wrote:

When I see obvious SPAM, I usually mark it, and it is (usually) removed shortly.

RJA101, I do too, and that's all fine, but what I hate the most is when through my following-Tab I see there are new comments on the blogs I follow, and I go there just to see it's another SPAM comment  - it's frustrating, you know.

Thanks to the other guys for supporting this rant. It's nothing personal - we all love Fool, but it's about time something gets done about it.

TMFTwitty, I appreciate the response, and wish you guys a lot of luck fighting these guys.

However, as I don't see these kind of spam-comments on the other sites I visit, I'm thinking somebody somewhere at the Fool doesn't really know what the heck he/she's doing...

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#11) On January 07, 2011 at 1:43 PM, outoffocus (24.53) wrote:

Require Captcha for TMF account sign-up...Problem solved...

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#12) On January 07, 2011 at 4:24 PM, cthomas1017 (36.16) wrote:

I too am ticked off about the spammers.  Frustrated that it continues and that TMF hasn't done a lot about it.  Rightfully, TMF is as much a victim of these lowlife vermin as we who read and post here.  (In fact, they probably are even more than we readers & writers.)  Let's remember who the real bad guys are.  Please hear me out.

Believe me, if I were able to identify the spammers personally, they would need to fear for their personal well being and for that of their friends & family. TMF is a free service, and I think you came down a little hard on them here.  TFM HQ doesn't have a steeple on the front of their building.  (I checked.)  

We who use CAPS sometimes have developed the illusion that the blogs are the predominant part of www.fool.com.  From a business perspective, I fully appreciate that they have a number of more pressing priorities that drop to their bottom line than the fact that we have to skip over a few a$$holes before TMF finds it in their queue of things to have time to delete the ba$tard$.

For the life of me, I doubt one shoe has been sold so I wonder why the spammers waste their time.  Personally, I would be more afraid that these spams are some strange code used by organized crime or terrorists to communicate really awful things.

Yeah, I hate them too, but to take our anger out on TMF is grossly unfair in my humble opinion. 

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#13) On January 07, 2011 at 5:52 PM, rexlove (99.24) wrote:

Makes me wonder how many of the 72000+ memebers are real or just spammers.

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#14) On January 07, 2011 at 5:58 PM, kstarich (33.61) wrote:

I am sick of it too

I don't write many posts anymore because it seems like the site is loosing credibility.

I have gotten to know some of the bloggers here and trust their research yet this spam crap is getting in the way!!!!!

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#15) On January 07, 2011 at 6:06 PM, Mary953 (39.90) wrote:

Totally unfair Dragon!!  They ARE working on spam - so much so that I tried to put up a spam blog (just repeating a comment over and over to raise money for Foolanthropy while there was still time - with an appropriate warning title so that no one would waste time with it) and the computer blocked me after a bunch of comments.  I could not get to 400 on my own.  I had to have friends add to the count to help.  Try to give them a break (TMF, not the spammers), and do not insist on ONE MORE LAYER of red tape for all of us to go through so that your eyes are not offended, please

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#16) On January 07, 2011 at 6:31 PM, blesto (30.88) wrote:

It's all a giant conspiracy contrived by the evil clan leaders of full service brokers and mutual fund sellers who want to disrupt the Motley Fool and don't want you to manage your own money and stock picks!

Muuuhuuhuhuhuwaaaah!

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#17) On January 07, 2011 at 6:39 PM, TMFCrocoStimpy (94.12) wrote:

Fellow Fools, please see #9 TMFJake:

It won't be live in a day or two, but it will be rolled out within a week.

The blog spam attack from a couple months ago was individuals which could be stopped with bailing wire and duct tape, but the spambots in the comments cannot be handled as easily (all hearsey on my part - I'm not on the Need to Know basis of the site security).  Industrial strength cleaner is coming forthwith to address all the different types of spam.

@rexlove: the 72,000 odd players are people with 7 or more picks.  Because we never required bloggers to have a minimum number of picks, it is unlikely that any great number of those are spam accounts.  This was one of the primary reasons for avoiding a minimum pick requirement to be allowed to blog.

-Stimpy

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#18) On January 07, 2011 at 9:12 PM, TSIF (99.96) wrote:

Mary, While the title is a little strong, the last sentence is true and maybe should have been the title.  Jake agrees in #9, but uses ther word stinks. Most of us vent at some point and some personalities vent differently, so while the method Dragon used wouldn't be the same I would use, a little airing out is not a bad thing.  We are losing bloggers and posters and it takes a strong hand, or mouth, occasionally to air things out.  I do believe MF was working the issue before Dragon's blog, but it has been months and MF is not paving new technology.  The problems started when they allowed anyone to recommend blogs, user or not, and now the top 5 all time rec'd blogs are not legite.  People should have an account to participate. Small things may not affect everyone, but they do add up.

That said, MF can't be expected to please everyone either, so if their business model is more about getting subcribers, within a balance, that's understandable.

With that in mind, I do agree with Dragon and disagree with #12 Ctthomas about not cutting more slack because it's a free service.  The blogs, pitches turned into copious short articles, and the rating system that uses our input, all helps build a paid subscriber base.  in return they provide the forum that should attract a wide variety of members who draw and learn from each other, helping to enhance MF's footprint.

The definitive rolled out in a week is great news.  It's not one of those dubious/subjective timeframes our government gives.  The solution should not be rocket science, so it's delay has been frustrating, it's nice to know work we can't se is going on.

Kudo's for Jake in #9 agreeing the current spam blocking capabilities stink and for getting three of our MF staff jumping in with an update.  Saying something sucks did get their attention, and I don't doubt that they care very much about us, even if their solution has been a little time consuming.

TSIF

 

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#19) On January 07, 2011 at 9:13 PM, HarryCarysGhost (99.78) wrote:

I'm going take a contrarion view and make the case for the spammers (And yes this post will be dripping with sarcasm, so don't believe a word of it :)

Is'nt it possibble that some Chinese mogul of crappy Chinese knockoffs was so touched by the Fools efforts in Foolanthrophy that it touched the inner layers of his blackened heart.

So moved, that he would order his minions, working in the boiler room of his dungeon for less than ten cents an hour to incessantly post these nonsense posts. Broken english and all.

Obviously the man has gone insane from power. But maybe just maybe even though he knows that tageting a group of highly intelligent people was an obvious suicide mission. Seriously it's pretty obvious that no one here would buy that crap. So yes he is sad and deranged.

Could it be that his conscience just got the better of him and he decided to finally do some good after all the human rights violations and other atroscities against mankind. And by posting this garbage over and over again somehow in his disturbed mind that somehow atones for all the misdeeds.

Just a thought :)

Ok back to reality, I just hope that the spam actually counted for Foolantophy, that would make it bearable in my book.

I have confidence that the Fool will find a fix, But what I'm worried about is the spammers finding a way to attack the pitches, So hopefully both areas are addressed at the same time.

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#20) On January 07, 2011 at 9:53 PM, Mary953 (39.90) wrote:

TSIF - You are correct that I overreacted to the language in the title.  If I come across like someone's mother trying to instill proper appreciation for appropriate language, maybe it is because that is exactly what I was for a lot of years.  Dragon and the rest of you are grown and quite able to choose your own language, express your own opinions in whatever way you see fit.  I try to ignore spam, but it does bother me when a really good discussion gets derailed by a spam post.

As to identifying spam, that is easy.  If several posts suddenly have activity at the exact same time, they have been spammed, especially if one or two have had the conversation wind to an end.

As to melting down or needing to vent, also  understood.  When I watched a video clip talking about how the government couldn't allow us to have money from the tax cuts as though the money was being doled out to us, I went ballistic.  The entire idea that it was our money and not theirs was completely ignored.  That blog was as irate as any I have posted since I have been here. 

Dragon, my apologies.  TMF has declared that I am not spam so I am cleared to wish you well and to await the roll-out of the new Anti-Spam Strategy-whuppin' machine (as we would consider it here in the hills)   ;)

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#21) On January 08, 2011 at 8:47 PM, dragonLZ (99.34) wrote:

Mary, no need to apologize, you were just defending TMF.

Yes, my choice of words was bad, and I wish I could take them back. But that's today. Yesterday, I was really fed up and I remember wanting to send a stronger message - not just another one of "Please stop spam" posts.

I'm very thankful to TSIF for supporting me and understanding where I was coming from. He explained it better than I would be able to. Thank you, TSIF.

And cthomas, yes, I think I was wrong in saying "they make tons of money off of this site", but I still think this site is an important part of their business.

There are thousands of investment letters and services out there, but how many of them can say: We have a community of 70,000 people and a stock-rating system that is based on the outperform and underperform calls this community makes on individual stocks?   

None.

Once again, I'm sorry for the language I used. Hopefully, TMF team will be successful with their new spam-fighting system, and we won't have to talk about this any more.

Good Luck All, including the TMF Team. 

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#22) On January 08, 2011 at 9:04 PM, NOTvuffett (< 20) wrote:

+1, this is way past due.

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#23) On January 08, 2011 at 9:12 PM, NOTvuffett (< 20) wrote:

I should be more clear.  TMF is a valuable forum, offered for free to those wishing to learn, it would just be a shame if the site lost its utility because of spammers.

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