DOS ain't dead

I just got two spam emails from wholesale@rhza.com and from wholesale@pcsa.com. Has anybody else gotten them? The reason I ask is that this forum is definitely the origin - both messages had the closing lines:
---
This e-mail has been sent via the forum
(http://www.bttr-software.de/forum/).

> I just got two spam emails from wholesale@rhza.com and from
> wholesale@pcsa.com. Has anybody else gotten them? The reason I ask is that

I didn't get those, but I got other spam in the past rarely.

> this forum is definitely the origin - both messages had the closing lines:
> ---
> This e-mail has been sent via the forum
> (http://www.bttr-software.de/forum/).

Then these mails have been sent via mlf's contact form, which is open for unregistered users and not protected by a CAPTCHA. Try disabling "Show e-mail link" in your profile.

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Forum admin

> > I just got two spam emails from wholesale@rhza.com and from
> > wholesale@pcsa.com. Has anybody else gotten them? The reason I ask is
> that
>
> I didn't get those, but I got other spam in the past rarely.

I don't typically read spam, and most of it gets auto-filtered into "SPAM" by Gmail for me (who, BTW, now give you almost 5 GB, w00t!). But yeah, I know I have received a very very tiny amount of spam (with like nonsense as subject like "mlvwz"). But AFAIK, none recently originated from here.

> Then these mails have been sent via mlf's contact form, which is open for
> unregistered users and not protected by a CAPTCHA. Try disabling "Show
> e-mail link" in your profile.

Yeah, or just "encrypt" the address like "steve{at}whatever_DOT_com". Of course, it's harder for real replies to be sent (but that's probably rare from this forum), but most people accept that extra step these days (at least in newsgroups, where most spammers seem to look for targets).

> > > I just got two spam emails from...

[rr]
> > I didn't get those, but I got other spam in the past rarely.

Then someone is selecting targets.

[Rugxulo]
> I don't typically read spam, and most of it gets auto-filtered into "SPAM"
> by Gmail for me (who, BTW, now give you almost 5 GB, w00t!). But yeah, I
> know I have received a very very tiny amount of spam (with like nonsense
> as subject like "mlvwz"). But AFAIK, none recently originated from here.

> > > this forum is definitely the origin - both messages had the closing
> > lines:

BTW, message headers confirm that this is true.

[rr]
> > Then these mails have been sent via mlf's contact form, which is open for
> > unregistered users and not protected by a CAPTCHA.

Can this be changed? Is there a log of true senders?

[rr]
> > Try disabling "Show e-mail link" in your profile.

That would certainly work, but it defeats the purpose of having mail capability.

[Rugxulo]
> Yeah, or just "encrypt" the address like "steve{at}whatever_DOT_com". Of
> course, it's harder for real replies to be sent (but that's probably rare
> from this forum), but most people accept that extra step these days (at
> least in newsgroups, where most spammers seem to look for targets).

Encrypting won't work in this case. Users don't see the address, only the Forum's system does, and it needs to return a message with a new password, to a real working address.

> > > I didn't get those, but I got other spam in the past rarely.
>
> Then someone is selecting targets.

I'm not sure. A bot might have followed the link to the form to send you mail and considered other links to forms too similar + just continued on spidering. If this were phpBB or some other very popular board software I'd agree.

Spam bots are very odd applications :)

> [rr]
> > > Then these mails have been sent via mlf's contact form, which is open
> > > for unregistered users and not protected by a CAPTCHA.
>
> Can this be changed? Is there a log of true senders?

1) What should be changed?
a. unregistered users: disable "Show e-mail link"
b. CAPTCHA: Everything is possible. Just depends on your efforts. I think, two spam mails are not worth any changes. If anyone wants to contribute some patches ...
2) There's no log. see 1b)

> [rr]
> > > Try disabling "Show e-mail link" in your profile.
>
> That would certainly work, but it defeats the purpose of having mail
> capability.

No. It will only disable the e-mail button in every posting. Registered users can still view your profile and click "Personal message to...".

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Forum admin

> > Can this be changed? Is there a log of true senders?
>
> 1) What should be changed?
> a. unregistered users: disable "Show e-mail link"

Good idea.

> b. CAPTCHA: Everything is possible. Just depends on your efforts. I think,
> two spam mails are not worth any changes. If anyone wants to contribute
> some patches ...

Two emails are not yet a big deal. But sometimes a small problem grows.

> Two emails are not yet a big deal. But sometimes a small problem grows.

ACK, but I don't have enough time.

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Forum admin