Listopia was spamed

[Zinnober 9]

Listopia was spammed with ~80 pages (or ~900 lists) of what seems to be lists for computer hacking and video game hacks. All lists seem to be of the same 17 or so books and contain links to other websites that I doubt are safe to click on.
Also, on the next ten pages, another user created about
100 "Amazon gift card generator" and "Hobbit movie trailer" lists that have links that seem spammy as well.

Could a moderator delete if not all, most of these?
Thank you.

[Empress]

Please flag the user mentioned.

You should also remove his name from this forum, as it is against rules. This is a librarian group and we have no control over users, when you flag him this will go to support and they will take any measures necessary.

Don't hesitate to flag any similar users and possible socket puppets.

P.S. As the user doesn't have a picture or a review you can flag any list with a link to his profile.

[Zinnober 9]

Ok, thank you for you help.
I was unaware that mentioning a spammer by name was uncouth, so thank you for telling me; I've edited the name out in the post above.

[Empress]

No problem. I hope the support has a way of deleting those in a batch, cause that guy made a lot of lists.

(view spoiler)[P.S. Most of us are happy when there is a name so we can go and snoop around. just no one admits it ;) (hide spoiler)]

[Zinnober 9]

I see how I can block the user from me, but I don't see where I can report user. Could you point me in the right direction? Also, is support here: https://www.goodreads.com/about/contact_us or is there a better way? Thanks.

[Empress]

That is support, but it can take a long time until they get to your email.

It's always better to flag.

As he doesn't have a picture or a review what you can do is open any of the lists he created and search in your browser (ctrl+f) for the flag option. It's really not easy to sport it as it is in pale gray. Click on the flag, and then mark spam, or what you think is appropriate. In the explanation you can leave links both to this topic and his user profile.


I think there should be an option to flag a profile but there isn't so this is the work-around.

[Zinnober 9]

Thanks, I've flagged a few dozen or more, and sent support a message. We'll see what happens.

[Empress]

Zinnober 9 wrote: "Thanks, I've flagged a few dozen or more, and sent support a message. We'll see what happens."

Good. Don't bother to flag anymore. The idea is for them to handle the user first. They will see all the lists in his profile.

[Lobstergirl]

Wow. Worst spam I have ever seen on this site. He's still creating new lists at a rapid rate.

Hopefully someone on staff can nip this in the bud tonight.

Maybe GR needs a full-time spam person.

[Empress]

Flagged them all. I wonder if we should post in the feedback group, so they will look at it while they are still at work. Or is it Friday evening? There should be some kind of spam prevention in listopias, there is on messages and there is on librarian edits. I think if someone is making lists too quickly the site should refuse or at least display the captcha.

I posted here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Lobstergirl]

Ellie [The Empress] wrote: "I think if someone is making lists too quickly the site should refuse or at least display the captcha."

Like if you try to post back to back comments on the New York Times, they won't let you - say, within two minutes, or five minutes or something. It's annoying if you are a legitimate person simply commenting within two minutes on two different articles, but it's also understandable given the abuses that can happen.

I would be in favor of a five minute window for creating one Listopia. You would have to wait five minutes before creating a second Listopia. (Normal people aren't creating five or more Listopias per day anyway.)

Or if you've created five Listopias in one day, the sixth on should require a captcha. I think everyone could live with that.

[Empress]

Lobstergirl wrote: "Or if you've created five Listopias in one day, the sixth on should require a captcha. I think everyone could live with that"

+1

I have posted in the Feedback group as well, hopefully they'll see it.

I'm quite sure I've had the "post too quickly" message on Goodreads as well, but not sure where. Maybe I'm mistaken.

[Lobstergirl]

And now I see a list where two of the Spammers have voted on it, so a regular librarian can't delete it.

Maybe Goodreads could go ahead and delete these two accounts? They were flagged yesterday. There's no reason they should still exist.

[Empress]

Zinnober 9 wrote: "Listopia was spammed with ~80 pages (or ~900 lists) of what seems to be lists for computer hacking and video game hacks. All lists seem to be of the same 17 or so books and contain links to other w..."

This user has been deleted as well as the lists.

[rivka, Former Moderator]

This is not a Librarians Group issue, but one for the Contact Us link on the Help page.

Closing thread.