Banning gmail

rgrne · 2010-02-10 6:12 pm

For a long time I have been banning all the *.ru and *.cn and other spammer haven email domains but letting the biggest spam source of all - gmail accounts - through. Then a few weeks ago I accidentally banned all gmail accounts by putting *@gmail.com in my banlist when I meant to ban something else. For several days I didn't even know that I had done it. There was NO obvious drop in signups. There was a sudden big drop in spam, but I attributed that to the randomness of spam volume. The only reason I discovered it at all was that over several days a handful of emails trickled in asking why their email address was banned, with most of them telling me that they simply went back and signed up with a different email address.

I finally figured it out and unbanned gmail. There was no sudden increase in signups, but the spam volume shot up again over a period of a few days. On looking back at the email addresses of users going back before the accidental ban, I also found to my surprise that only a small minority of people were using gmail. Most were on yahoo, aol, hotmail or various other mostly spam free ISP provider accounts.

I had always been reluctant to ban gmail accounts thinking that they were the biggest email provider out there and that I would be making it difficult for a lot of users to sign up for my site. But that appears not to be the case. The minority of my users who were using gmail simply switched to different email addresses when they found they couldn't get in with google. So now I am considering permanently banning gmail and putting a note to that effect on the signup page.

Has anyone else done that and what were your experiences in the long term? If doesn't cause any problems, then maybe everyone should start doing it. Maybe it will send a message to Google to implement an effective anti spam system.

techtirie · 2010-02-10 7:09 pm

Most of the spammers do seem to be with the big email suppliers.
My valid US, and East European users are with less well known email suppliers.

I've considered saying you can't use a free non-ISP email but that if you have an ISP you DO usually have a free email address with that ISP.

How many people with NO ISP (ie. Cyber Cafe users) use your Forum?

If I see a University IP and student email, that's not likely to be a spammer either.

But we do have quite a few gmail users too.

Spud · 2010-02-10 8:11 pm

You will soon notice that no matter what global mail server you ban (Gmail, Mail.ru, etc.) spammers will simply port to another so eventaully you get no users because no-one can register. I personally have a ban on Mail.ru only and use other measure (like ZB Block) to deal with the rest. Works for me and in 3 months I have had 2 spammers register but not able to do any damage

Alex Kemp · 2010-02-10 8:27 pm

I implemented SFS so that I could unban GMail & all the rest.

rgrne wrote:

(ban gmail) Maybe it will send a message to Google to implement an effective anti spam system.

They do not give a damn.

diabolic.bg · 2010-02-11 11:42 am

Spud wrote:

You will soon notice that no matter what global mail server you ban (Gmail, Mail.ru, etc.) spammers will simply port to another so eventaully you get no users because no-one can register. I personally have a ban on Mail.ru only and use other measure (like ZB Block) to deal with the rest. Works for me and in 3 months I have had 2 spammers register but not able to do any damage

I'm totally agree. ZB Block defended me from November 2008 and I have no problems.

jokeroo essex · 2010-02-16 6:56 pm

Debatable,I use GMail myself but they don't seem to be putting as much effort into stopping the spam users on the forums as they do getting email spammers into the the spam block.
I don't block,but I do carefully check every GMail new registered user.

EOC_Jason · 2010-02-17 10:26 am

I don't really think you should ban gmail either...

Yes, most people have an ISP given email address... But do they use it?

I know a lot of people that use webmail services because of their convenience, and also because they have switched ISPs several times in the past and know how much of a hassle it is to update all your email addresses.

So, you might end up with people registering with ISP email accounts, but once they validate they might never check that email account again. Likewise if they switch providers (or they get bought out) then it becomes invalid and you start getting bounces. So then you have to play cleanup and tell the users to fix their email, etc, etc...

Geek · 2010-02-19 7:16 am

Most business and professional people I know use Gmail.

Not all ISP's are handing out emails anymore, because they don't want the headache and expense of servers, bandwidth and blocklist fees when there's superior webmails out there.

My ISP I signed up with a few years ago traded hands a couple times, so an ISP assigned address is totally useless to me as I don't have time to change every single account I sign up with an email.

Matter of fact, my own design group has a fair amount of eastern european members and I can't even block Mail.ru without losing some of my most knowlegeable people.

So.... I have no problem wiping out entire IP ranges (like 200.*.*.*), but rarely block an email unless it's a totally bogus one to begin with.

My $0.02

Cheers!

Spud · 2010-02-19 9:00 am

I am sure there is a better system that the www could use to combat spammers, malware etc. The current system does not really work as there are too many posibilities for these people to exploit. So we have dedicated sites who provide a great service, like SFS and others BUT in all honesty this does not have any real impact on the vermin that are behind the crimes, we are just a minor inconvenience to them. We record Usermanes, email addresses and IPs and they create new ones with infinate possibilities. Indeed there are many admins that help to curb spam etc by contributing to this list but the spammers move on to use other details. I personally can not see this changing over the next few years and probably in the long term future unless measures are taken by other sources in which to severely nip this in the bud.

How can this be achieved? Well, stiffer sentencing does help (one ID fraudster got 309 year behind bars this week) and advertising companies like Google, Yahoo and others should be tougher on advertising plus pay-per-clicks, email address issueing and closing of crime email accounts. The list goes on.

Perhaps placing people on static IPs to lockdown certain activity would help where internet users are on a database (like DNA) so any crime can be easily tracked. New users entering the system would have to give accurate personal info etc to be able to hook up. blah, blah, blah. I know many do-gooder and human rights groups would disagree to many things here but that is what is holding us back from having a more secure internet and less crime.

At the end of the day, we know the source of their crimes and often who is behind them but I somehow feel governments and policing bodies are not yet into the 21st Century with dealing with these crimes nor do they really regard them as the same as normal street crime although this is slowly changing, if not too slowly.

I am so grateful to Zaphod and his little tool (ZB Block) as this has really placed a massive bubble on my site, stopping the parasites from using my service for crimes. I wish more people had Zaphods determination and commitment to making the internet a safer place for all that use it.

Last edited by Spud (2010-02-19 9:01 am)

zaphod · 2010-02-19 10:53 am

Watch strokin' my ego, it can cause a person to get too high an opinion of themselves.

And don't forget, it's vendetta, not altruism, that drives me.

In the words of Brock Samson: "They hit me with a TRUCK!"

Zap

Alessandra · 2010-02-19 1:08 pm

A friend of mine in college was shocked by the suggestion of banning gmail because, she said, every single college-age person she knows uses it.

It looks like it has too many legit users to just ban.

cloner · 2010-02-22 12:12 pm

I would suggest banning gmail.You can ban gmail from new registration and allow already registered users to keep it.After banning gmail I havnt had a spammer get in, in quite awhile.Most people using gmail have another email address anyway and if they want to get in bad enough they will find a way.I dont have the problem with yahoo addresses.

Avril Lavigne Admin · 2010-02-22 2:00 pm

To ban gmail is to totally admit defeat. Just shut your forum down. There are better ways to deal with the problem without making it more difficult for legit members to join.

zaphod · 2010-02-22 6:57 pm

With my script, I need not ban any mail system. It's quiet. No spammers in a month.

Regular 3D phpBB captcha + ZB Block is all I need.

Oh, yeah, ZB Block has the optional Korea and China blocks in it, so maybe that is as bad as banning gmail, but I sure don't feel it.

The new Chinese block system is "enhanced" to make the "Golden Shield" block the hacking and spam attempts before they even leave China. It just gives a link to 2 organizations the Chinese government fears...

that being the one to free Falun Gong prisoners, and the Tibetan Independence Movement.

Zap

Spud · 2010-02-23 7:40 am

Gmail and all other mail providers are a popular haunt of spammers. Where one forum sees more from gmail, another forum would say it is yahoo etc. Once the spam bots see you have blocked a certain mail provider, they will simply move to another to re-initiate spam on your forum. If you then block each provider in turn, you will end up with no users able to register so your forum will die.

There is no easy soloution other than closing down your forum. It is something we will constantly be on the defence against but (as Zaphod says) ZB Block can greatly reduce your workload in stopping them from getting to register and post. Trust me, it works a treat and will make life more enjoyable where you will not have sleepless nights or long hours tracking the spam accounts down in your forum to disable any links or delete the profiles.

#1 2010-02-10 6:12 pm

Banning gmail

#2 2010-02-10 7:09 pm

Re: Banning gmail

#3 2010-02-10 8:11 pm

Re: Banning gmail

#4 2010-02-10 8:27 pm

Re: Banning gmail

#5 2010-02-11 11:42 am

Re: Banning gmail

#6 2010-02-16 6:56 pm

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#7 2010-02-17 10:26 am

Re: Banning gmail

#8 2010-02-19 7:16 am

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#9 2010-02-19 9:00 am

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#10 2010-02-19 10:53 am

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#11 2010-02-19 1:08 pm

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#12 2010-02-22 12:12 pm

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#13 2010-02-22 2:00 pm

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#14 2010-02-22 6:57 pm

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#15 2010-02-23 7:40 am

Re: Banning gmail

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