Stop the spam!

Stop the spam!

Comments

Comments

Write a comment

News » Stop the spam!

By EspenAO. Tuesday, 6. May 2008, 11:21:51

We're doing our best to protect you from spam. However, we still receive complaints about this issue. So, we would like to give you a piece of advice on how you can help us, but at the same time protect yourself (and the My Opera Community) if somebody's bothering you with unwanted messages.

Here are some helpful pointers:

If you receive a private message (PM) and you think it's spam, you have a button called "Mark selected as spam". Just select the unwanted messages and send it to the spam box. Our moderators will do the rest of the work, and if the user is a real spammer he/she will be banned and the messages removed.
Another tool you can use to protect ourself from people you don't know, you can choose not to receive messages from those who are not in your friendlist. To make it work go to My Page -> Account -> Edit Profile. In "Community Messaging" there is an "Allow messages from:" option. This is your magic tool! Choose "Friends and moderators" and "Save profile". From this moment on you'll never receive messages from users who are not added as a friend.
And last, but not least, if you're faced with spam messages, which contain obscene, vulgar, sexually-oriented, hateful or threatening content that violates our terms of service and might be harmful for anyone of the My Opera Community, please, contact us directly, or report it in the correct forum topic:

And finally, we are more than 1,4 millions members, and we hope to grow even more. Please contribute to make this community safe and enjoyable for everyone, but most importantly: Let's do it together!

Right on:D

By Cois, # 6. May 2008, 11:45:08

Well , i see...

By Fizzy7, # 6. May 2008, 11:49:19

Oh thanks a lot , i think it will help

By Blackmuck, # 6. May 2008, 11:56:24

Well said

By amitlu, # 6. May 2008, 12:01:12

good news/...

By Sreeramu, # 6. May 2008, 12:01:36

Sweet.

By G-off, # 6. May 2008, 12:06:06

It will help tnx

By Agontuk, # 6. May 2008, 12:10:33

By jreyva, # 6. May 2008, 12:11:29

Yeah, good work guys. Although it's sometimes difficult to spot the spam - if someone sends me a private message and says "I think you're completely gorgeous", it seems perfectly reasonable...

By Garion, # 6. May 2008, 12:11:49

Thank's my opera!

By Fizzy7, # 6. May 2008, 12:13:14

Thanks for your kind informations. I have received many unwanted messages, next time I will inform you!

By soumitram4u, # 6. May 2008, 12:16:27

By zoligrg89, # 6. May 2008, 12:52:09

It may seem reasonable Garion, but have you noticed they always tell you you're gorgeous then want your credit card number so they can regain their stolen kingdom?

By Furie, # 6. May 2008, 13:15:04

By Dacotah, # 6. May 2008, 13:31:30

I don't know if this is something that Opera Community would consider doing or not, but I just thought I'd mention that ma.gnolia.com has managed to reduce the creation of 'spam' accounts by 63% and the number of spam bookmarks by 68%.

They have done this by requiring new registrations to 'validate' their account by linking it to a third-party service, such as Facebook or an OpenID account.

I have always loved ma.gnolia's exploration and implementation of emerging technologies for positive purposes, like this - maybe it's something that OC could look into too.

Take a look at how they've implemented it here, or check their official blog post here.

By coxy, # 6. May 2008, 13:31:41

By taitos7, # 6. May 2008, 14:25:40

It's just me? If I go to my Private Messages Inbox, I don't see any "Mark selected as SPAM" button!! Or any "Delete" button (since long time ago).
I only see the "Write new", "Next", "Reply" and "Reply with Quote" buttons.

Opera 9.27 on WinXP SP2.

By YinYanger, # 6. May 2008, 14:35:18

Great! Thanks!

By occhidigatto, # 6. May 2008, 14:35:53

sweet

By demiphonic, # 6. May 2008, 14:48:04

YinYanger

By coxy, # 6. May 2008, 14:52:39

Good job!

By nguyentuanngoc, # 6. May 2008, 15:16:46

By intelimac20inch, # 6. May 2008, 15:16:59

spam is the evil.

By lamarca, # 6. May 2008, 15:29:40

coxy: Not here!

http://files.myopera.com/YinYanger/files/NoNoSpam.gif

By YinYanger, # 6. May 2008, 15:41:08

By Fizzy7, # 6. May 2008, 15:54:32

Great Job and thanks for reminding the community periodically what to do.

By p.mansoor, # 6. May 2008, 16:31:55

ok: sherlock:

By alper.02, # 6. May 2008, 17:04:53

well said!
Spam free Opera - thats the way I love it.

By selurus, # 6. May 2008, 18:09:12

Gr8 job!

By anban, # 6. May 2008, 19:58:09

yes

this is the best day of my life
as a my opera member

my friend had about 3 or 4 spammer going at us at one point in time
* not go into any thing *
we had reported about 26 accounts or more

there may have been more or less i never keepet trake of them all
but we had the f*** heads account and a few others

but i have to give it up to you mod you do a wounder full job to help us

but is there any thing you can do to stop
the scammers they keep send me and my friends this same pm but just change
the names
its geting old
but the thing for me is cuzz of a group i run
i cant have my pm set to friends only
there are people who come to this group to get help on stuff just like this
so i cant set my pm to just friends
or they would never get any help

any advice ???

By darkHeartLord, # 6. May 2008, 22:18:52

o hay if any of you want to help the mod plz se the link
its the group i told you about

http://my.opera.com/THE%20WAR%20ON%20SPAMERS%20!!!/blog/

By darkHeartLord, # 6. May 2008, 22:29:01

Cool! Thanks for the info.

By CultureSurfer, # 7. May 2008, 02:17:41

u'r wellcome
we members have to do our part to help too you know
we cant make the mods do all the work
its not far to them
we come here so lest atlest try to help keep it a nice place to come to
and try to cut there work down even if its just a little bite it still helps them out
they have other stuff to do them help even member of my opera
when its just as easy for us members to help each other and let the modes do there thing
and make my opera an even better place

lets all do out part

By darkHeartLord, # 7. May 2008, 02:19:22

I have to ask, though, do you guys realize that there is no BLOCK USER button on some people's blogs? My buddy Matt (Noah Counte) theorizes whether or not you have this button depends on which blog design you choose. Hoping this can be rectified? Naomi

By CultureSurfer, # 7. May 2008, 02:22:50

ummm yeah i notes that to
it could be from not activetin there account or it could just be a glitch
i my self cant send an pm to a few of my friends cuzz of this one glitch i have

By darkHeartLord, # 7. May 2008, 02:25:54

You need to add these options for your operamail customers as well. I get spam email all the time and every addressee has an operamail.com email address. I wonder how that happens?

By ripp2002, # 7. May 2008, 02:34:49

Okay here is my issue with spam...I think it is just as bad as spam that someone can add you as a friend without your permission...I am not a pretty girl so I fall victim to people that are nasty, dirty or perverts..They seem to think that my self esteem is low or something and I am tired of ending up on these people's friend lists...This should not occur without my permission!!!!!! It is just as bad as spam in my opinion!

By LadyArtane, # 7. May 2008, 06:21:42

@LadyArtane
Why do you bother? It doesn't hurt you in any way. It's as important as a sack of rice that falls over in China.
My friends list is very small, but there are a bit more who added me. If I get informed about it, I have a look at their page and afterwards delete the message.

Nice article though. I'll keep it in mind.

By Schalandra, # 7. May 2008, 06:43:13

To! not at: Schalandra---yes it can hurt me in some way...I don't want my name on someone's friend list who may be a pedophile when I have a child or end up on some christian's site when I am an atheist, any more than a pro-lifer would want to end up on the friends list of someone who does abortions for a living or a Christian type person ending up as a "friend" on the site of a Satan worshipper. It may not be offensive to you but it is to me. Besides, when should anyone use my name or anyone else's without permission?

By LadyArtane, # 7. May 2008, 07:01:34

I thought that it is obvious, that the friendships in blog communities aren't two sided. But the way to see it, makes me wonder. You are indeed right, that it might look "strange" if someone with interests that you don't share or are even against, mentions you on his/her friendslist.

Maybe it would be an option to chose from: "Anybody can add me to friendslist", "only with my permission", "nobody".

Note it on this blog. I think it's worth having that options.

By Schalandra, # 7. May 2008, 07:23:39

I have to ask, though, do you guys realize that there is no BLOCK USER button on some people's blogs? My buddy Matt (Noah Counte) theorizes whether or not you have this button depends on which blog design you choose. Hoping this can be rectified?

If you have JavaScript disabled, the buttons doesn't show. If you're using Opera, then enable it like this: F12 -> "Enable JavaScript".

By EspenAO, # 7. May 2008, 07:56:44

Its all very well saying report spam but when you have numerous messages clicking on each one and reporting it gets very time consuming. Its a cop out!

My main issue though is with the browser itself...I have had to stop using it because of spyware infection. the Opera web browsers is far from safe in this matter and far from protecting me it has made me vulnerable to spyware.

So much so that I have reverted back to using firefox. Until the makers of Opera pull their finger out and start dealing with this issue and stop the browser messing with my registry settings....thats the way it is going to stay!

By Neil_Anthony, # 7. May 2008, 11:17:23

ummm all every well said

By darkHeartLord, # 7. May 2008, 11:49:55

@Neil_Anthony: that's nonsense. Opera is immune from spyware. You are clearly very confused. And besides, this blog post is about My Opera, not the browser.

By GoJoeGo, # 7. May 2008, 12:19:41

I agree 100% with LadyArtane.

I'd like to see Opera function like MySpace or Facebook, where you have to approve someone adding you as a friend. Why? Because I am listed as a "friend" to some people on Opera with whom I do not want to be associated because of content they have written (people I have had to block). I've heard other Opera members complain about the same problem.

Any possibility this might change?

@EspenAO
Are you sure it's a javascript issue because I can see the BLOCK USER button on some blogs but not others? I would think that if it were an issue with java, that I would NEVER be able to see the button.

By CultureSurfer, # 7. May 2008, 12:46:24

@CultureSurfer
I would prefer an option for it, as I really don't want to approve everybody for that. To me it sounds like more trouble than it's worth it. I just don't care who thinks that I should be listed on a friendslist. It's just my own friendslist I care for.

I more bugged about the messages I receive, when I get added to a friendslist. Is that spam too?

By Schalandra, # 7. May 2008, 13:06:52

No, that's just Opera letting you know that you've been added.

By CultureSurfer, # 7. May 2008, 13:18:35

hay it would help to pick your friends cuzz on my space we get a lot of scammers wanting our info and what not so this would help stop that
plus we wouldent have to put up with spammers and scammers as much

the thing ied like to get om my opera is a enty spam program
some thing so some one cant post the same bs more then 5 times
that way we dont get spam as much and we can

and if they do try to spam us they cant do it to us again until you replay back but then you could just repost them
no more spam on our post

By darkHeartLord, # 7. May 2008, 14:17:41

To GoJoGo

I am very aware of what this thread is about...but thanks for pointing out the obvious anyway...however, I thought that I would throw this into the pot as an after-thought, in the hope that someone from the programing department would see it and actually tackle the issue. I hate to disappoint you but Opera is not "immune to spyware" as you put it.

Do you seriously think that any browser made from any sort of code that interacts with an outside environment is Immune from any sort of exploitation? If so you are a fool and don't have the first clue what you are talking about.

I'm afraid the tests are conclusive and opera is just as vulnerable as any other browser. I suggest you take your rose-tinted spectacles off and get a dose of the real world.

By Neil_Anthony, # 7. May 2008, 17:39:39

I have had to stop using it because of spyware infection. the Opera web browsers is far from safe in this matter and far from protecting me it has made me vulnerable to spyware.

So much so that I have reverted back to using firefox.

...opera is just as vulnerable as any other browser.

Don't get me wrong, but you stopped using Opera because of the spyware infection risk and switched to Firefox, thereby implying that Firefox doesn't have that risk. Now you state that any browser has the same risk, so why did you switch afterall?

Besides, I think that the risk for Opera is usually lower to Firefox or IE, as the marketshare is smaller and specialized spyware wouldn't target on a small audience with usually high security awareness.

But I encourage you to proof your statement using your blog, to help Opera to improve its software.

By Schalandra, # 7. May 2008, 18:00:58

1 2 3 Next »

Showing comments 1 - 50 of 107.

April 2008June 2008