Factorio Forums

I got six messages about threads that where nit updated since last year. What's up ?

It probably were posts made by spambots which have since been deleted. They like replying to old threads and hide links in their replies.

I deleted 50ish posts from one spambot that posted one post at the end of 50ish "last update" topics

So those spambots not only span the forums they make the forum system spam our email... there must be something that can be done - like recalling emails sent when deleting forum posts.

This thing happened at least twice before but I didn't think about it because it was one or two emails I got. This time it was about ten of them - all leading to the head post mostly in release updates.

One thing that you can do right now is close old release posts to further discussion, maybe that will help.

Got another idea - one forum system I joined recently, didn't let me post more then one post until that post was reviewed by a moderator. That might make it more difficult for our moderators but could stop the spambots...

jockeril wrote:there must be something that can be done - like recalling emails sent when deleting forum posts.

You can't just recall emails like that, otherwise the whole point of emails would be moot.

jockeril wrote:This time it was about ten of them - all leading to the head post mostly in release updates.

How many threads are you following (by email alert)? Please send me the links to this threads by PM, I'll check out if there have been spambots in these threads because there weren't that many spambots in release threads lately.

jockeril wrote:One thing that you can do right now is close old release posts to further discussion, maybe that will help.

We don't want to close old release threads (or any threads for that matter) because some users still give good answers.

jockeril wrote:one forum system I joined recently, didn't let me post more then one post until that post was reviewed by a moderator. That might make it more difficult for our moderators but could stop the spambots...

This is under discussion (the first one/few posts by a new user being reviewed by a mod), but we'll probably keep it as it is.

daniel34 wrote:

jockeril wrote:there must be something that can be done - like recalling emails sent when deleting forum posts.

You can't just recall emails like that, otherwise the whole point of emails would be moot.

- not true, my dear daniel, this is my line of work and I know that at least the Microsoft Exchange server can retrieve an unread e-mail

daniel34 wrote:

jockeril wrote:This time it was about ten of them - all leading to the head post mostly in release updates.

How many threads are you following (by email alert)? Please send me the links to this threads by PM, I'll check out if there have been spambots in these threads because there weren't that many spambots in release threads lately.

All of them, don't you

no, every thread I (or you) post in immediately becomes a thread you follow (might be a setting in options) so - allot

just after finishing this post I will PM you the links (and unsub to them, just to be sure)

jockeril wrote:not true, my dear daniel, this is my line of work and I know that at least the Microsoft Exchange server can retrieve an unread e-mail

What you said is imprecise and only partially true.
There is no standard email protocol allowing to recall a sent e-mail. Microsoft Exchange does implement such a feature, only if both sender and receiver servers are Microsoft Exchange.
Gmail has another declination of "recall e-mail" feature : Google mail servers keep the email undelivered for a few tens seconds, and if you recall it, they just don't deliver it.
But all this is totally proprietary implementaion, and not a standard.

I once heard of a draft SMTP extension describing this recall e-mail function, but I don't think it became official (might be wrong though).

Found the issue: Since you wrote me in PM that it were posts in the Release forums, I've checked again and found that at around 7:00 GMT+1 on January 29 (5 hours before this thread) we deleted posts from a spambot that spammed most of the release topics back to 0.10.x (about 50 threads), so that was the cause for the notifications. Since then we didn't have any in that forum and before that only about one every few weeks.

EDIT: yes, that was the issue

Koub wrote:I deleted 50ish posts from one spambot that posted one post at the end of 50ish "last update" topics

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jockeril wrote:

daniel34 wrote:

jockeril wrote:there must be something that can be done - like recalling emails sent when deleting forum posts.

You can't just recall emails like that, otherwise the whole point of emails would be moot.

- not true, my dear daniel, this is my line of work and I know that at least the Microsoft Exchange server can retrieve an unread e-mail

http://www.howtogeek.com/161762/why-you ... n-you-can/

Microsoft Outlook only allows you to recall or retract messages in limited circumstances. You must be using a Microsoft Exchange email system, and you must be on the same Exchange server as the recipient. This feature may work when you’re emailing your coworkers, but you can’t use it when you’re emailing someone with a home email account or sending emails to addresses outside of your organization.

jockeril wrote:every thread I (or you) post in immediately becomes a thread you follow (might be a setting in options) so - allot

Yes, there is a setting in the User Control Panel (Board preferences - posting defaults) called "Notify me upon replies by default", but it's disabled by default.

daniel, don't be offended, I'm not perfect and even with my years of Exchange knowledge I make mistakes. the bigger person is the one that admits he made a mistake and I do so - I admit I made a mistake saying that there is a way to recall email sent.

I was sure that feature is a SMTP feature (why not actually ?) and not limited to MS exchange and only in the same network. your link to chris's article about this makes it clear