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Sorry for the spam overnight!

ivar

Administrator
Staff member
Dear all,

I woke up this morning to over 200 new spam accounts having signed up and started sending inappropriate Private messages to members. I am so sorry for this!

They have now all been deleted. When I woke up, I did disable the functionality of starting a new Private Message for members. I will now open this up again, but I will have to manually approve new members for a few days (so new members would have to wait a little before they can ask their Camino questions after signing up).

I have also changed a few things related to the signup process... hoping that we can catch these people there.

Either way, I am so sorry for this...

Happy Caminp Planning!
Ivar
 
Get a spanish phone number with Airalo. eSim, so no physical SIM card. Easy to use app to add more funds if needed.
Good morning/afternoon/evening!
I got an inappropriate message but I don’t see a way of deleting messages. Its time stamp is 1:43 AM Eastern Standard time (US) which is 6 or 7:43 AM Spain time, not sure if I got the message before or after your cleanup. Thanks for your efforts!
 
Hmm.. the user that started the conversation has been deleted... but if the conversation still shows up in your inbox, I wonder if you can "Leave" the conversation? See if there is a button that says "Leave" towards the top?
Screenshot 2024-04-09 at 10.35.24.png
 
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
Dear all,

I woke up this morning to over 200 new spam accounts having signed up and started sending inappropriate Private messages to members. I am so sorry for this!

They have now all been deleted. When I woke up, I did disable the functionality of starting a new Private Message for members. I will now open this up again, but I will have to manually approve new members for a few days (so new members would have to wait a little before they can ask their Camino questions after signing up).

I have also changed a few things related to the signup process... hoping that we can catch these people there.

Either way, I am so sorry for this...

Happy Caminp Planning!
Ivar
Thank you, Sir. We are all very lucky to have you and the hard work you do for us pilgrims. Best, AJ
 
Update #2 on this.

I have now created a new user group on the forum for users that have 5 posts or less. These users will have a less privileges compared to users with 6 or more posts. For example, users with 5 or less posts can not start a Private Message, they can not add links in their signature, and a few more things.

As the user posts their 6th posts, they will get "normal" privileges as a normal user.

Any donating member (no matter how many posts they have) will get "normal" privileges.

This is a big change, and if you see something that is strange or something that does not seem right, I might have messed up the permissions... could you please respond here and let me know? Then I will have a look at it.

Also, if you see any spammy strange posts, please use the "Report" link under the post and report it to us (the moderators).

Thank you for your patience!
Ivar
 
Hmm.. the user that started the conversation has been deleted... but if the conversation still shows up in your inbox, I wonder if you can "Leave" the conversation? See if there is a button that says "Leave" towards the top?
View attachment 167591
Found it and left the “conversation”, I chose the option of ignoring future messages. It’s now gone, will let you know of anything else that may come up.
Thanks!
 
...and ship it to Santiago for storage. You pick it up once in Santiago. Service offered by Casa Ivar (we use DHL for transportation).
Dear all,

I woke up this morning to over 200 new spam accounts having signed up and started sending inappropriate Private messages to members. I am so sorry for this!

They have now all been deleted. When I woke up, I did disable the functionality of starting a new Private Message for members. I will now open this up again, but I will have to manually approve new members for a few days (so new members would have to wait a little before they can ask their Camino questions after signing up).

I have also changed a few things related to the signup process... hoping that we can catch these people there.

Either way, I am so sorry for this...

Happy Caminp Planning!
Ivar
Hi Ivar,
Yes unfortunately I was one of those people who got one of those emails.
Aisling
 
Update #2 on this.

I have now created a new user group on the forum for users that have 5 posts or less. These users will have a less privileges compared to users with 6 or more posts. For example, users with 5 or less posts can not start a Private Message, they can not add links in their signature, and a few more things.

As the user posts their 6th posts, they will get "normal" privileges as a normal user.

Any donating member (no matter how many posts they have) will get "normal" privileges.

This is a big change, and if you see something that is strange or something that does not seem right, I might have messed up the permissions... could you please respond here and let me know? Then I will have a look at it.

Also, if you see any spammy strange posts, please use the "Report" link under the post and report it to us (the moderators).

Thank you for your patience!
Ivar
Thanks Ivan.

Sad that you had to spend time on this. Eric
 
...and ship it to Santiago for storage. You pick it up once in Santiago. Service offered by Casa Ivar (we use DHL for transportation).
Dear all,

I woke up this morning to over 200 new spam accounts having signed up and started sending inappropriate Private messages to members. I am so sorry for this!

They have now all been deleted. When I woke up, I did disable the functionality of starting a new Private Message for members. I will now open this up again, but I will have to manually approve new members for a few days (so new members would have to wait a little before they can ask their Camino questions after signing up).

I have also changed a few things related to the signup process... hoping that we can catch these people there.

Either way, I am so sorry for this...

Happy Caminp Planning!
Ivar
Thanks for letting us know that it’s Spam! I was a little surprised when I saw it in my inbox this morning. Too bad you have to deal with this!
 
A selection of Camino Jewellery
Ivar, I am so sorry to hear this but I am not totally surprised.
When I am able I will send you a pm with a few observations and suspicions
I was unaffected but sympathise with those that were. I am sure you are busy so will leave it at that.
 
Dear all,

I woke up this morning to over 200 new spam accounts having signed up and started sending inappropriate Private messages to members. I am so sorry for this!

They have now all been deleted. When I woke up, I did disable the functionality of starting a new Private Message for members. I will now open this up again, but I will have to manually approve new members for a few days (so new members would have to wait a little before they can ask their Camino questions after signing up).

I have also changed a few things related to the signup process... hoping that we can catch these people there.

Either way, I am so sorry for this...

Happy Caminp Planning!
Ivar
Thanks for doing this - you did burst my bubble though- I thought there was a beautiful woman of exotic nature and foreign character wanting to spend time with me walking the Camino LOL 😝
 
Dear all,

I woke up this morning to over 200 new spam accounts having signed up and started sending inappropriate Private messages to members. I am so sorry for this!

They have now all been deleted. When I woke up, I did disable the functionality of starting a new Private Message for members. I will now open this up again, but I will have to manually approve new members for a few days (so new members would have to wait a little before they can ask their Camino questions after signing up).

I have also changed a few things related to the signup process... hoping that we can catch these people there.

Either way, I am so sorry for this...

Happy Caminp Planning!
Ivar
Thank you Ivar. I’m sorry this happened to your site
 
Get a spanish phone number with Airalo. eSim, so no physical SIM card. Easy to use app to add more funds if needed.
Dear all,

I woke up this morning to over 200 new spam accounts having signed up and started sending inappropriate Private messages to members. I am so sorry for this!

They have now all been deleted. When I woke up, I did disable the functionality of starting a new Private Message for members. I will now open this up again, but I will have to manually approve new members for a few days (so new members would have to wait a little before they can ask their Camino questions after signing up).

I have also changed a few things related to the signup process... hoping that we can catch these people there.

Either way, I am so sorry for this...

Happy Caminp Planning!
Ivar
Ivar,

Thank you for acknowledging and immediately addressing this situation. Perhaps there are content moderation tools that can be integrated to immediately catch and censor inappropriate content in the future.

Thank you for maintaining this great community space!!!
 
A selection of Camino Jewellery
Like many others I had a young lady lusting after me this morning. Deleted

Ivar, this is not your fault but that of the internet. Don’t fret over it and thanks for keeping the forum running. It is one of the friendliest and best moderated sites I have seen.

Cyber attack seems to be the big thing and I had several other phishing emails today on my own system. Stay on your toes folks. If it is too good to be true then it is!
 
Ivar,

Thank you for acknowledging and immediately addressing this situation. Perhaps there are content moderation tools that can be integrated to immediately catch and censor inappropriate content in the future.

Thank you for maintaining this great community space!!!
Yes, I have made changes... see post #5 above. I have not seen any new spammer since I made the change. So it looks ok for now, but... it is a cat-and-mouse game.
 
3rd Edition. More content, training & pack guides avoid common mistakes, bed bugs etc
Just to add — many of you have reported receiving private messages from these spammers. I think this is the first time a spammer actually started conversations with members. Usually it’s just links and posts on the main forum.

I don’t think there is any way we can delete the PM message, so hopefully it will just fall into oblivion. And thanks to all who responded so quickly - it really helps to have so many people paying attention!
 
Dear all,

I woke up this morning to over 200 new spam accounts having signed up and started sending inappropriate Private messages to members. I am so sorry for this!

They have now all been deleted. When I woke up, I did disable the functionality of starting a new Private Message for members. I will now open this up again, but I will have to manually approve new members for a few days (so new members would have to wait a little before they can ask their Camino questions after signing up).

I have also changed a few things related to the signup process... hoping that we can catch these people there.

Either way, I am so sorry for this...

Happy Caminp Planning!
Ivar
I just recieved another message from a naked dirty sex woman of 30!!! Oh dear
 
Get a spanish phone number with Airalo. eSim, so no physical SIM card. Easy to use app to add more funds if needed.
Dear all,

I woke up this morning to over 200 new spam accounts having signed up and started sending inappropriate Private messages to members. I am so sorry for this!

They have now all been deleted. When I woke up, I did disable the functionality of starting a new Private Message for members. I will now open this up again, but I will have to manually approve new members for a few days (so new members would have to wait a little before they can ask their Camino questions after signing up).

I have also changed a few things related to the signup process... hoping that we can catch these people there.

Either way, I am so sorry for this...

Happy Caminp Planning!
Ivar

Thanks Ivar,

Thanks for sorting the junk mail :) I tried to pm a simple thanks but ran into the you're a new poster block :)
 
A selection of Camino Jewellery
Update #2 on this.

I have now created a new user group on the forum for users that have 5 posts or less. These users will have a less privileges compared to users with 6 or more posts. For example, users with 5 or less posts can not start a Private Message, they can not add links in their signature, and a few more things.

As the user posts their 6th posts, they will get "normal" privileges as a normal user.

Any donating member (no matter how many posts they have) will get "normal" privileges.

This is a big change, and if you see something that is strange or something that does not seem right, I might have messed up the permissions... could you please respond here and let me know? Then I will have a look at it.

Also, if you see any spammy strange posts, please use the "Report" link under the post and report it to us (the moderators).

Thank you for your patience!
Ivar
Thanks for the update!
 

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