Just wanted to let you guys know that recently the message board has been getting hit with spammers using the Contact Us link at the top of the page thus slowing down the site in general and the host has contacted me letting me know that we have to figure out a way to stop it. I’m trying to find out a way to stop the spamming without having to disable the contact email. I’ve been receiving almost 100 emails daily for the past week.
I’ll keep you guys posted.
See if you can get a hold of Val and see what he says.
Manny, is it possible to set up a simple webform for folks to contact us? or are they difficult to set up?
I know James from bravestarr.org is good at the tech website stuff, so maybe I could ask him to help us set it up?
It’s a shame vbulletin don’t provide you with the software to set up a verification code thing like most sites seem to have these days where you have to enter a series of numbers to submit something (I think it stops spam bots from automatically sending out unsolicitated stuff?)
Actually if you click on the Contact Us link on the top of the page, it leads to a webform. I sent the host a email asking them if they know what I can do to resolve the problem.
I think I just got one. what do you guys think? heres the message delete it or what cause Im not a retailer.
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=2] hi:
Could you give me the addresses where i could fine the thundercatlair in the u.s.a. and the telephone numbers. not the tall cat’s lair. the wide thundercatlair.
thanks
kb kenson 509-489-6357 sjkenson 509-326-6905
[email]sjkenson@aol.com[/email]
[/SIZE][/FONT]
Chris here…
Over the years I’ve received a couple of e-mails from folks who I think might be cranks - even though I may be being paranoid, for me there’s just something “random” about them. I had one guy who was a complete pain in the backside, and then when I stopped answering his e-mails used to send me e-mails under assumed names, but still from his old e-mail address! 
I had this one about a month ago that I didn’t respond to, simply because I wasn’t certain what to make of it - from a “Brenda Gipson”, with the subject line “Re: The True Code”:
Dear Chris:
I remember seeing that ThunderCats public service message back when the show was still on the air. I think it was brilliant that Lion-O and Snarf were featured in the message warning kids about alcohol. For me, there was no other cartoon series like ThunderCats. 130 episodes and a lot of merchandise – it’s like shattering a new record. I wish to thank you for loading the PSA onto your webpage. I presume by using the alias “He-Fan,” you’re also a fan of the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe animated series, too (that also lasted around 130 episodes and was based on Mattel’s Masters of the Universe toys). Both shows are available now on DVD for the ultimate '80s fanatic. How cool is that? So far I own ThunderCats volumes one and two (season one), and soon I will own volumes three and four (season two). Do you own both He-Man and ThunderCats on DVD?
Respectfully,
Philip
I’ve never been sure what to make of it and so never responded - like I say, possibly just me being paranoid, but something about that e-mail just didn’t sit well with me… :?
Take care… 
I don’t see any problem with that to be honest Chris, just seems someone being friendly to me. Besides replying to the email doesn’t hurt as they can’t get any information from it that they don’t already know.
I replied to that Cats Lair email and told them to look at our online stores links page (gave them the link) or to join the forums and ask on the Thundercats marketplace board 
I think those are all legitimate emails…the emails that I get are filled with links to pirated software, medication, and whatnot…
For example:
[I]The following message was sent to you via the TCL Message Boards Contact Us form by Hippocrates.
Sorry
hi res car wreck pic
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[/I][U][I]http://autumn-bentley.carlwonline.info/hi-res-car-wreck-pic.htm[/I][/U] hi res car wreck pic
free car insurance rates
free car insurance rates
[U][I]http://marmande-volvo.carlwonline.info/free-car-insurance-rates.htm[/I][/U] free car insurance rates
bmw r1200s motorcycle
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[U][I]http://marmande-volvo.carlwonline.info/bmw-r1200s-motorcycle.htm[/I][/U] bmw r1200s motorcycle
ford motor company financing
ford motor company financing
[U][I]http://eisenhour-nissan.carlwonline.info/ford-motor-company-financing.htm[/I][/U] ford motor company financing
genuine lexus car mats
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[U][I]http://refinance-car.carlwonline.info/genuine-lexus-car-mats.htm[/I][/U][I] genuine lexus car mats
Referring Page: index.php
IP Address: 74.231.86.232
User Name: Unregistered
User ID: 0[/I]
Unfortunately, after not receiving any over the weekend, I got around a dozen today…not as many as before, but still waay too much.
Spambots are the bane of the internet. I am surprised, with as much as one probably pays for a license for a board like this, that there’s not some kind of protection on it! Are you sure it’s being generated off the board? If those emails are used anywhere else on the site or web, a bot will grab it too unless you code in some kind of protection yourself.
I get a lot of spam, too, but gmail’s filter is great and I’ve never had my host complain about overloading the servers so I’ve always assumed any of it that’s generated from the site isn’t overwhelming. The only email account where I never get spam is one I’ve never posted on the web…you only know it if I give it to you.
I could have set up one of those webmaster@myurl type emails, I was just too lazy. Maybe my using an email provider that’s not via my site package helps in that regard, not sure. I never gave it that much thought but I do hope you can sort out some kind of solution. Spam is annoying enough on its own but I"d hate to see TCL go offline because your host gets tired of the drain on resources : /
As for those fan emails, that’s not bad really. A lot of people who write like to tell their stories about Thundercats as they think it pertains to your area of interest - at least in my experience. There are some weirdos out there too (there was this one dude who used to email me all the time, who went into waaay to much long rambling detail about his personal life - aspects that had nothing to do with being a Thundercats fan and into serious TMI territory, so he’s the exception to the friendly anecdote rule, heh heh…and yeah, I got rid of him by finally ignoring him. Which was hard at first, til I took him off my site’s mailing list because he’d think that every time I sent out a general, mass email to the list that I was emailing him personally or something. It was kinda creepy sometimes. Methinks he was a little lonely and a little nutty, too, but I digress), but to me anyway, the ones posted seem pretty mild so far. Consider yourselves lucky if that’s the oddest thing you ever get, because whenever I think a fan is coming off as over-zealous a bit in an email I check myself because yeah, I put this big-ass site on the internet about the 'Cats…who’s the real zealot? :evil: Though, sometimes when you reply to an email like that, you find out they ‘latch on’ and then realize too late you’ve got a lonely fellow on your hands like I had. Then again, that’s what email blocks are made for. But most folks aren’t like that, thankfully
It’s not spam at any rate. What manny posted, now that’s some classic spam!
thanks Neil. I’ll prob just reply to him anyway as long as we think its not spam
Chris here…
Yeah, ditto, I’ll probably just reply to mine, and apologise for the delay!
Take care…
Thinking of it now Ive been getting tons of spam and I wondered where they all came from, well i guess it turns out somebody is using our contact emails to send out spam. I get spam mail a lot in my hotmail account which receives any email sent to my thundercatslair email address. Its pretty annoying and lots of the ones Manny has posted I have gotten them myself.
Yeah, anytime you post an email address publically on the web, especially in a mailto: tag, spam bots will either collect it for the mass-mailing lists, or if you’ve got it set up to go to a form, yeah it might drag the site’s resources by spamming via the form. Especially if it’s mass-mailing every members’ address several hundred times a day. Yikes.
A captcha script might help. I know I was getting the comment feedback script on my ep guide spammed a lot til I installed one (captchas are those image boxes that require you to input what it says before the form is executed in hopes of thwarting bots that can’t ‘see’ it). You might want to consider installing something like that on all your forms.
There are also scripts out there that you can put in your page to attempt to block bots from harvesting your embedded emails, too. I haven’t tried one out, as my site emails are only set up for that and as I said, have good filters on 'em…I figure it’s not worth my time then to add the extra code. Doesn’t bother me that much. Other people side-step that by not providing an email link, but rather spelling it out for visitors. Such as using me at my-url dot com rather than the traditional me@my-url.com
Of course, this will require often and admittedly lazy visitors to type in the real format into their email or outlook’s address bar but on the bright side, it might cut down on goofy fan emails who just want to share their life stories with another fan, too If they can’t just click a link, that might take the wind out of their sails.
Good luck fixing this problem. I’d offer some direct assistance but I’m sure Kyle and others on the crew can cook up something far more brilliant than anything I’ve suggested so far.
And yeah, go ahead and reply to those other fan emails. Nine times of ten it really doesn’t hurt and nothing much more ever comes of it. Usually, it’s simply fans who want to share their stories or enthusiasm with another fan (and obviously, someone running a tcats website is a pretty safe bet as far as choosing who to contact) but maybe they’re too shy to join a forum and post it in public or something. At any rate, if you want to maintain and encourage visitors that return, replying is just good PR. Unless they’re rude or immediately creepy, go for it even if it’s just to thank them for visiting the site and taking the time to write. You’ll be amazed how much people simply love to be acknowledged when they email, even if your response is just a few quick lines.