Check Facebook Before Approving a New Member

[Shelli Russell]

I don't know why I didn't think of it before, but for the last few months, when I have a new member request and I can't quite decide if they're a spammer or just lousy at filling out their profile... I take their email and plug it into the search blank on Facebook. It's not a perfect system, but it is one more step to test a new member's authenticity before you hand them the power to blast nasty on all your members! 

 

Examples of info I have found by checking Facebook first: 

• Guy filled out the minimum on his profile.
  I found him on FB and he had a profile pic and local friends.
  APPROVED
   
• Lady filled out profile but withdrew membership.
  I found her on FB with no pic and no friends.
  APPROVAL N/A and I reported and blocked her (?) on FB for not being a real person.
• Lady filled out profile, said she had friends here (where my network is themed)  but doesn't name any. Does a pretty good BS job, but puts a major city for her hometown (NYC).
  I go to FB and there's no account for that email. This doesn't deny their existence, but what are the chances of someone contacting their "friend" that they don't name through a local social network instead of through email? Additionally the chance of them NOT being on FB? Slim. So I use the email to ask who their friend is and wait. No answer in a day?
  REJECTED.

Some other red flags for spam:

• Email address is a name or word followed by numbers & the provider is Hotmail, Yahoo or Gmail. Ex: [e-mail]. If their email address is the name of their internet service, it's probably not spam. Ex: [e-mail] or [e-mail].
• Profile is barely filled out. Someone might do the work to figure out the answer to my test question (What's the local newspaper, What's the governor's wife's name) because it's required. But then they slack on other questions. Don't be afraid to email them and ask something extra. Explain that protecting your members from spam is important so you have to go the extra mile before approving someone. No answer? Reject them.

 

I'd like to find out other ways you've learned to avoid spammers. Do tell!

[Jen]

Good stuff Shelli! It's amazing what one can find by cross referencing and using facebook in that process. I find facebook to be an invaluable tool when conducting a criminal investigation (side business). It serves as one of my most important cross reference steps.

 

IDiver and Luc,

Great information too.

 

Thanks all for sharing. I enjoyed reading.

Best,

Jen

[Rev. Nate Walker]

I do this too and find it to be a helpful screening process. Cheers, Nate

[Manny Hernandez]

Also Googling a member's email address will help identify spammers b/c it will show results with them listed on Spam Forums, etc. near the top. Google seems to make a point of making those search results very important when people Google email addresses.

Of course this approach is useless for newly created spam emails, but it helps for weeding established SPAM accounts.

[Saibal Sen]

Great tip. Thanks for this. I have been having a lot of trouble with new members.

[Jeff Bean]

We're a group of professionals, so I ask a private, admins-viewable-only question asking their interest in the work. Spammers' answers are obvious - the few who put in ambiguous stuff I contact by email, explain we're controlling for spam, and they are usually people who were real but not taking the question seriously.

[Curtis]

I also  Google suspicious email addresses and its a big help. I usually can tell from the photo/email address (pretty obvious stuff) and when I come across a spammer I actually approve them-then I land on the "members" page and ban them for spam....that way I only have top deal with the email address once and have a record of it if anyone ever decides to make a database.

I have not had a spammer get through in several months-fingers crossed-knock on wood.

[Mahalia]

Great tips, I'll be sure to follow them all.

Thanks

[Rev. O.M. Bastet]

I've created a list here in Creators of applicants who flunk the Facebook test, among other clues. I agree it's a great check, looking at FB.

 

Curtis, we do that too!!!! Admit and then immediately ban them. Then they get into the Ning database. However, we don't seem to have access to that, so I started a list we can all add to:

http://creators.ning.com/forum/topics/list-of-known-or-suspected

 

Also, here's our template letter if we are unsure of someone who is waiting to be approved or declined:

This is the slightly friendlier version:

 

Hi Denise,

 

Thank you for your interest in ANewGaia Community. I am reviewing your application for membership here.

I would like to know a bit more about you. How did you learn about this community ?

Please answer the profile questions, even if briefly.

If there is anything more that you could share with me, that might give me some sense of you as a "real" person that I could seek to relate to, that would be helpful.

 

We are cautious about new members because we are doing our best to screen out annoying mass spammers. As a member, you will appreciate our caution!!

 

And in turn I appreciate that you might be joining just to look US over further, to see whether you would like to participate with us. That's wonderful, we welcome your looking around!

Thank you -
OM
for the A New Gaia Network Creator/Team

 

[Rev. O.M. Bastet]

Can't see Edit for that comment: By "we can all add to" I mean us here on Creators!

[Strumelia]

If there is any suspicion, I copy a slightly unusual sentence from their profile description, then punch it into Google with quotes around it.  The other day I found that a spammer had simply copy/pasted in another member's profile blurb.  It showed right up in Goggle as having been swiped word-for-word from another member's profile page on my network. 

This is a new trick they've been using so that their profile description has good English and is relevant to the network theme.