# Loads of spam on comp.lang.fortran

**URL:** <https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/loads-of-spam-on-comp-lang-fortran/6634>\
**Category:** Uncategorized\
**Created:** [October 13, 2023, 12:31pm UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/loads-of-spam-on-comp-lang-fortran/6634 "2023-10-13T12:31:27Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Arjen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Arjen](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/Arjen)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2023, 12:31pm UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/loads-of-spam-on-comp-lang-fortran/6634/1 "2023-10-13T12:31:27Z")

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FYI: You may or may not have noticed it, but there is an awful lot of spam being posted on the Fortran newsgroup. While it is not as active as it used to be, it is still a valuable source of information to people.  
I report the spam I find, but right now there are at least 40 posts in a short while that can only be regarded as spam - they are easy to note: the text is in some Asian script.

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**Author:** ![vmagnin](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/fortran-lang.discourse.group/vmagnin/32/28_2.png) [@vmagnin](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/vmagnin)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2023, 1:34pm UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/loads-of-spam-on-comp-lang-fortran/6634/2 "2023-10-13T13:34:10Z")

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Yes, once in a while it gets heavily polluted when spammers succeed to pass the antispam filters. On my side I see only 7 spams (I am using news://news.uni-stuttgart.de:119/comp.lang.fortran for reading).

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**Author:** ![PierU](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/fortran-lang.discourse.group/pieru/32/1848_2.png) [@PierU](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/PierU)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2023, 2:44pm UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/loads-of-spam-on-comp-lang-fortran/6634/3 "2023-10-13T14:44:45Z")

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No visible spam on (one of the) server(s) I am using, but no post for the last 8 days:

 ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/fortran_lang/original/2X/8/8320936e9a23296fa706fda0417d32b1e62ae0fd.png)

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**Author:** ![vmagnin](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/fortran-lang.discourse.group/vmagnin/32/28_2.png) [@vmagnin](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/vmagnin)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2023, 4:16pm UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/loads-of-spam-on-comp-lang-fortran/6634/4 "2023-10-13T16:16:05Z")

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Each server seems to have its own spam filter. I see also no normal post since the 2023-10-04.

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**Author:** ![PierU](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/fortran-lang.discourse.group/pieru/32/1848_2.png) [@PierU](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/PierU)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2023, 4:19pm UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/loads-of-spam-on-comp-lang-fortran/6634/5 "2023-10-13T16:19:53Z")

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> [@vmagnin](#):
>
> Each server seems to have its own spam filter.

Definitely. There also are a few antispam bots that send cancel articles on the whole network, but each newsmaster is free to accept or deny the cancellations on their servers.

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**Author:** ![gnikit](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/fortran-lang.discourse.group/gnikit/32/1213_2.png) [@gnikit](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/gnikit)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2023, 5:39pm UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/loads-of-spam-on-comp-lang-fortran/6634/6 "2023-10-13T17:39:45Z")

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This is what I am seeing right now, I’ll go ahead and report them

 ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/fortran_lang/original/2X/4/476ad323e1fe5b30d3cf947220aa6f5db49f480a.png)

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**Author:** ![sblionel](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/fortran-lang.discourse.group/sblionel/32/853_2.png) [@sblionel](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/sblionel)\
**Post date:** [October 14, 2023, 12:16am UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/loads-of-spam-on-comp-lang-fortran/6634/7 "2023-10-14T00:16:37Z")

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The server I use, [individual.net](http://individual.net), is very good at keeping spam out. Not perfect, but I can go weeks without seeing any spam in c.l.f.

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**Author:** ![snano](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@snano](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/snano)\
**Post date:** [October 14, 2023, 1:53am UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/loads-of-spam-on-comp-lang-fortran/6634/8 "2023-10-14T01:53:10Z")

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I see the same.

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**Author:** ![PierU](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/fortran-lang.discourse.group/pieru/32/1848_2.png) [@PierU](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/PierU)\
**Post date:** [October 14, 2023, 6:46am UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/loads-of-spam-on-comp-lang-fortran/6634/9 "2023-10-14T06:46:59Z")

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> [@sblionel](#):
>
> The server I use, [individual.net](http://individual.net), is very good at keeping spam out. Not perfect, but I can go weeks without seeing any spam in c.l.f.

I use it as well. It’s not free but the rate is reasonnable (10€/year). Among the free servers, I think that [eternal-september.org](https://eternal-september.org) has also a good spam filtering policy.

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**Author:** ![vmagnin](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/fortran-lang.discourse.group/vmagnin/32/28_2.png) [@vmagnin](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/vmagnin)\
**Post date:** [October 14, 2023, 8:26am UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/loads-of-spam-on-comp-lang-fortran/6634/10 "2023-10-14T08:26:27Z")

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> [@PierU](#):
>
> Among the free servers, I think that [eternal-september.org](https://eternal-september.org) has also a good spam filtering policy.

Thanks. Your link does not work, maybe because of https. I fixed it:

> **[www.eternal-september.org](http://www.eternal-september.org/)**
>
> Eternal September Usenet Server

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**Author:** ![milancurcic](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/fortran-lang.discourse.group/milancurcic/32/2_2.png) [@milancurcic](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/milancurcic)\
**Post date:** [October 14, 2023, 11:39pm UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/loads-of-spam-on-comp-lang-fortran/6634/11 "2023-10-14T23:39:55Z")

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Frequent spam on c.l.f. was a major motivator to create the Fortran Discourse.

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**Author:** ![FortranFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/96bed5/32.png) [@FortranFan](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/FortranFan)\
**Post date:** [October 15, 2023, 12:38am UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/loads-of-spam-on-comp-lang-fortran/6634/12 "2023-10-15T00:38:20Z")

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A few minutes to report the spam gave me the following:

 ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/fortran_lang/original/2X/d/d4a612f5da6836d4cd51061941134b28eefd05c4.png)

A day or two should clear the list up, at least for me.

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**Author:** ![Arjen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Arjen](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/Arjen)\
**Post date:** [October 15, 2023, 12:25pm UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/loads-of-spam-on-comp-lang-fortran/6634/13 "2023-10-15T12:25:35Z")

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Indeed, I found a much shorter list just now and removed the spam reactions in these posts.

One reason for being alert to this: a couple of years ago Google decided that c.l.f. was not worth tracking anymore as there was too much spam. It happened to several newsgroups and while I know that Google groups is not the most appropriate way to use the newsgroups, it is convenient to me.

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**Author:** ![PierU](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/fortran-lang.discourse.group/pieru/32/1848_2.png) [@PierU](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/PierU)\
**Post date:** [October 15, 2023, 1:10pm UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/loads-of-spam-on-comp-lang-fortran/6634/14 "2023-10-15T13:10:05Z")

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> [@Arjen](#):
>
> a couple of years ago Google decided that c.l.f. was not worth tracking anymore as there was too much spam

It’s not specific to comp.lang.fortran. Google Groups has a very poor antispam policy (not only they mostly don’t filter out the spam they receive from other servers, but their server is itself a know source of spam). And more than that, they absolutely don’t care at all about usenet groups (which is pity, as they own the full archives; but the search engine in the archives is de facto broken).

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**Author:** ![feenberg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@feenberg](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/feenberg)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2023, 1:14pm UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/loads-of-spam-on-comp-lang-fortran/6634/15 "2023-10-17T13:14:28Z")

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For several years now , until 2 days ago, there has been very little spam in comp.lang.fortran on Google Groups. I have reported about 20 spam messages to Google yesterday and today. We will see if they take any notice.

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**Author:** ![Arjen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Arjen](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/Arjen)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2023, 1:21pm UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/loads-of-spam-on-comp-lang-fortran/6634/16 "2023-10-17T13:21:20Z")

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Today, I noticed very similar spam in another newsgroup. Not as extensive, but spam nonetheless.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![PierU](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/fortran-lang.discourse.group/pieru/32/1848_2.png) [@PierU](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/PierU)\
**Post date:** [October 18, 2023, 9:46pm UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/loads-of-spam-on-comp-lang-fortran/6634/17 "2023-10-18T21:46:13Z")

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clf is now full of spam on [news.individual.net](http://news.individual.net) as well ☹ . Unsurprisingly, the spammer(s) use Google Groups to post their sh\*\*.

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**Author:** ![sblionel](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/fortran-lang.discourse.group/sblionel/32/853_2.png) [@sblionel](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/sblionel)\
**Post date:** [October 18, 2023, 9:47pm UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/loads-of-spam-on-comp-lang-fortran/6634/18 "2023-10-18T21:47:37Z")

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Yes - I reported this to their abuse address.

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**Author:** ![sblionel](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/fortran-lang.discourse.group/sblionel/32/853_2.png) [@sblionel](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/sblionel)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2023, 6:15pm UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/loads-of-spam-on-comp-lang-fortran/6634/19 "2023-10-25T18:15:29Z")

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Reply from individual(dot)net:

Yes, we are painfully aware of it, but the spam is so massive and  
random that it is very hard to fight with our tools without risking  
too many false positives or cutting off Google entirely (there are  
still a lot of people that use Google Groups legitimately).

We are trying to eliminate as much as possible, but you might also  
want to check out if your newsreader has some filtering capabilities.

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**Author:** ![shahmoradi](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/fortran-lang.discourse.group/shahmoradi/32/3151_2.png) [@shahmoradi](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/u/shahmoradi)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2023, 8:21pm UTC](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/loads-of-spam-on-comp-lang-fortran/6634/20 "2023-10-25T20:21:25Z")

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The same problem seems to exist in other Google groups like C and C++, besides Fortran.

[Next page](https://fortran-lang.discourse.group/t/loads-of-spam-on-comp-lang-fortran/6634.md?page=2)
