and it's not stopping.

maybe first-post-approval ?

Can we get this spam bot removed? It's filling the recent comments page with garbage. I don't have a spam button to click and report it anymore either.

I'll unpublish the ones that I can find but I don't have the ability to ban or block anyone.

User LilyBethSue is doing the same thing - same links even, so probably the same guy.

Spambots are constantly attacking, as you might imagine.  It's not very common that they get this far in but it happens.  The IRC is usually a faster place to get in touch with someone who can deal with them, though we all know that attendance there is spotty.

The problem is, it isn't a bot at all. Moderating the first post of a new user is the only thing I can think of that would help here.

That of course means, the spammer tries to write a somewhat proper, link-free first post to get a foot in the door. But I would consider most of its posts (even if they are somewhat on topic) at least "weird" for a newcomer, even without link.

If some posts look suspicious, the approval can get delayed by 12 or 24 hours. It will go away, if the hoops to jump-through hang uncomfortable high, I hope:)

I am aware that I am asking for more work on moderators shoulders, I'd volunteer for this task, if help is needed. (Drupal hopefully has a pre-made solution for this?)

__

Dear Spammer: Learn to make art, it is not that difficult to earn some money from it.

Add the user masterchef to that list.

Throw TedAyers on the pile, too. Gotta give 'em points for sheer persistence, at least.

@riidom: nope, definitely bots of one sort or other.  They've got a bit of context-sensitivity in their posts but that's just the fact that we're in the space-future.  The vast majority of these guys get caught in the filter--this is likely just another evolutionary step that's found a weakness in the current setup, which I assume will be patched with similar speed, however that works.

Add chef_master to that list

And BarbaraHernandez.

Add my_avatar and cutieme14 to that list.

The linked pages are likely not the actual culprits, just businesses who boneheadedly signed up with a less-than-reputable SEO service.  The SEO service itself is who deserves our hatred - scumbags, the lot of them.

Today's spam account: hartde143.  THEY ARE LEGION.

Maybe Green Water Technologies aren't aware that they have done so. It might be worth tipping them off so they know, and then maybe something can be done?

dikshaets123 and pldtcomeback2014

Would a "report spam" function be doable?

Ideally, that should not generate PM to those with enough rights to deal with the issue, because those poor users would get spammed by messages in times of spam spikes.

It might feed a "reported posts" view, similarly to "unread posts", eventually only visible to users with unpublish/ban/block rights where they could quickly snipe the offenders.

Alternatively, automated unpublish could happen once enough reports happen on a post, but that might require limiting report ability to trusted users to prevent misuse.

The report spam function is back.