Leave a stub of a removed thread with malware with a waning.

[DaveF]

Over the years I and countless others have reported posts that linked to malware that were removed.
Should there be a change in policy that when this happens ALL the text of the OP is removed and all replies are removed but there is a big warning on the post that tells you that if you clicked that link you may have been infected.

Yes, it's the internet and we are not your mom, but outside of extra work for mods I don't see a downside.


Just a thought.

-Dave

[justinlamode]

Over the years I and countless others have reported posts that linked to malware that were removed.
Should there be a change in policy that when this happens ALL the text of the OP is removed and all replies are removed but there is a big warning on the post that tells you that if you clicked that link you may have been infected.

Yes, it's the internet and we are not your mom, but outside of extra work for mods I don't see a downside.

Just a thought.

-Dave

I'm at a loss here as I can't understand your point. If a post is removed by the admin for whatever reason, both the post and every comment on it would have been deleted with nothing left of the post. In addition, if a post is made here and it contains malware, unless people click on the link to the malware itself, I do not think they can be infected by simply opening the post made here, if such is possible, all of us would have been carrying loads of infection already. If you can clarify further, it will help a lot as it seems I'm not getting you clearly.

[Churchillvv]

~~

I'm at a loss here as I can't understand your point. If a post is removed by the admin for whatever reason, both the post and every comment on it would have been deleted with nothing left of the post. In addition, if a post is made here and it contains malware, unless people click on the link to the malware itself, I do not think they can be infected by simply opening the post made here, if such is possible, all of us would have been carrying loads of infection already. If you can clarify further, it will help a lot as it seems I'm not getting you clearly.

It pretty obvious that what OP is trying to say is that some threads with malware links are not entirely deleted but only the link itself is removed by the mods, so what he's suggested here is that a large warning ⚠️ just like those placed on someone with multiple red tags are obvious when they create thread warning to trade with care with a user, it should be made same with a thread that has a malware link on it that if opened a warning is issued to anyone who opened it that if you have clicked on the link that was in the thread you should be careful that you might have been infected before it was removed.

With this OP in my opinion is trying to inform people who must have used a malware link without noticed before it was discovered to be malware link to do the necessary because they already clicked on the link.

[Findingnemo]

I would say it better not to take any chances with malware that can cause potential loss to the forum users financially as well as to their privacy especially newbies so I don't mind a few posts deleted instead of taking the risk despite we give a warning on the link or remove the just link alone can be an option but it will be just easier to trash the post and it is a violation of forum rules as well.

No linking to phishing or malware, without a warning and a valid reason.

[LoyceV]

Should there be a change in policy that when this happens ALL the text of the OP is removed and all replies are removed but there is a big warning on the post that tells you that if you clicked that link you may have been infected.

That's not a bad idea at all Or a redirect to a warning page after clicking, like loyce.club/electrum.exe or bitadress.org:

[Cookdata]

I would say it better not to take any chances with malware that can cause potential loss to the forum users financially as well as to their privacy especially newbies so I don't mind a few posts deleted instead of taking the risk despite we give a warning on the link or remove the just link alone can be an option but it will be just easier to trash the post and it is a violation of forum rules as well.

No linking to phishing or malware, without a warning and a valid reason.

Malware isn't about only newbie, anyone in the forum can be a potential victim. I think I we should look at what DaveF is saying considering he is has been into the reportjob for long time.

When a post is reported to moderators been malware or any link that can cause any harm, the moderators delete the post immediately and the link can't be found again but the problem here is before this links and thread are reported to the moderators, anyone from the forum might have probably click this link without knowing they click on a malware link. Now, he is suggesting:

-Instead of completely deleting the thread and the replies, the maleware link should be deleted and a warning sign indicated on that post that it contain malware link, something like "This post contain a malware link" but the link has been deleted from the forum. This inform people that might have click on the link earlier to take necessary measures to fumigate their devices before any harm.

[Findingnemo]

~
-Instead of completely deleting the thread and the replies, the maleware link should be deleted and a warning sign indicated on that post that it contain malware link, something like "This post contain a malware link" but the link has been deleted from the forum. This inform people that might have click on the link earlier to take necessary measures to fumigate their devices before any harm.

If that link is removed then it's fine and I support this idea now of showing a warning page that you likely got infected by clicking the link because user who may have clicked the link got chance to see it before it's too late and if I am not wrong that's how malware posted in a thread is addressed in ALTT forum which a few of the community users might know it as well.
But either of these happens only if a mode handles the report right? Or now we should have an option to report for a malware that will automatically flag as malware and lead to the warning page? It is not bad either but it can lead to report abuses.

[Odohu]

I so much love this suggestion because nothing is actually deleted forever in the forum due to the archives and other external platforms such as LoyceV and Tryninja tools, where people can still root out deleted posts. Placing such big warning on posts confirmed to have malware will help in protect people who might want to check some of these users posts history even though they were deleted from the forum.

[Welsh]

The only issue is some days there's several threads that get removed, occasionally there will be a random sort of concentrated 'attack' where we're removing 20+ posts, so could potentially just end up clogging up the boards if they aren't removed, and they display a notice.

I like the idea of messaging all those that have visited a topic that's been removed as malware though. I would probably do this manually if I knew who visited the topic. I might potentially, start warning those that have replied to the thread before it was removed.

They do tend to get removed before most users see them due to the community having a sharp eye and reporting them!

[Majestic-milf]

 This is a good idea if you ask me. Instead of receiving a red tag like when you relate or comment on a thread that is being suspected of being a scam or the thread creator has a shady reputation like that of the 1xbit in the service section, you get a warning that this contains a malware instead and truly it would save users the trouble of unknowingly clicking or sharing a link that has a malware bug in it.
It may look like an extra load for the mods but it's more like a small price to pay to ensure this place is clean and safe.

[promise444c5]

It can be added here as well if possible:

It will be such warning that the thread has been deleted because it contains malware or suspicious links.. although for early visitors (for the thread ) to notice such they must be trying to revisit just that this time there no link to click on unless they had it somehere before..
Another humble suggestion is to have a page listing all the recent deleted threads(name)with tags malware or malicious links   having such.. which mans everyone can check and possibly identify  if they interacted with such thread before..

[KingsDen]

~
-Instead of completely deleting the thread and the replies, the maleware link should be deleted and a warning sign indicated on that post that it contain malware link, something like "This post contain a malware link" but the link has been deleted from the forum. This inform people that might have click on the link earlier to take necessary measures to fumigate their devices before any harm.

If that link is removed then it's fine and I support this idea now of showing a warning page that you likely got infected by clicking the link because user who may have clicked the link got chance to see it before it's too late and if I am not wrong that's how malware posted in a thread is addressed in ALTT forum which a few of the community users might know it as well.
But either of these happens only if a mode handles the report right? Or now we should have an option to report for a malware that will automatically flag as malware and lead to the warning page? It is not bad either but it can lead to report abuses.

From Op down to these replies, I am trying to understand what you guys meant. If a user posts malware, no one knows that it is a malware link unless someone discovers and reports to mods. If the post containing the link is deleted, or the link is removed, what is the essence of the warning on the post again since the post is already deleted.

If you are talking about flagging the profile of the malware poster, it will make sense to ne. Just like "Beware! This user is likely a malware poster" and this displays in every thread created by the malware suspect.

[Alone055]

Or a redirect to a warning page after clicking, like loyce.club/electrum.exe

Add another line at the bottom that should say:

"Download it from the original source here: ....."

And, add the link to another page after the colon, and once someone clicks on it, it should say:

"You did it again, fool!

I just told you not to download Electrum from anywhere other than the official website."

[DaveF]

Yeah, what I was trying to communicate is that now the thread just vanishes.

Keeping it open with a warning about if you clicked the link would at least have the possibility of giving some people a warning that they may have been compromised.

Still, ban the OP and everything else, but at least there would be something there that people could see.

-Dave

[mindrust]

That can be helpful to those who clicked the links without knowing. Even after clicking the link, if nobody warns them, then they might get hurt even though there was a chance to regain safety.

Those trojans that replace btc addresses for example could be avoided easily if the user knew that his pc was infected. Since they didn’t know, they did their routine ctrl + c/ctrl + v combo and lost their money to the hackers.

I think that’s a nice suggestion but on the other hand if a person is careless enough to click a link from a newbie, he shouldn’t be touching crypto in the first place so there is that.

[Upgrade00]

Keeping it open with a warning about if you clicked the link would at least have the possibility of giving some people a warning that they may have been compromised.

I'm on board with this idea. Even if this only helps one person to check their potentially compromised system, then it is a win. I understand mods are quick and the community is also in finding them out.

I understand the stance of the forum not babysitting users, but links can be clicked in error too, I know it's possible to do this on mobile when trying to zoom in. Again, this will not help many people, but it's a win if it only helps one.

[promise444c5]

.
Keeping it open with a warning about if you clicked the link would at least have the possibility of giving some people a warning that they may have been compromised.

I think Welsh just explained the reason why leaving the thread on the board might not work because that would have been the best option...
I could vividly remember some months back,  users like this guy made continuous posts with various accounts that could fill the first page of an entire board(all containing malicious link), it was continuously deleted by the mods and I remember reporting lots of it with some feedback tags..
After then, even last week i think, I remember reporting something similar twice and I’m sure other would have reported more because they are being  spread across boards. So, leaving such threads might as well contribute to clogging and pushing of relevant posts out of view imho too

[Amphenomenon]

Yeah, what I was trying to communicate is that now the thread just vanishes.

Keeping it open with a warning about if you clicked the link would at least have the possibility of giving some people a warning that they may have been compromised.

Still, ban the OP and everything else, but at least there would be something there that people could see.

-Dave

I think this is a good initiative and it seems easy to be implemented because usually maybe when a user post is deleted (maybe it was off topic or some other reason), they are informed through pm and this time the reason can be stated that the thread was nuked because the Op posted a malicious link.

This also include when same malicious link is posted as a replay on a thread.