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INPUT NEEDED - Spam



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#81 Cranium

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Posted 11 January 2013 - 06:18 PM

Yeah, but I'm wondering if they will just start to spam Ask a Pro?

#82 AfterLifeLochie

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Posted 11 January 2013 - 06:21 PM

I'm going to repeat myself a little here. It's much easier for us (or me, personally), to approve posts and delete spam in an unapproved state, here's why.

If spam is posted to the site and is automatically approved - as it is right now - it fills the Reports System with garbage, not only making it harder for us to do our job to move stuff around, but makes it incredibly hard to navigate for things that have been reported - and personally, I do not have permissions to permanently remove reports, and neither do the other Moderators.

This certainly does not mean you should not, or must not, report spam - as it is currently the only way we see spam in posts that are not new (eg, a new thread created by a spammer is much easier to see, rather than necroposts/etc).

Whereas, if spam remains in an unapproved state, we can deal with it much more easily - press the Delete button on the post/thread the spambot created, hit "Flag Account" - rather than having to manually delete all the users' posts - and be careful we don't delete a legitimate thread - and clear any reports for that user. It's actually become one of my nightmares now. (I'm not kidding.)

I still, again (and I quote myself) "really, really suggest we approve new member's (<10) posts. It's much easier to delete content before it appears - and it keeps the Reports system in a manageable state." There are enough moderators that content will be approved expediently and we operate in timezones where we overlap by at least a few hours each, so the forum usually does not go un-watched by someone - and if all else fails, the reports system won't overflow.

#83 theoriginalbit

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Posted 11 January 2013 - 06:21 PM

View PostCranium, on 11 January 2013 - 06:18 PM, said:

Yeah, but I'm wondering if they will just start to spam Ask a Pro?
Well realistically anything that is done they will eventually find a way around... thats the problem...

#84 Dlcruz129

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Posted 11 January 2013 - 06:29 PM

View PostAfterLifeLochie, on 11 January 2013 - 06:21 PM, said:

I'm going to repeat myself a little here. It's much easier for us (or me, personally), to approve posts and delete spam in an unapproved state, here's why.

If spam is posted to the site and is automatically approved - as it is right now - it fills the Reports System with garbage, not only making it harder for us to do our job to move stuff around, but makes it incredibly hard to navigate for things that have been reported - and personally, I do not have permissions to permanently remove reports, and neither do the other Moderators.

This certainly does not mean you should not, or must not, report spam - as it is currently the only way we see spam in posts that are not new (eg, a new thread created by a spammer is much easier to see, rather than necroposts/etc).

Whereas, if spam remains in an unapproved state, we can deal with it much more easily - press the Delete button on the post/thread the spambot created, hit "Flag Account" - rather than having to manually delete all the users' posts - and be careful we don't delete a legitimate thread - and clear any reports for that user. It's actually become one of my nightmares now. (I'm not kidding.)

I still, again (and I quote myself) "really, really suggest we approve new member's (<10) posts. It's much easier to delete content before it appears - and it keeps the Reports system in a manageable state." There are enough moderators that content will be approved expediently and we operate in timezones where we overlap by at least a few hours each, so the forum usually does not go un-watched by someone - and if all else fails, the reports system won't overflow.

You're the moderator. Whatever is easiest for you works for me.

#85 theoriginalbit

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Posted 11 January 2013 - 07:22 PM

View PostDlcruz129, on 11 January 2013 - 06:29 PM, said:

You're the moderator. Whatever is easiest for you works for me.

Ditto

#86 theoriginalbit

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Posted 12 January 2013 - 01:06 AM

Aaaaannnnndddd its started in suggestions now... :/

EDIT: OMG Spam posted IN a spam post! from 2 different accounts!

#87 remiX

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Posted 13 January 2013 - 05:12 AM

Yeah this spam is going overboard :/.

#88 Cranium

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Posted 13 January 2013 - 07:11 AM

New suggestions:
  • Run a script at registration that times how long it takes for the application to be filled out, and how long it takes for a response to be made on the registration email. If it is not done in a HUMANLY time frame, then we flag that IP as 'suspicious'.
    • A moderator could watch the account, and approve the posts they make.
    • Or, the system could place an automatic block on the account, and the user would have to re-verify themselves before continuing.
  • Add additional security questions. But use random ones from a list. Also, the question should not be in plain text, but in an image, such as a .PNG.
    • Two or three questions, pooled from a list of about twenty.
  • This one is a little more tricky, but we could have an 'advanced' registration. The user could check a box, and they can use a lua prompt to create a function to return a certain value that we need.
    • Spoiler
I don't know if any of these are really that good of ideas, but it's definitely something to ponder.

#89 Dlcruz129

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Posted 13 January 2013 - 07:25 AM

View PostCranium, on 13 January 2013 - 07:11 AM, said:

New suggestions:
  • Run a script at registration that times how long it takes for the application to be filled out, and how long it takes for a response to be made on the registration email. If it is not done in a HUMANLY time frame, then we flag that IP as 'suspicious'.
    • A moderator could watch the account, and approve the posts they make.
    • Or, the system could place an automatic block on the account, and the user would have to re-verify themselves before continuing.
  • Add additional security questions. But use random ones from a list. Also, the question should not be in plain text, but in an image, such as a .PNG.
    • Two or three questions, pooled from a list of about twenty.
  • This one is a little more tricky, but we could have an 'advanced' registration. The user could check a box, and they can use a lua prompt to create a function to return a certain value that we need.
    • Spoiler
I don't know if any of these are really that good of ideas, but it's definitely something to ponder.

#3 looks fun, but it would be way too complicated for new users.

#90 Cranium

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Posted 13 January 2013 - 09:09 AM

View PostDlcruz129, on 13 January 2013 - 07:25 AM, said:

#3 looks fun, but it would be way too complicated for new users.
That's why it would be an option. Check a box here, and it will bring a new webpage that you need to write a function. This would be easy for many experienced coders.

#91 PixelToast

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Posted 13 January 2013 - 12:01 PM

a "implement a expression that returns x" would be easy for humans, and hard for bots
though they manage to ship captia off to places where the sun dosent shine and still gets past it :s

#92 Cranium

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Posted 13 January 2013 - 08:14 PM

View PostPixelToast, on 13 January 2013 - 12:01 PM, said:

a "implement a expression that returns x" would be easy for humans, and hard for bots
though they manage to ship captia off to places where the sun dosent shine and still gets past it :s
True, but they can't ship off a whole javascript that would choose a question at random. Something like that would be fairly easy for some of the people here to make, and probably not to hard to add to the regist

#93 Tiin57

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Posted 14 January 2013 - 02:29 AM

View PostCranium, on 13 January 2013 - 08:14 PM, said:

View PostPixelToast, on 13 January 2013 - 12:01 PM, said:

a "implement a expression that returns x" would be easy for humans, and hard for bots
though they manage to ship captia off to places where the sun dosent shine and still gets past it :s
True, but they can't ship off a whole javascript that would choose a question at random. Something like that would be fairly easy for some of the people here to make, and probably not to hard to add to the regist
Yeah, I can think of half a dozen of us (myself included, though it'd be ugly) who could create such a thing with relative ease. Of course, the first person that comes to mind is Lochie. :P

#94 Leo Verto

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Posted 15 January 2013 - 06:10 AM

I think all the spam we get comes from a single spammer/spamming company that was attracted by this site's amount of traffic and set up a system to automatically fill out the registering form, answer the security question and solve the captcha somehow. Then the bots start posting advertising from the customers of the spammer/spamming company.

#95 Cranium

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Posted 15 January 2013 - 06:12 AM

That's exactly what has happened. All we need to do, is prevent new qaccounts from being created. We just need to figure out how.

#96 Cranium

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Posted 15 January 2013 - 06:18 AM

Actually, looking into things already available for IP.Board software, I came across this post: http://community.inv...m-enhancements/
It discusses recent integration with keyCaptcha. Which is better than reCaptcha, since it uses a puzzle, rather than a image that can be solved easily. Since it's already been integrated, why not add it to the website?

#97 KaoS

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Posted 17 January 2013 - 07:10 AM

if it is a single company won't they be using a single/finite list or IPs? can't we just ban them?

EDIT: nevermind, Lyqyd mentioned that they are using different IPs every time

EDIT2: and ninja'd too -_-

Edited by KaoS, 17 January 2013 - 07:19 AM.


#98 Cranium

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Posted 17 January 2013 - 07:13 AM

View PostKaoS, on 17 January 2013 - 07:10 AM, said:

if it is a single company won't they be using a single/finite list or IPs? can't we just ban them?
From what I understand, most of the accounts are using completely separate IPs.

#99 PixelToast

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Posted 17 January 2013 - 09:56 AM

yea, its easy to renew your ip

#100 RunasSudo-AWOLindefinitely

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Posted 18 January 2013 - 02:10 PM

On the topic of captchas and such, you need to fix your registration question. My experience with registering:

Quote

Who created Minecraft?
>Markus Alexej "Notch" Persson
[nope]
>Markus "Notch" Persson
[nope]
>Markus Alexej Persson
[nope]
>Markus Persson
[nope]
>Notch
DING DING!

...





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