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INPUT NEEDED - Spam

Tiin57's Photo Tiin57 10 Jan 2013

 Cranium, on 10 January 2013 - 09:38 AM, said:

So, quite some time has passed since we started seeing spam on the forums. I see that we now use a reCaptcha and a security question,
Spoiler
but it seems that it is not enough to stop them, as new accounts are being made every day. Is there any other way we can prevent the spam? It's getting ridiculous, and the idea of "Just ignoring it" does not really appeal to me.
Multiple, random security questions, and a block on users' first five posts containing links.
Edit: This is getting stupid. I count 16 (SIXTEEN) spam topics on the front page of General as of 3:58pm EST, 1/9/2013. -.-
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NeverCast's Photo NeverCast 10 Jan 2013

I've got it, what would all minecrafters know?
Blocks!

We have screenshots of each block which we fuzz with GD library and then ask, "What block is this" in the registration... What board software is this.. IP.Board, I'll see if a module/addon already exists for this purpose.
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PixelToast's Photo PixelToast 10 Jan 2013

 NeverCast, on 10 January 2013 - 10:01 AM, said:

I've got it, what would all minecrafters know?
Blocks!

We have screenshots of each block which we fuzz with GD library and then ask, "What block is this" in the registration... What board software is this.. IP.Board, I'll see if a module/addon already exists for this purpose.
http://www.minecraft...om/data-values/
not going to work
it will only work for questions you cant just google
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Cranium's Photo Cranium 10 Jan 2013

 PixelToast, on 10 January 2013 - 10:03 AM, said:

http://www.minecraft...om/data-values/
not going to work
it will only work for questions you cant just google
I think he's saying like what a captcha does with words, but with pictures of minecraft blocks.
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Tiin57's Photo Tiin57 10 Jan 2013

Not a bad idea.
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Cranium's Photo Cranium 10 Jan 2013

Although I think we might have to make it multiple choice for those who cannot spell ANYTHING.
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Tiin57's Photo Tiin57 10 Jan 2013

 Cranium, on 10 January 2013 - 10:10 AM, said:

Although I think we might have to make it multiple choice for those who cannot spell ANYTHING.
Lol, if they can't spell "dirt", then I say they shouldn't even be in here in the first place :P

Cloudy, dan, Lyqyd, Cruor, Lochie, FuzzyPurp, casper (is he still alive?) and other assorted forum staff; have you thought about adding more moderators? :D
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AfterLifeLochie's Photo AfterLifeLochie 10 Jan 2013

 tiin57, on 10 January 2013 - 10:14 AM, said:

 Cranium, on 10 January 2013 - 10:10 AM, said:

Although I think we might have to make it multiple choice for those who cannot spell ANYTHING.
Lol, if they can't spell "dirt", then I say they shouldn't even be in here in the first place :P

Cloudy, dan, Lyqyd, Cruor, Lochie, FuzzyPurp, casper (is he still alive?) and other assorted forum staff; have you thought about adding more moderators? :D

The number of moderators is certainly not the issue, I'll tell you that.

The fact of the matter is, the quantity and the rate of the spam becomes unmanageable. Last night I just sat on the forums, and after I'd delete three spam users, another two would reappear and litter the place with posts. I had to sit here and entirely devote my attention to watching the forums like a hawk and remove stuff straight away - and when I wake up, it's the same thing - go through the list of reports and clear them all out. There is an almost unbroken wall of spam-reports in the Reports Center, stretching back to at least, and if not further than, Page 8 now.

I still 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.
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Cranium's Photo Cranium 10 Jan 2013

 tiin57, on 10 January 2013 - 10:14 AM, said:

Lol, if they can't spell "dirt", then I say they shouldn't even be in here in the first place :P

Cloudy, dan, Lyqyd, Cruor, Lochie, FuzzyPurp, casper (is he still alive?) and other assorted forum staff; have you thought about adding more moderators? :D
I don't think the answer is as simple as more moderators. There will ALWAYS be more bots than moderators. We need to look into a permanent solution for stopping the spammers.
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crazyguymgd's Photo crazyguymgd 10 Jan 2013

 AfterLifeLochie, on 10 January 2013 - 10:20 AM, said:

 tiin57, on 10 January 2013 - 10:14 AM, said:

 Cranium, on 10 January 2013 - 10:10 AM, said:

Although I think we might have to make it multiple choice for those who cannot spell ANYTHING.
Lol, if they can't spell "dirt", then I say they shouldn't even be in here in the first place :P

Cloudy, dan, Lyqyd, Cruor, Lochie, FuzzyPurp, casper (is he still alive?) and other assorted forum staff; have you thought about adding more moderators? :D

The number of moderators is certainly not the issue, I'll tell you that.

The fact of the matter is, the quantity and the rate of the spam becomes unmanageable. Last night I just sat on the forums, and after I'd delete three spam users, another two would reappear and litter the place with posts. I had to sit here and entirely devote my attention to watching the forums like a hawk and remove stuff straight away - and when I wake up, it's the same thing - go through the list of reports and clear them all out. There is an almost unbroken wall of spam-reports in the Reports Center, stretching back to at least, and if not further than, Page 8 now.

I still 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.

I don't know what the number of spam posts really is but I sorted New content by Past 24 hours and found 15 posts on the first page, started by users with < 25 posts. Would approving all these new posts and disapproving all the spam posts be any better than just deleting spam posts?
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Cranium's Photo Cranium 10 Jan 2013

I agree. Approving posts would be just as time consuming (if not more) as deleting spam. I go back to the fact that accounts are being created at all. I didn't check, but do we require email verification?

Edit: It looks like we do have email verification, but I guess it's waaaaay too easy to automate.
Edited by Cranium, 10 January 2013 - 10:47 AM.
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Exerro's Photo Exerro 10 Jan 2013

make a bot to remove anything that has ugg in the name and dont let users with <50 posts see this topic
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Guest_WeebleWobble_* 10 Jan 2013

Ok. Ummm....this is Cranium, and creating an account should not be this easy.
+1 for user experience, -100 for security.
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Exerro's Photo Exerro 10 Jan 2013

 WeebleWobble, on 10 January 2013 - 10:45 AM, said:

Ok. Ummm....this is Cranium, and creating an account should not be this easy.
+1 for user experience, -100 for security.
i know this may sound crazy but are there any similarities in the usernames of the spammers and would it be possible to auto remove accounts that have a certain pattern or something...also you could put this on a page that lets ppl try ingame as a challenge (try and come up with a code that does the above)
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Leo Verto's Photo Leo Verto 10 Jan 2013

 awsumben13, on 10 January 2013 - 10:49 AM, said:

i know this may sound crazy but are there any similarities in the usernames of the spammers and would it be possible to auto remove accounts that have a certain pattern or something...also you could put this on a page that lets ppl try ingame as a challenge (try and come up with a code that does the above)
I think the names are just randomly generated from huge lists of words and random numbers.
A sample code wouldn't help much because you could use the same code over and over again, a dynamic verification that you're a human would be better.
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Cranium's Photo Cranium 10 Jan 2013

 Leo Verto, on 10 January 2013 - 10:55 AM, said:

I think the names are just randomly generated from huge lists of words and random numbers.
A sample code wouldn't help much because you could use the same code over and over again, a dynamic verification that you're a human would be better.
True, but so far, the only one I know if is that silly captcha.
Unfortunately, it either isn't working, or we have someone who is taking the time to create all of these accounts manually, and then having them spam.
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Leo Verto's Photo Leo Verto 10 Jan 2013

 Cranium, on 10 January 2013 - 10:57 AM, said:

 Leo Verto, on 10 January 2013 - 10:55 AM, said:

I think the names are just randomly generated from huge lists of words and random numbers.
A sample code wouldn't help much because you could use the same code over and over again, a dynamic verification that you're a human would be better.
True, but so far, the only one I know if is that silly captcha.
Unfortunately, it either isn't working, or we have someone who is taking the time to create all of these accounts manually, and then having them spam.
There are also simple flash-game style programs to prevent bots from registering, another method is be providing some images of kitties and doggies and asking the user to mark all cats.

Minecraft blocks are pretty easy to detect because the graphics stay the same.
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Cranium's Photo Cranium 10 Jan 2013

That's true, I suppose we would have to do something else. No idea what would work well though.
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billysback's Photo billysback 10 Jan 2013

we could ask questions about minecraft, like "who is the creator of minecraft/computercraft" and "what is the minecraft world made up of", then you can only register when these questions are answered correctly; use random questions from a selection.
I've seen that on some forums before... doesn't sound like it would be too effective but who knows?
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zekesonxx's Photo zekesonxx 10 Jan 2013

What about http://areyouahuman.com/? They've worked pretty well in my creations.
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