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INPUT NEEDED - Spam

Dlcruz129's Photo Dlcruz129 21 Jan 2013

View PostRunasSudo, on 20 January 2013 - 09:44 PM, said:

How about we just add a
User-agent: *
Disallow: /
to the robots.txt and hope for the best? </joke>

View PostDlcruz129, on 20 January 2013 - 04:08 AM, said:

I think moderators should have to approve a user's first few posts.
While that would definitely work, it would probably clog up the system with new user posts. Not to mention the "I want a solution and I want it now!!!!" mentality of new user Ask a Pro posts. I've just had to register an account and jump through all those hoops, and now I have to get my post approved?!

I've seen a lot of forums do it, and it isn't really that annoying.
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sjkeegs's Photo sjkeegs 22 Jan 2013

View Postardera, on 20 January 2013 - 08:52 PM, said:

What about questions about CC at registering? I don't think that these spammers know what CC is. They could google it, but I don't think that they would find out so much...
The questions would have to be really basic. We don't want to turn away people who are coming here to learn about CC.
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PixelToast's Photo PixelToast 22 Jan 2013

View PostRunasSudo, on 20 January 2013 - 09:44 PM, said:

How about we just add a
User-agent: *
Disallow: /
to the robots.txt and hope for the best? </joke>
oh god, that would block google :P
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theoriginalbit's Photo theoriginalbit 23 Jan 2013

So updates have been rolled out that prevent a new user from posting a topic? whats the requirements for them to be able to? Coz I've already got ppl asking me why they cant start a new topic in Ask a Pro... why they are asking me, who knows.............
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KaoS's Photo KaoS 23 Jan 2013

View PostTheOriginalBIT, on 23 January 2013 - 12:33 PM, said:

So updates have been rolled out that prevent a new user from posting a topic? whats the requirements for them to be able to?

Dan200 appeared on IRC earlier this evening, he was notifying us that he has corrected a security flaw and has added additional security that puts new users in a group of their own, they will be unable to create a topic for a total of 3 days and if their issue is particularly urgent they can approach people on the IRC

he was also immediately waylaid by various users including myself for information :D gotta feel sorry for the guy sometimes. recognition is great but it may get a bit much from what I can see :)
Edited by KaoS, 23 January 2013 - 02:50 PM.
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theoriginalbit's Photo theoriginalbit 23 Jan 2013

View PostKaoS, on 23 January 2013 - 02:49 PM, said:

View PostTheOriginalBIT, on 23 January 2013 - 12:33 PM, said:

So updates have been rolled out that prevent a new user from posting a topic? whats the requirements for them to be able to?

Dan200 appeared on IRC earlier this evening, he was notifying us that he has corrected a security flaw and has added additional security that puts new users in a group of their own, they will be unable to create a topic for a total of 3 days and if their issue is particularly urgent they can approach people on the IRC

he was also immediately waylaid by various users including myself for information :D gotta feel sorry for the guy sometimes. recognition is great but it may get a bit much from what I can see :)
ok cool thanx for the info...
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KaoS's Photo KaoS 24 Jan 2013

well I must say the spam seems to have vanished.... perhaps I just have great timing but it seems good so far. thanks guys
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NeverCast's Photo NeverCast 24 Jan 2013

Now we shall see if the bots were totally autonomous or have some user managing them. If the latter, we shall see floods of spam again soon..
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Leo Verto's Photo Leo Verto 24 Jan 2013

Yup, them spamming existing threads would be really a pain.
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Tiin57's Photo Tiin57 25 Jan 2013

View PostLeo Verto, on 24 January 2013 - 09:55 AM, said:

Yup, them spamming existing threads would be really a pain.
That seems to have stopped, and (knock on wood) the spam threat has been defeated!
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Cranium's Photo Cranium 25 Jan 2013

Not so much. I am still cleaning up spam every now and then. It seems that the majority of attacks were to create a new topic. Since new users can't create topics until after a few approved posts, it seems to work well. We are still working hard to prevent spam.
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Luanub's Photo Luanub 25 Jan 2013

I've noticed a drastic decrease in the spam. Good job guys!
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NeverCast's Photo NeverCast 25 Jan 2013

Same here, had some nasty ones the other night. Nothing more than bringing back some dead posts really. As for new topics, that seems to have stopped.
Well done!
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Cranium's Photo Cranium 25 Jan 2013

Yup. I try to be on here most of the day, and do some stealth moderating, but if you see something that I might have missed, feel free to hit that report button!
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D3matt's Photo D3matt 25 Jan 2013

Clearly something broke again, because a 1-post user just made a spam post.
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Luanub's Photo Luanub 25 Jan 2013

The account is a few days old and already in the member group. Might see a few from older accounts until they all get flushed out.
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shiphorns's Photo shiphorns 30 Jan 2013

I manage a lot of forums, and I've had the best luck keeping out spambots by baiting them with CAPTCHA but requiring real people to put something else into the field. For example, my forums display a CAPTCHA code with a text entry box next to it, but there are bold instructions to ignore the code and just type "hello" in the box instead, or the answer to a simple trivia question. The spam bots get hung up trying to parse the captcha code, and obviously it takes a real person to read the instructions that tell you to ignore the code.
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Tiin57's Photo Tiin57 31 Jan 2013

View Postshiphorns, on 30 January 2013 - 07:29 PM, said:

I manage a lot of forums, and I've had the best luck keeping out spambots by baiting them with CAPTCHA but requiring real people to put something else into the field. For example, my forums display a CAPTCHA code with a text entry box next to it, but there are bold instructions to ignore the code and just type "hello" in the box instead, or the answer to a simple trivia question. The spam bots get hung up trying to parse the captcha code, and obviously it takes a real person to read the instructions that tell you to ignore the code.
That's an excellent idea.
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Dlcruz129's Photo Dlcruz129 31 Jan 2013

View Posttiin57, on 31 January 2013 - 03:19 AM, said:

View Postshiphorns, on 30 January 2013 - 07:29 PM, said:

I manage a lot of forums, and I've had the best luck keeping out spambots by baiting them with CAPTCHA but requiring real people to put something else into the field. For example, my forums display a CAPTCHA code with a text entry box next to it, but there are bold instructions to ignore the code and just type "hello" in the box instead, or the answer to a simple trivia question. The spam bots get hung up trying to parse the captcha code, and obviously it takes a real person to read the instructions that tell you to ignore the code.
That's an excellent idea.
Indeed it is.
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Skullblade's Photo Skullblade 01 Feb 2013

I like that idea but if this is a individual intentional attack then it will only be a little until the "attacker" realizes the new restriction and always types "hello"
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