Spam bots (was: Image Verification added to registration)

[Kilu]

Since we have had a few of those spam threads/bots as of late, I made Locke to add it in. It should keep the simpler bots out atleast. You can thank me later. ;)

[silverDistortioN]

Thank you, Locke-- I mean, Kilu.

[FlashFirer]

Silver took the words outta my mouth.

[SeymourGuado]

yeah, this has been 1 thing we needed:)

[BAMAToNE]

Good move, Moderator Kilu.

[Locke]

Yeah, that's gonna be better methinks, less things like Punkonjunk http://forums.rpgamers.net/images/smilies/tongue.gif (though that mighta been a person spamming, I don't remember. Meh http://forums.rpgamers.net/images/smilies/funnyeyes.gif)

[Kilu]

As it is very apparent, the CAPTCHA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAPTCHA) that vB uses is easy to bypass (http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~mori/research/gimpy/), in other words pretty much useless, but we have an alternative solution in mind, just requires some hacking from our bestests friends Laban and Locke Cole.


In the meantime, there is no real need for anyone to reply to these threads. All you are doing is bumping the thread back on top. If you are hopin to score few easy posts to your post count, don't bother. As soon as we delete it, the post count will drop back. If you make a clever joke in the thread, only handful of people may actually end up seeing it. We won't punish you for this, but isn't it kind of pointless?

[Lance Alvein]

It seems like we're getting even more bots now than we were before... Is that true, or is it just me?

[Kilu]

There has been an increased bot amount in a lots of vB forums lately. I hope the idea we had will cool things down. We'll see.

[Kilu]

Cyrano said something like "isn't there anything more we can do with these" on the latest spam thread.

Yes there is. The solution we had in mind is not implemented yet though. I'll have to pester Locke about it I guess. Just the other day he was complaining about being bored, maybe that will change.

[Huzzah!]

I blocked a few bot-only email addresses which should slow it down a bit. But it's just a bandage to the problem.

[Huzzah!]

Damn this is so bad... another spam!! guys wouldn't be a wise idea to activate the the "Admin Account Activation" (or something like that) for new members? this is so tired (and im no mod xD)
Well actually, it would be much more work to verify each account than to delete one or two spam threads in a week.

It's true that at one point not too long ago this would have been true, but since about a month ago I put a few e-mail filters in place, the spambot registering has been considerably diminished. The e-mail filter is not the ultimate solution, but until Locke Cole finds time and motivation to hack in the registration idea that has been mentioned in earlier posts, we'll deal with the few bots that still get through.

[Kilu]

That and the birth date she gave, quote: 'Birthday:
March 28, 1983', means she's actually 23 years old.
Since this was brough up in the deleted thread, I should comment on it. That particular birthday is a very very common birthday on spambots. So common infact that every bot we have had since forever has that as its birthday. So, when in doubt, check the birthday, if it's March 28, 1983, it's more than likely that we are dealing with a bot.

And unfortunately I don't have any updates on the registration hack we have planned.

[Kilu]

Haven't seen a bot in a while, so the new filter is working well, I take it Kilu?
We have just been lucky I guess. There are no new filters in place, and the registration hack is still waiting as well. :wonder:

[Mithrandir]

There's a new spam bot that got through...please look at the aRent an appartment thread...

[BAMAToNE]

There's a new spam bot that got through...please look at the aRent an appartment thread...I whammied it.

In the future, use the "report a post" link so the mods get emailed about it. It's that red triangle on the left with an exclamation mark in it. :)

[Kilu]

need image verification and other methods to stop these registering. It is surprising how many forums continue to live with this problem that can be fixed.
We have image verification, but it's old and easily breakable. Only one man can really do anything else about this right now. There's a mod (http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=124828) for the thing we once planned to hack in ourselves, but we would have to update the board as well.

But then again, all that is sort of unnecessary anyway, I'm not really sure our forums really live anymore.

[SeymourGuado]

well true they pretty unactive;) but porn is back again hehe:wonder:

edit: well it was but mods are out in force:umbrella: