I can personally guarantee you that there is. Whether it be links from a search engine pulled at random or very specifically picked targets; there's always people looking for websites to attack.cybersphinx wrote:Hm, is there a list of "good forums to spam", like those lists of "bazillions of guaranteed to exist email addresses"?
Spammers and this forum section
- BlueMaxima
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Re: Spammers and this forum section
Bring back...ducks!
Re: Spammers and this forum section
I just checked to see if there was a captcha mechanism to weed out spammers. And there is. Are bots really that smart to beat even captcha?cybersphinx wrote:This section seems to be mostly the target of bots - those posts are easy to identify
Last edited by JDW on 07 Jul 2010, 15:16, edited 1 time in total.
"Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will ever regret."
-- Ambrose Bierce
-- Ambrose Bierce
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Re: Spammers and this forum section
Then a strict link-stripping policy might move our forum down on those lists...BlueMaxima wrote:I can personally guarantee you that there is. Whether it be links from a search engine pulled at random or very specifically picked targets; there's always people looking for websites to attack.
I said it before, I don't think it's a big problem here, since we have a bunch of active moderators. But it's disgusting to see how forums/blogs/wikis that have less active moderation or are abandoned degrade into spam-pits...
Edit:
Sure. Any mechanism used often enough is worth cracking. I read a page recently where it recommended for little-known sites to use even a simple test where the answer is given on the same page (like "Enter the result of 5 + 37 here. Hint: the answer is 42.") - sure, it is dead easy to make a bot to post there, but as long as the target isn't worth the effort, they won't bother. And once it becomes well-known, try to keep ahead with schemes that are not yet cracked.j0shdrunk0nwar wrote:I just checked to see if there was a captcha mechanism to weed out spammers. And there is. Are bots really that smart to beat even captcha?
Re: Spammers and this forum section
Agreed. Guests don't usually need to link to any website anyway. And even if they do need to, they can register, if they care that much to share something with the forum.cybersphinx wrote:Then a strict link-stripping policy might move our forum down on those lists...BlueMaxima wrote:I can personally guarantee you that there is. Whether it be links from a search engine pulled at random or very specifically picked targets; there's always people looking for websites to attack.
"Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will ever regret."
-- Ambrose Bierce
-- Ambrose Bierce
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Re: Spammers and this forum section
Not guests only, but newly registered members as well, which get moved into a "allowed to post links" group either automatically after some posts or manually on request. But it's not really policy, but mechanics - someone would have to modify the forum software accordingly.j0shdrunk0nwar wrote:Agreed. Guests don't usually need to link to any website anyway. And even if they do need to, they can register, if they care that much to share something with the forum.cybersphinx wrote:Then a strict link-stripping policy might move our forum down on those lists...
Re: Spammers and this forum section
Didn't know that about bots. Interesting.cybersphinx wrote:Sure. Any mechanism used often enough is worth cracking. I read a page recently where it recommended for little-known sites to use even a simple test where the answer is given on the same page (like "Enter the result of 5 + 37 here. Hint: the answer is 42.") - sure, it is dead easy to make a bot to post there, but as long as the target isn't worth the effort, they won't bother. And once it becomes well-known, try to keep ahead with schemes that are not yet cracked.j0shdrunk0nwar wrote:I just checked to see if there was a captcha mechanism to weed out spammers. And there is. Are bots really that smart to beat even captcha?
I came across another scheme on another forum that went something like this,
Enter the fourth word in the sentence,
"segasg skj rsdy mwovf aask eksig"
"Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will ever regret."
-- Ambrose Bierce
-- Ambrose Bierce
Re: Spammers and this forum section
I doubt those are manual. It's possible that the captcha-solving is manual, but the other parts appear automated.cybersphinx wrote:This section seems to be mostly the target of bots - those posts are easy to identify (and will probably not be affected by limiting the link count). More annoying are those poor idiots who spam forums manually - create an account, plant a few basically meaningless posts in random topics, and then add a signature with spam links later. (Some new members had links in their signature, but not posted anything...)
Exactly. Google Search for "Powered by phpBB" is good enough.cybersphinx wrote:Hm, is there a list of "good forums to spam", like those lists of "bazillions of guaranteed to exist email addresses"? Though I guess a search engine will find new forums faster than any manually assembled list.
Re: Spammers and this forum section
We use this system ourselves. In the past, the forum asked "Fill in the blank: Warzone ____". I believe Kamaze's words were along the lines of "People who say '2100' get let in. People who say 'rocks' get an additional reward."j0shdrunk0nwar wrote:Didn't know that about bots. Interesting.cybersphinx wrote:Sure. Any mechanism used often enough is worth cracking. I read a page recently where it recommended for little-known sites to use even a simple test where the answer is given on the same page (like "Enter the result of 5 + 37 here. Hint: the answer is 42.") - sure, it is dead easy to make a bot to post there, but as long as the target isn't worth the effort, they won't bother. And once it becomes well-known, try to keep ahead with schemes that are not yet cracked.
I came across another scheme on another forum that went something like this,
We still use it in the Guide. The old question was "What's the first weapon you get?" Then someone pointed out it's possible to get Mini-Pod and Flashlight without getting MG, so I changed it to "What's the first weapon you get in campaign?" Which is still kind of ambiguous, but it's been changed to "Where do you report bugs?" so people will stop reporting bugs in the Guide. <_<
Re: Spammers and this forum section
Smart move.Zarel wrote:... but it's been changed to "Where do you report bugs?" so people will stop reporting bugs in the Guide. <_<
"Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will ever regret."
-- Ambrose Bierce
-- Ambrose Bierce
- Saberuneko
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Re: Spammers and this forum section
I have to ask a friend about an anti-spam measure he took on one of his forums. We did not see any more spam post since he applied it.
Re: Spammers and this forum section
GameDev.net have implemented a unique way of directing all spam to only one section of the forum, and they are pretty vocal about it.
Check out what they say under the Community Interaction section,
http://www.gamedev.net/community/forums ... forum_id=6
Not really sure how well it works.
Check out what they say under the Community Interaction section,
http://www.gamedev.net/community/forums/Your Announcements
Make your web site or game project known to everyone. If you're going to spam our board, this is the place to do it!
http://www.gamedev.net/community/forums ... forum_id=6
Not really sure how well it works.
"Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will ever regret."
-- Ambrose Bierce
-- Ambrose Bierce
Re: Spammers and this forum section
What about putting all new people's posts in a moderation queue, until they reach 5 posts?
That would be enough to prevent most all spammers.
That would be enough to prevent most all spammers.
Re: Spammers and this forum section
I believe we don't need to worry about registered users (yet). I haven't seen any registered users posting spam lately. AFAIK, the problem is with the guest account on Project Feedback section.Crymson wrote:What about putting all new people's posts in a moderation queue, until they reach 5 posts?
That would be enough to prevent most all spammers.
"Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will ever regret."
-- Ambrose Bierce
-- Ambrose Bierce
- Saberuneko
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Re: Spammers and this forum section
I got a great idea! What about changing that, only registered users can post on Project Feedback, but guests can post on a sub-forum called "Guest Feedback". That would make it.
Re: Spammers and this forum section
Something like this?Saberuneko wrote:I got a great idea! What about changing that, only registered users can post on Project Feedback, but guests can post on a sub-forum called "Guest Feedback". That would make it.
j0shdrunk0nwar wrote:GameDev.net have implemented a unique way of directing all spam to only one section of the forum, and they are pretty vocal about it.
Check out what they say under the Community Interaction section,http://www.gamedev.net/community/forums/Your Announcements
Make your web site or game project known to everyone. If you're going to spam our board, this is the place to do it!
http://www.gamedev.net/community/forums ... forum_id=6
Not really sure how well it works.
"Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will ever regret."
-- Ambrose Bierce
-- Ambrose Bierce