Spammers and this forum section

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BlueMaxima
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Re: Spammers and this forum section

Post by BlueMaxima »

cybersphinx wrote:Hm, is there a list of "good forums to spam", like those lists of "bazillions of guaranteed to exist email addresses"?
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.
Bring back...ducks!
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JDW
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Re: Spammers and this forum section

Post by JDW »

cybersphinx wrote:This section seems to be mostly the target of bots - those posts are easy to identify
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? :o
Last edited by JDW on 07 Jul 2010, 15:16, edited 1 time in total.
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cybersphinx
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Re: Spammers and this forum section

Post by cybersphinx »

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.
Then a strict link-stripping policy might move our forum down on those lists...

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:
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? :o
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.
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JDW
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Re: Spammers and this forum section

Post by JDW »

cybersphinx wrote:
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.
Then a strict link-stripping policy might move our forum down on those lists...
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. :hmm:
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cybersphinx
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Re: Spammers and this forum section

Post by cybersphinx »

j0shdrunk0nwar wrote:
cybersphinx wrote:Then a strict link-stripping policy might move our forum down on those lists...
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. :hmm:
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.
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JDW
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Re: Spammers and this forum section

Post by JDW »

cybersphinx wrote:
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? :o
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.
Didn't know that about bots. Interesting. :hmm:

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"
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Zarel
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Re: Spammers and this forum section

Post by Zarel »

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...)
I doubt those are manual. It's possible that the captcha-solving is manual, but the other parts appear automated.
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.
Exactly. Google Search for "Powered by phpBB" is good enough.
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Zarel
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Re: Spammers and this forum section

Post by Zarel »

j0shdrunk0nwar wrote:
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.
Didn't know that about bots. Interesting. :hmm:

I came across another scheme on another forum that went something like this,
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."

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. <_<
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JDW
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Re: Spammers and this forum section

Post by JDW »

Zarel wrote:... but it's been changed to "Where do you report bugs?" so people will stop reporting bugs in the Guide. <_<
Smart move.
"Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will ever regret."
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Saberuneko
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Re: Spammers and this forum section

Post by Saberuneko »

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.
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JDW
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Re: Spammers and this forum section

Post by JDW »

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,
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/
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."
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Crymson
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Re: Spammers and this forum section

Post by Crymson »

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.
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JDW
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Re: Spammers and this forum section

Post by JDW »

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.
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.
"Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will ever regret."
-- Ambrose Bierce
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Saberuneko
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Re: Spammers and this forum section

Post by Saberuneko »

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.
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JDW
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Re: Spammers and this forum section

Post by JDW »

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.
Something like this?
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,
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/
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
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