Massive influx of spam bots

Discussion in 'Site / Forum Help & Feedback' started by HeadHunter, Aug 20, 2015.

  1. HeadHunter

    HeadHunter Commander

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    In the last 12 hours I've had to report eight posts by spam bots. You know the kind, a bunch of rambling nonsense sentences and a link to their product page?

    It would seem that these bots are able to figure out whatever simple means of authentication that is used to vet new members.

    I encourage everyone to report such posts when they see them so that the moderators and admins can clean them up and ban the offending bots. Thanks.
     
    #1
    Yolofessional likes this.
  2. Yolofessional

    Yolofessional Captain

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    ef dem bots
     
    #2
  3. piddlefoot

    piddlefoot Rear Admiral

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    They spam us !
    We spam the trash can with there spam !
    spamjam
     
    #3
  4. David Hollis

    David Hollis Commander

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    We're trying to keep on top of these spam posts but, yes, indeed, your reports are VERY welcome and much appreciated guys.
     
    #4
  5. HeadHunter

    HeadHunter Commander

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    It seems to be getting worse. Is there any way you can modify registration to better weed out bots?
     
    #5
  6. Vedrit

    Vedrit Lieutenant

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    Seriously... Reporting every last one I see, but it's bad...
     
    #6
  7. Turmith

    Turmith Lieutenant

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    They have a Captcha on the registration form and require e-mail confirmation. Not sure what else they can do.

    So must be a human and not a bot posting spam right?
     
    #7
  8. HeadHunter

    HeadHunter Commander

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    If you've seen any of the posts, you know it's not a human posting it.
     
    #8
  9. HeadHunter

    HeadHunter Commander

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    This issue continues to worsen. I had to report 10 of them this morning - hindered by the fact that the flood control prevents me from reporting more frequently than every 20 seconds (but there are no apparent measures to stop bots from posting).

    Can they be banned by IP/subnet? Can the phrases/sites they talk about be linked to a profanity filter somehow?
    Whatever means are used to screen new applicants, it's not stopping these bots. Perhaps registration could somehow be made more robust to stop these spammers.
    Also, a lot of forums moderate the first few messages so that a new member's posts don't appear until reviewed. After perhaps three posts, then they have normal posting privileges. That's guaranteed to stop these accounts, which seem to exist to fire off a single post or profile comment.
     
    #9
    Arturius1967 likes this.
  10. Arturius1967

    Arturius1967 Captain

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    As already suggested in the other thread, new users should not be alowed to do any postings directly, until they have 5 or more verified postings.
    Many forums do it this way.

    Other possibility is to add one state of the art human-check feature to the forum-registration, for example:

    1. a simple math excersise
    2. simple question / answer, related to the game or website
    3. recognise any object from few pictures.
    etc ...
     
    #10
    HeadHunter likes this.
  11. fr33soul

    fr33soul Lieutenant

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    well.. the meaning of community is also to keep it safe and clear, it's a matter of duty!
    Already reported every time as i see them ;) glad to support all of you!
     
    #11
  12. Turmith

    Turmith Lieutenant

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    I support this idea.
    If the Dev's are interested, I'd be willing to volunteer my time towards supporting this.
    I used to do this all the time back in the day when Yahoo Groups were popular.

    Dev's/Mod's feel free to PM or e-mail me if you want to chat more about this.
     
    #12

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