Spambots

Synaesthesia · Posted: Thu Apr 13, 2006 7:34 am Post subject: Spambots

Many people have been complaining, but not here. They're just randomly generated usernames that spam topics with a ton of links in them. Is there anything that can be done (make it hard for Beginner members to post a new topic, not let them post a new topic altogether, etc.)?
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red shoe paul · Vivid Member Joined: 24 Nov 2003 Location: Location:

That's not a bad idea

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Edible Bondage Tape · Trick Member Joined: 26 Jan 2002 Location: Kerri

we had for a while

maytbe insted not let beginning members post links or use BB code
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AA Bob · Trick Member Joined: 24 Aug 2005 Location: Alllll right!

Dammit, Syn. I was just about to make this topic.

How about just using a captcha on the registration page? I'm pretty sure phpBB has an option to do that, and it would keep out all but the most clever spambots.
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Emptyeye wrote:

So um, is it bad that awhile ago I was watching Family Guy, and when Quagmire came on, I thought something to the effect of "Whoa, It's AA Bob!" (I don't remember if the exact thought was "It's AA Bob" or "It's AA Bob's avatar", but I don't think it matters in this case)?

Black Lab · Posted: Thu Apr 13, 2006 10:41 pm Post subject:

Hey, I've been bugging people in the mod forum about this for a couple weeks now. It's annoying, and there's at least 5-10 spam accounts on every page of the memberlist past page 2000.
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XohshitztonysbackX · Trick Member Joined: 10 Jan 2006

http://www.ddrfreak.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=116607

Like that one?

Thomas Hobbes · Posted: Fri Apr 14, 2006 6:52 pm Post subject:

How do these spambots get on?

Isn't there one of those "type the numbers and letters as is in this image" thing at registration to defeat them?
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nico_ddr · Trick Member Joined: 25 Jan 2002

AA Bob · Trick Member Joined: 24 Aug 2005 Location: Alllll right!

videoCWK! · Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2006 6:43 am Post subject:

Yeah, we can stop beginner members from posting links/threads. That would work. Someone do that...

VxJasonxV · Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2006 6:44 am Post subject:

CAPTCHAs are extremely easy to beat.
And no, DDR Freak doesn't currently have one set up.

Though, those that do, are still spammed to high heaven with automated registration / posting.

Protip:
User E-mail verification stops about 50% of the spammers, because people are usually too stupid to know how to set up a working e-mail server.
Not that that's a bad thing... at least in the case of spam, that is.

[edit]
CWK... that'd be a good idea except for the fact that.
1) It doesn't stop all the spam.
2) Even if we were to disable beginner user posting, that just means we have unrestricted light member spam later!!

[edit2]
Light member, hahaha. 'Basic Member'
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videoCWK! · Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2006 7:11 am Post subject:

There must be something we can do...

EDIT: We could ban them before they get the chance to become basic members

Phrekwenci · Administrator Joined: 27 Feb 2002 Location: New York, NY

Reven(G) · Trick Member Joined: 14 Nov 2005 Location: My House

AA Bob · Trick Member Joined: 24 Aug 2005 Location: Alllll right!

Most of the spambots have www links in their profiles. What if you weren't allowed to sign up if your website contained certain keywords?
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Emptyeye wrote:

So um, is it bad that awhile ago I was watching Family Guy, and when Quagmire came on, I thought something to the effect of "Whoa, It's AA Bob!" (I don't remember if the exact thought was "It's AA Bob" or "It's AA Bob's avatar", but I don't think it matters in this case)?

Synaesthesia · Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2006 9:12 am Post subject:

Bringer of Death · Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2006 12:46 pm Post subject:

Synaesthesia · Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2006 2:33 pm Post subject:

Disabling bbCode for beginners would be useful anyway, since a few think it's a good idea to

type like this

Also, you think we could make a bot that automatically gives you a 5 point warning for saying stuff like "request lock lol" or "rofl in before the lock?" I mean, I can't punch someone in the mouth over the Internet yet...
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im a lasagna whale

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VxJasonxV · Posted: Sun Apr 16, 2006 12:59 am Post subject:

Synaesthesia · Posted: Sun Apr 16, 2006 6:58 am Post subject:

Ah, could've sworn you had to make like 5 posts to be promoted to Basic. Maybe that could be added in so that I'm not wrong.

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