Re: [Request] Help fight spam together!
 

is it me or is this thing now slowing down the boards? TMO keeps timing out now

Re: [Request] Help fight spam together!
 

1.5 pages of spam in games atm

Gav

Re: [Request] Help fight spam together!
 

I know a forum where every member is expected to total at least 30 useful posts before starting a new thread, it works :-)

Re: [Request] Help fight spam together!
 

Dunno. Maybe it gets even worse then as they could start spamming existing threads.

Re: [Request] Help fight spam together!
 

Of course, like everybody else, but it may at least discourage some of them..

sorry for my english ...

Re: [Request] Help fight spam together!
 

more moderators for a more demanding period. I think that people can distinguish between just using moderator powers to rapidfire at spammers than actual moderating of user's post. So in software terms more moderators, in real life just a few more guns against the zombies.

Re: [Request] Help fight spam together!
 

It's pity that Reggie isn't reading this thread. I may be wrong, but I bet my left shoe, that he posted his "excuse for inconvenience", without even reading suggestion of other, much more effective, anti-spambots modifications for vBulletin - posted in the very same thread.

Kinda hopeless.

Re: [Request] Help fight spam together!
 

I think newly registered members should not be able to post without confirmation of each post by moderator.

That would make much easier job for moderators

Re: [Request] Help fight spam together!
 

In a huge forum in Sweden new members have to either wait for 3 days (I think it is) or pay a little mount of money. Maybe that can be something? Sure, maybe people just become members because they have some problem, but if we make it clear that we have #maemo (IRC) then perhaps they can join us there if something is burning...

Re: [Request] Help fight spam together!
 

I've followed the links, contacted the people running those sites and they responded they would like to have some links. I provided those. Let's hope the backend of this will dry up the front end.

Here's the bright side - we can always show the uptick in postings and registrations as "increased interest" when it comes time to ask Nokia for to extend the life of this site.;)

Re: [Request] Help fight spam together!
 

Heh, that donkey even thanked you for this post. I'm not quite sure he/she understood it properly lol.

I nominate danrambos, gerbick, ysss, and / or geneven as temporary moderators. They seem the most balanced and sensible and they have been around for longer than most of us. I'd nominate myself but I know for a fact I would be making a beeline for adork_uk, never mind the spambots lol.

Thats if they'd want to spare the time.....

I just hope they "relinquish their emergency powers after this crisis has abated". Don't want them getting all Darth Sidious on our arses.

Re: [Request] Help fight spam together!
 

If it is a pool I would ask for Estel, dr_frost_dk and ammyt, because they are regular in the boards and are contributors to the community.

Well, if they are willing to be screamed at by everybody else |:/

Re: [Request] Help fight spam together!
 

All the extra people viewing tmo have probably searched google for that particular event and as tmo is normally a high ranking site, it appears near the top, hence the extra viewers here. This then leads to extra demand on the server and that's why people have been experiencing delays and timeouts.

Re: [Request] Help fight spam together!
 

is there a way to filter and block any post containing the word "streaming", or just prevent new users from posting hyperlinks?

Re: [Request] Help fight spam together!
 

the bots are androids!

Re: [Request] Help fight spam together!
 

suspect, who spam is a bas*tard guy? Thought he doesnt want to maemo evolve, perhaps he use ip changer.

Re: [Request] Help fight spam together!
 

There have been some really good ideas raised here. Hopefully Reggie can find something useful...

Re: [Request] Help fight spam together!
 

Sounds like deputizing. HEY! Looky that! TEXRAT's deputies! ;)
TEXRAT's Angels? :)
THE T-Team?

Re: [Request] Help fight spam together!
 

Remember I'm just a minor player here, especially where moderation is concerned.

Re: [Request] Help fight spam together!
 

I did see your suggestion. While it can probably help, that's another layer of plugin to monitor that can make the forum unstable. If you think about it though, how can spambots know the answer to 'Which company created the Nokia N900?' If they can answer that then they will be smart enough to skip answering that hidden field in that plug-in you are suggesting. That plug-in has been out for several years already and am almost sure they already know how to work around it.

Re: [Request] Help fight spam together!
 

Sorry for answering your question but a bot might just do what I just did: Throw the question to google and look for the first words and try them out. Of course if I was to make a bot I would first try all the words that are not connectives (the, of, or, etc) and try to guess answers in the case of special questions like "How is rats spelled backwards?", then I would try all the words spelled backwards or something like that. That is a common tactic, for instance.

I guess that something like "'aftermath' is a word made of 2 words. How would it be spelled if the first word had all its letters changed for the very next letter in the english dictionary?" ans:'bgufsmath' would be tougher for a bot to crack, because is an unusual question and the word has no separation for a bot to understand and try the spelling just for the after not the aftermath (but it is still doable with a dictionary attack), for instance.

BUT, to make a bot analyze all the html page to look for visual features (a form that is hidden might as well be just a mistake instead of a trap for instance) is a much more mature form of attack that, at least for me, would be far more difficult to try to implement to be overthrown.

Re: [Request] Help fight spam together!
 

Ok, rather than installing a new plug-in, I re-activated another plug-in that was installed in the forum sometime back (plug-in link). Basically it puts a delay for registrants to enter and submit their member info. Registration bots would usually enter info and submit as fast as possible (humanly impossible) and this plugin tries to detect that and block it. It will deny registration via direct registration as well via hidden fields.

This was working sometime back and was deactivated when newer plug-ins were installed. This should help as well.

Thanks.

Re: [Request] Help fight spam together!
 

I'm cautiously hopeful that did make a difference, Reggie-- it's been quiet since...

Re: [Request] Help fight spam together!
 

Mm, silence. Good job Reggie!

Re: [Request] Help fight spam together!
 

thank you very much this has worked. But in my opinion you shouldnt provide a link to the exact add-on description because if the spammer sees it, he might improve his bots.




EDIT something I have just noticed. if you use power search with keywords :online live streaming you get all of the threads. When you try to visit them of course the dont exist but still, this is annoyng

Re: [Request] Help fight spam together!
 

Wow.. you actually use Powersearch? I figured it broken so badly that nobody uses it anyway. I always end up going to google and typing 'site:talk.maemo.org search terms' because the "power search" never... NEVER seems to work right. Good to know it at least works for the spam, I guess. :)

Re: [Request] Help fight spam together!
 

So take my deepest excuses, as I have misjudged Your reasons. Thanks for taking effective action. Anyway, I think we should be somehow prepared in advance, for possible next generation of bots.

/Estel

Re: [Request] Help fight spam together!
 

I pity the fool that spams this forum. :)

Re: [Request] Help fight spam together!
 

Just saw the first set of spam come in selling cellphones. Interesting that this spammer registered on Sept 17 and just posting spam just now. This means they can get around the the registration spam plugin, as they have registered already.

Keep reporting. Thanks!

Re: [Request] Help fight spam together!
 

Thanks very much for nominating me. I'm not interested.

Re: [Request] Help fight spam together!
 

Oh no... that's what I was afraid of when I posted this:
Anyway, thank you for the hard work on the boards.

Re: [Request] Help fight spam together!
 

Arg-- another football spam post showed up... :(

Re: [Request] Help fight spam together!
 

Those were viewers, in most threads you got spikes with x viewers 1 member x-1 guests.

Which is a type of DDOS. Whether from reddit, whether from google (or google tricking cheaters pagerank blowing spammers)...

Re: [Request] Help fight spam together!
 

What is going to kill us is those spam threads:
1. few posts with lots of links, google algorithm is safe, those are ranked low
2. maemo.org has a lot of links to mass events, people keep searching
3. the 400+ viewers threads have one or 2 links (one spanish version, or so called) but on a board logged with many links to that
4. profit
5. maemo.org dead

Google fix your **** up!

Re: [Request] Help fight spam together!
 

Nooooo, they are back. :( Maybe my tip can be something then? Also, maybe we should have a restriction for how many treads a member can start a day or a mouth? Or if it´s possible, have that restriction only in the games section? (or misspell that one to gaijms or something very cool...:>)

Re: [Request] Help fight spam together!
 

Yeah, fight with the fact games subforum is most indexed by google. Then close Development, then Applications, leave only mod forums, those are not tracked. Spam gone.
Sadly, next step is captcha even on quick replies.
As long as people stop searching google for answers ending here, it will be a bounty for rankers.

Re: [Request] Help fight spam together!
 

How about posters with less than 10 posts can only make 1 new post (not reply) per 30 minutes, and a reported post automatically suspends posting privileges until a moderator re-enables them?

Re: [Request] Help fight spam together!
 

Can't we just pass a law to ban spam and be done with it altogether? ;)

Re: [Request] Help fight spam together!
 

I propose emergency laws be bought in. Total lock down. No one leaves no one enters. Those who made it this far are in for the long haul and those left behind ...well are the lucky ones?

Re: [Request] Help fight spam together!
 

That is not a good idea. I think all new members should be on probation. During that period, all of their posts would be approved by a human moderator. Once the first spam message occurs, ban the account, and so on.