Normal Spam Bots or Something Less Sinister?

[Greatatlantic]

It seems like RPGCodex is getting a lot more Spam Bots recently. Whats more, is they aren't even Russian. The NAMBLA one makes me think they are actually the product of somebody with to much time on their hands and thinks ill of the Codex. Which actually, is a heck of a lot less evil then those insidious attempts to create traffic to placeholder advertising sites. Any thoughts?

 

[voodoo1man]

It seems like RPGCodex is getting a lot more Spam Bots recently. Whats more, is they aren't even Russian. The NAMBLA one makes me think they are actually the product of somebody with to much time on their hands and thinks ill of the Codex. Which actually, is a heck of a lot less evil then those insidious attempts to create traffic to placeholder advertising sites. Any thoughts?

One the one hand, I would like to know of places to get car body repair done in the greater Moscow area. On the other hand, it is nice to know that somebody cares enough about the Codex to pretend to be a spam-robot.

 

[whatusername]

ESF declared holy jihad on us.

 

[DarkUnderlord]

Not anymore than normal. Go back through the memberlist and look at the 0 post accounts with a website. You can go back as far as page 100 and find it riddled with spambots with odd usernames and links to phenteremine online. The only difference now is that they're posting more (obviously just signing up wasn't enough).

The memberlist is getting nuked within the next few days though. I've got some stuff to tie up first but once that's done, I'll be upgrading the forums here to include some mods that I've installed at Terra-Arcanum and Duck and Cover which seem to have so far stopped the spambots dead. Then I'll be deleting all spam posts, re-syncing user post counts and deleting any and all 0 post users. It'll take out some legitimate lurkers but they'll be free to re-register if they wish. After that, we should be free from spambots for a while at least.

 

[Spazmo]

In short, "nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure."

 

[Calis]

Please do a DB backup before you do the black magic voodoo. As for the rest, sounds good.

 

[Blahblah Talks]

After that, we should be free from spambots for a while at least.

I mentioned this in one of the spambot threads, but in case you miss it:

Would it be possible to write a script/mod that auto-Retardo's any thread that is started by a brand new member and includes a url tag? It might catch some real first time posters, but I'm sure it would catch more spambots. OTOH, I notice a lot of them post the same spam in a few different forums, so maybe you'd have to do if (postcount < 5). Of course, if you're planned upgrades will take care of them anyway, nevermind.

 

[Whipporowill]

After that, we should be free from spambots for a while at least.

I mentioned this in one of the spambot threads, but in case you miss it:

Would it be possible to write a script/mod that auto-Retardo's any thread that is started by a brand new member and includes a url tag? It might catch some real first time posters, but I'm sure it would catch more spambots. OTOH, I notice a lot of them post the same spam in a few different forums, so maybe you'd have to do if (postcount < 5). Of course, if you're planned upgrades will take care of them anyway, nevermind.

You should be pretty safe with with either a script that'd retardo multiple links - as most bots do 1+ - or one that moves text-urls, as bots don't seem to do "ornery" links.

 

[Walks with the Snails]

Blahblah has a good idea, and I'd take it one further. Just delete the post and permanently IP ban any new member who posts a new topic for their first post. It's been my general experience "real" posters who start off with a hello (or "OMFG u guys haet my favorite gmae") post aren't worth keeping, anyway.

It would also save us all the trouble of chasing them off with ostracism and public ridicule, and we also woudn't get the really thick ones who think it's all in good fun and decide to stay. I hate those bastards.

 

[DarkUnderlord]

Please do a DB backup before you do the black magic voodoo. As for the rest, sounds good.

DB backup? What is this "DB backup" of which you speak? :D

Of course, if you're planned upgrades will take care of them anyway, nevermind.

Yeah, the hope is the script will take care of them. phpBB's Visual Confirmation was broken the minute it was released. The new confirmation is text-based and customisable. You can setup questions like "Which of these is not an RPG? Oblivion, Grand Theft Auto, Fallout" and the user has to type in the box what the answer is. Because it's completely customisable, the hope is automated bots will have trouble getting through because they won't know the questions and therefore won't have the answers. If they do start to get through, it's not hard to change the questions or at that stage, look at other alternatives then.

So far this mod has stopped spambots completely at TA and DAC. Normally both sites would get about 20 new registered spambots a day (0 posts, just a WWW link to phenteremine online) with 1 or 2 of those actually going ahead and posting. The Codex is being hit slightly worse with about 5 spambot postings a day but hopefully the customisable questions will keep them out.

 

[Sovy Kurosei]

You can setup questions like "Which of these is not an RPG? Oblivion, Grand Theft Auto, Fallout" and the user has to type in the box what the answer is.

Shouldn't it be "Which of these is an RPG?"

 

[sheek]

What about simply having the system with a code (hidden in a picture) to type in when you register? Wouldn't that stop new bots?

edit: nevermind, read DU's post.

 

[Krokar]

You can setup questions like "Which of these is not an RPG? Oblivion, Grand Theft Auto, Fallout" and the user has to type in the box what the answer is.

It would be much better to ask "Which of these IS an RPG?". That way you wouldnt have to type two names

 

[Lumpy]

And make sure it doesn't accept 'Fall Out'.

 

[Balor]

Oh, the IRONY!

 

[Admiral Rimjob POOBUM]

Oh, the IRONY!

 

[Lumpy]

Are these new spambots registered manually, or are they somehow smart enough to answer those questions?

 

[mathboy]

I hope you have some way of automatically deleting all of a users posts with a click. Because some of these are posting a lot.

 

[The Vanished One]

You could use both questions and codes hidden in a picture. Or even a picture of an object and a question like "What is the object in the picture?".

 

[HanoverF]

I'm guessing they see how many tubgirl, goatse, and meatspin hits originate from here, and figure we'll click on anything, It's all Nicolai's fault

 

[DarkUnderlord]

Are these new spambots registered manually, or are they somehow smart enough to answer those questions?

I don't know but I'd wager bot. What kind of human would post in Site Feedback? Needless to say, the anti-bot questions just got a whole lot harder. Oh and try adding in links to that website he posted about. Say hello to the beginnings of the Codex link blacklist. Enter a link to certain spam sites and your post is stopped in its tracks. I'll be adding to the collection as necessary.

 

[mathboy]

What do the links lead to instead? ESF?

 

[Jason]

Your post won't go through. There's a warning screen about how "this may be a spam message so go back and make changes if this was an error" or something like that. Maybe it should automatically take you to tubgirl, though. That would be nice.

 

[OccupatedVoid]

Your post won't go through. There's a warning screen about how "this may be a spam message so go back and make changes if this was an error" or something like that. Maybe it should automatically take you to tubgirl, though. That would be nice.

Tubgirl is much better than that other lame-o option.