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milhous · Sep 23, 2006, 12:59 AM

these spammers are getting into the forums very easily. there's an easy fix that can minimize this: include graphics-based authentication in the sign-up process. (you know, type the letters and numbers that are supposed to be in the picture to make sure that it's a person signing up for the account). and besides, even if a real person did the sign-up, it'd be a waste of time for them to do this at each and every forum site. what do you think?

seanc · Sep 23, 2006, 05:31 AM

I though the forums did this already.

imitchellg5 · Sep 23, 2006, 07:40 AM

They do

turtle777 · Sep 23, 2006, 09:29 AM

Boy, amazing what changed between 2000 when milhous signed up and now

-t

imitchellg5 · Sep 23, 2006, 12:28 PM

How about just blocking all Nigerian IP addresses?

seanc · Sep 23, 2006, 12:29 PM

Then they'd just use proxys or something.

seanc · Sep 23, 2006, 12:30 PM

What we really need IMO is some more mods to help combat the spammers.

Railroader · Sep 23, 2006, 12:57 PM

Originally Posted by seanc

What we really need IMO is some more mods to help combat the spammers.

Agreed.

turtle777 · Sep 23, 2006, 03:40 PM

Originally Posted by seanc

What we really need IMO is some more mods to help combat the spammers.

Nah, we need a change in the system, which is probably not supported by BB.
Something like that the first 5 (10) posts are moderated, and have to be outside the Lounge...

-t

seanc · Sep 23, 2006, 03:43 PM

Hmm, gd point, MSJ does this.

seanc · Sep 23, 2006, 03:45 PM

Originally Posted by seanc

Hmm, gd point, MSJ does this.

If it's not just post moderation, it's username moderation (by a human). I'd do it if the 'NN needed someone.

Chester'sCopperpot · Sep 23, 2006, 05:38 PM

It's definitely already like that. >wink<

Chester'sCopperpot · Sep 23, 2006, 05:38 PM

Originally Posted by seanc

What we really need IMO is some more mods to help combat the spammers.

I think we need less mods, and more power to the average user. If 5 people flag someone as a spammer, poof...they're gone.

imitchellg5 · Sep 23, 2006, 06:55 PM

Originally Posted by Chester'sCopperpot

I think we need less mods, and more power to the average user. If 5 people flag someone as a spammer, poof...they're gone.

I agree with that. But then say 5 people hate me. So they flag me, and I get banned. I wouldn't like that.

turtle777 · Sep 23, 2006, 07:19 PM

Originally Posted by seanc

Hmm, gd point, MSJ does this.

Yes and no, like seanc said, they only set a threshold of post numbers until your are allowed into the inner circles.

But that's not really my point. I don't consider the Lounge "better" or higher, I would opt for personally moderated posts outside the Lounge only because it's far to easy to get your 10 posts in the Lounge with no content, rather than having to make real contributions outside of the Lounge. The first 10 posts should be of some quality.

-t

turtle777 · Sep 23, 2006, 07:21 PM

Originally Posted by imitchellg5

I agree with that. But then say 5 people hate me. So they flag me, and I get banned. I wouldn't like that.

No, that doesn't work.

I think that after 5 flags, an automatic "report PM" should get send to the mods.
Maybe then, 3 strikes and you get a warning or so. It's hard to automate it, I think it needs a manual review process.

-t

Kevin · Sep 23, 2006, 09:34 PM

Originally Posted by Chester'sCopperpot

I think we need less mods, and more power to the average user. If 5 people flag someone as a spammer, poof...they're gone.

It would be abused too much. Besides you'd not get more than 2 posts made if that was the case.

tooki · Sep 23, 2006, 10:14 PM

Originally Posted by milhous

these spammers are getting into the forums very easily. there's an easy fix that can minimize this: include graphics-based authentication in the sign-up process. (you know, type the letters and numbers that are supposed to be in the picture to make sure that it's a person signing up for the account). and besides, even if a real person did the sign-up, it'd be a waste of time for them to do this at each and every forum site. what do you think?

Yep, we've had that feature enabled for a long time now.

There are two problems with it:

1. some spammers really will just manually sign up (how it's worthwhile is beyond me)

2. many spammers use robot software to automate sign up. The software does the signup up to the image verification stage, and then sends the image to a free porn site sign-up page, upon which a horny human verifies the image, not realizing that that step has ulterior motives. Then the text is sent back to the forum, and the account is created.

tooki

tooki · Sep 23, 2006, 10:19 PM

P.S. We have blocked whole swaths of IP addresses from which a lot of spammers were originating. While it hasn't stopped all spam, doing that step did slow the tide of new spammers quite a bit. We also blocked every single disposable email domain that we are aware of.

Now if only it were feasible to block yahoo.com and hotmail.com registrations... :sigh:

tooki

Kevin · Sep 24, 2006, 01:44 AM

Why isn't it feasible?

Andy8 · Sep 24, 2006, 02:43 AM

Originally Posted by what_the_heck

Nah, we need a change in the system, which is probably not supported by BB.
Something like that the first 5 (10) posts are moderated, and have to be outside the Lounge...

-t

It is an option on vB.

But is a lot more work for the mods to handle.

Oisín · Sep 24, 2006, 03:59 AM

Originally Posted by Kevin

Why isn't it feasible?

Because very likely, about eight out of ten legitimate registrations are made with either Yahoo! or Hotmail accounts. The e-mail address I listed when I signed up, for instance, is a Yahoo! address.

seanc · Sep 24, 2006, 04:33 AM

Originally Posted by Andy8

It is an option on vB.

But is a lot more work for the mods to handle.

Hence we need more, and I already said I'd be happy to do it if they needed someone.

On a slightly different note, whats happened to iMitchellG5 this time?

mac128k-1984 · Sep 24, 2006, 06:07 AM

Originally Posted by tooki

Now if only it were feasible to block yahoo.com and hotmail.com registrations... :sigh:

dpreview does this. If you want to register on thier forums you cannot use a hotmail account. I think in the end this is a very good solution to combating spammers.

subego · Sep 24, 2006, 06:34 AM

Originally Posted by tooki

2. many spammers use robot software to automate sign up. The software does the signup up to the image verification stage, and then sends the image to a free porn site sign-up page, upon which a horny human verifies the image, not realizing that that step has ulterior motives. Then the text is sent back to the forum, and the account is created.

Slick. Diabolical, yet slick.

turtle777 · Sep 24, 2006, 08:33 AM

Well, a solution could be to elect certain members with limited mod rights that do the manual review of the first 10 posts. That's all they do, make sure that the people start out right. It would also cut down on posts in wrong forums and other n00b related errors.

-t

Andy8 · Sep 24, 2006, 08:48 AM

Originally Posted by what_the_heck

Well, a solution could be to elect certain members with limited mod rights that do the manual review of the first 10 posts. That's all they do, make sure that the people start out right. It would also cut down on posts in wrong forums and other n00b related errors.

-t

I agree. I will put my name down if we want to get this moving forward. I am tired of the spammers too.

seanc · Sep 24, 2006, 09:00 AM

I'll help too

Chuckit · Sep 24, 2006, 12:47 PM

Originally Posted by Chester'sCopperpot

I think we need less mods, and more power to the average user. If 5 people flag someone as a spammer, poof...they're gone.

Dude, you'd disappear even faster than usual under that system.

reader50 · Sep 24, 2006, 02:05 PM

Originally Posted by tooki

...

Now if only it were feasible to block yahoo.com and hotmail.com registrations... :sigh:

tooki

While it certainly isn't feasible to block those already registered via yahoo or hotmail, I'm not clear on why we couldn't block those for new registrations. Everyone has an email box with their ISP. It's also become normal for the ISP to offer multiple boxes, for other family members.

turtle777 · Sep 24, 2006, 02:21 PM

Nah, blocking yahoo or hotmail wouldn't do anything. There are tons fo freemail providers out there, how hard is it to get something from fastmail or gmail.

-t

Chuckit · Sep 24, 2006, 02:54 PM

Originally Posted by reader50

While it certainly isn't feasible to block those already registered via yahoo or hotmail, I'm not clear on why we couldn't block those for new registrations. Everyone has an email box with their ISP.

Blech, I don't. E-mail boxes that will disappear one day are just an inconvenience.

Oisín · Sep 24, 2006, 03:19 PM

Originally Posted by reader50

While it certainly isn't feasible to block those already registered via yahoo or hotmail, I'm not clear on why we couldn't block those for new registrations. Everyone has an email box with their ISP. It's also become normal for the ISP to offer multiple boxes, for other family members.

Not everyone has an e-mail box with their ISP—in most places here, ISPs don’t offer e-mail boxes to their users (since most people here don’t have a private connection, but one joint contract for an entire building or block). And even if they do, they’re usually quite crappy, and very few people have them or use them for anything.