WWc spammed

Discussion of other water gun websites.
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isoaker_com
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WWc spammed

Post by isoaker_com » Fri Feb 06, 2009 6:36 pm

The minimally used WWc board has been getting spammed recently. Perhaps a security question should be added and/or new registrations require approval before posting? Anyhow, I can't do anything about the spam, but hope others who can will clean up that board.

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SSCBen
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Re: WWc spammed

Post by SSCBen » Fri Feb 06, 2009 8:20 pm

I'll see what I can do tonight.

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isoaker_com
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Re: WWc spammed

Post by isoaker_com » Sat Jul 25, 2009 2:52 am

Sadly, seems like the newer/revived WWc board has just gotten spammed and there be some NSFW/adult content posted presently. I would wipe the posts if I could, but my moderator privileges do not appear to be working presently. If anyone who can do something hasn't seen the posts already, please check out WWc.

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C-A_99
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Re: WWc spammed

Post by C-A_99 » Sat Jul 25, 2009 3:38 am

WWc's registration page already requires entry of the confirmation code. Best you can do now is ban the user. (being sure to ban both IP and email [even tho email ban won't do anything], checking ISP, etc.)

It's been years since I've seen spamming both here and at iSn. I'm guessing that on the registration form, their simple security questions detered bots, but the spam at WWc doesn't appear to be from a bot. (due to profile information being fairly completely filled out)

I only have one idea now. Require WWc registrations to be approved unless the registrant can answer a more advanced security question. (perhaps something like "Abbreviate: Constant Pressure System" or the reverse; "Define: CPS") If the registrant does a little research on water guns before joining, that's proof that you have a genuine member. The only issue is turning off users who don't want to read anything and don't want to wait for registry. The community is small enough as is and this creates a very small risk of turning people out. (but presents less risk than forcing new registrants to wait)

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Re: WWc spammed

Post by isoaker_com » Wed Aug 12, 2009 3:41 pm

Seems like WWc has been spammed again. The main difference between WWc's and iSn's registration set-up is that iSn includes a specific anti-bot question (took me awhile to get it to work correctly, though) what WWc lacks. Seems like the newer bots can get through the Captcha without much problem. Hopefully this problem can be fixed for the board's re-install. I'd clean up the junk posts, but my moderator privileges don't appear to be working.

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cantab
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Re: WWc spammed

Post by cantab » Wed Aug 12, 2009 4:40 pm

Normally bots start new threads, right? So why not require a new user to make one post before they can start threads. There could be a 'New Users Must Post Here' thread for the purpose.
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Silence
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Re: WWc spammed

Post by Silence » Thu Aug 13, 2009 1:31 am

cantab wrote:Normally bots start new threads, right? So why not require a new user to make one post before they can start threads. There could be a 'New Users Must Post Here' thread for the purpose.
My first post was in a new thread...wasn't a very good one, in retrospect, but it got me hooked. Don't know if I'd have bothered otherwise.

That said, it's a good idea. I know many forums that have a similar policy for posting images and even links. I'd still try a CAPTCHA and a custom field (like "what is 5 * 7?" first, though.

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DX
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Re: WWc spammed

Post by DX » Thu Aug 13, 2009 6:40 am

Been busy, will do stuff with it tomorrow.
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cantab
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Re: WWc spammed

Post by cantab » Thu Aug 13, 2009 1:06 pm

The thing with CAPTCHAs is reading them automatically is pretty much a solved problem now. It's getting to the point where often the CAPTCHA is difficult if not impossible for a HUMAN to read. I seem to recall the most difficult thing for the computer is if letters touch or overlap. But that can also be difficult for a human - an 'l' right against an 'o' looks like a 'b'.

And of course the other problem is the spammers don't need a 100% success rate, or anything near that.
I work on Windows. My toolbox is Linux.
Arsenal:
Super Soaker: XP215, 2xXP220, Liquidator, Aquashock Secret Strike M(odded), Arctic Blast M, CPS1200, CPS2100, SC Power Pak, 3l aquapack, 1.5l aquapack
Water Warriors: Jet, Sting Ray M, Shark, Argon M, Tiger Shark, PulseMaster
Others: Waterbolt, The Blaster, Storm 500, Shield Blaster 2000, generic PR gun, generic backpack piston pumper (broken), 3l garden sprayer M, 10l water carrier:

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Silence
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Re: WWc spammed

Post by Silence » Thu Aug 13, 2009 1:22 pm

I understand that, but the vast majority of evil scripts out there will still have to bypass websites that have CAPTCHAs. Optical character recognition has been done, but it's still hard work unless you borrow someone else's code. Of course, websites can borrow someone other people's code, too...for example, I've looked into reCAPTCHA for a couple other projects.

Some CAPTCHAs are way better than others. I think Google's and one more (I forget which) are still really tough nuts to crack. But reCAPTCHA gives you scans of words from textbooks that optical character recognizers disagreed on or interpreted falsely; so they're selecting content that's intrinsically easy for humans but difficult for computers to read. It may only last a few more years, though. :)

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DX
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Re: WWc spammed

Post by DX » Thu Aug 13, 2009 6:05 pm

Nothing stops a human spammer :p I'll put in a custom field asking the user to type a word of a length greater than "forum" or something like that. Most spam programs seem to jump on numbers, but not word instructions.
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isoaker_com
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Re: WWc spammed

Post by isoaker_com » Sat Aug 15, 2009 12:48 am

Lewis wrote:Been busy, will do stuff with it tomorrow.
Hope all is good on your end; looking forward to seeing WWc cleaned up and rebooted if need be!

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