/* Bot Spam and IP Bans */

Discuss general Uzebox topics here: features, wish list. nice to have, etc.
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Kilo
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Re: /* Bot Spam and IP Bans */

Post by Kilo »

Today I could have used those admin rights 🙄

You can see in the mod log what I deleted today.
And now there is a new user registrated. Give him 10 minutes until the next spam will come up. Terrible what is going on the last days
The last digit of Pi is 7! I calculated this, as I counted to infinity yesterday!
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nicksen782
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Re: /* Bot Spam and IP Bans */

Post by nicksen782 »

Looks like I'll need to update the bot and leave it active. I keep a record of all the deletions so if you ever want to see a chart...

So, how about I manipulate the bot so that it will detect new accounts and then put them in a sort of "watch list"... and then look for hyperlinks and pills and whatever these jerks are peddling?

But, of course, we need to prevent the registrations from happening in the first place. That would help. Uze did that last summer and the spam went to zero for a while. It had been really heavy for a few months.
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Kilo
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Re: /* Bot Spam and IP Bans */

Post by Kilo »

Would be a great idea with the watch list.

I know many Forums where your first Posts have to be unlocked or you have to write first in some threads before you can open an own one and so on.
But our traffic isn't that high for that, or?
The last digit of Pi is 7! I calculated this, as I counted to infinity yesterday!
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nicksen782
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Re: /* Bot Spam and IP Bans */

Post by nicksen782 »

I dunno. I really think that there is something wrong with the built in admin spam-countermeasures. Perhaps Uze will take a look soon. I don't want to make a big administrative change without his approval. ... but the blocking of new accounts might be something I would do if the spam goes crazy like it did last year. Right now it is annoying. Back then it nearly destroyed the forums.

I've started the plan for an updated anti-spam bot. It'll be more content-aware and keep track of users that will need to be deleted. I don't think I want to do user deletion via a bot.
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Kilo
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Re: /* Bot Spam and IP Bans */

Post by Kilo »

No that would not be a good solution. Deleting has to be done by the physical admins 😊

Where is Uze btw?
The last digit of Pi is 7! I calculated this, as I counted to infinity yesterday!
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nicksen782
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Re: /* Bot Spam and IP Bans */

Post by nicksen782 »

He merged a pull request on Github recently to Uzebox. He's around.

We can handle this. It isn't dire yet. Good opportunity for the bot update though so I'll take it.
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L4rry
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Re: /* Bot Spam and IP Bans */

Post by L4rry »

Would using reCAPTCHA perhaps be a long term solution?
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Jubatian
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Re: /* Bot Spam and IP Bans */

Post by Jubatian »

Huh, I don't look in here for a week, and...

I can't really get how this was happening, just ditched some spammers here. I updated all the registration Q&A, for someone interested in the project it should still be passable. Hope they are not getting around it using some security hole in phpBB.

It would be nice if for new registrations it was possible to just disallow posting anything with links or just URLs in it. This works for my site, some probing slips through, needing an occasional wipe, but there is nothing much to do for a spammer if there is no way he could post any material with a readable URL in it.
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nicksen782
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Re: /* Bot Spam and IP Bans */

Post by nicksen782 »

I put an update into the bot for easier post and account deletions.

It can output the entire list of "known spammers" and it can also output the list of "untrusted" last posters. Do a quick reality check, then a copy and paste into the PHPbb admin and then goodbye spam accounts .

I'm also working on what I'm going to call a "nastiness filter." It'll have a list of "spammy" words. If an "untrusted" user uses a certain number of them the post will be deleted. Posts by "trusted" members are never subject to deletion. The trusted member list consists of any recent real user and even older ones that have made actual posts. So, non-spammers are safe!
CunningFellow
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Re: /* Bot Spam and IP Bans */

Post by CunningFellow »

I think someone may have missed a user called WarnerCorie that has posted random gibberish to a few posts to try sneak past as a real user.
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