Author Topic: Cleaning up spam  (Read 6093 times)

xcalibur

  • Architect of Kajar
  • Chronopolitan (+300)
  • *
  • Posts: 394
    • View Profile
Re: Cleaning up spam
« Reply #15 on: June 23, 2016, 03:23:43 am »
whatever happens, I'd like the wiki and all the resources here to be maintained and backed up for the foreseeable future.

I would second that. Stuff like the wiki can still have use even these days after all.

the wiki has lots of useful content - information as well as theory/analysis. there's also the projects and discussions on the forums. my point is that lots of time and effort has gone into creating content on this site, and I wouldn't want some future event to destroy everything the Compendium built. that means there should be backups (redundancy), a secure foundation for the site (reliable hosting), and a line of succession if the leadership isn't around for some reason.

I've only had peripheral involvement on this site, so maybe I'm overreaching by giving this advice. and Zeality has been as dedicated as anyone I've come across. however, I'm only trying to be helpful, and since the site is really slow now, this seems like a good time to put this out there.

Schala Zeal

  • Radical Dreamer (+2000)
  • *
  • Posts: 2127
  • 7th Elemental Innate, and vtuber
    • View Profile
Re: Cleaning up spam
« Reply #16 on: June 23, 2016, 06:32:28 am »
Well, as I said, if Zeality or Ramsus want to entrust everything to me, I'll have everything safely backed up until me or my fiance can buy server hardware.

froodo

  • Porrean (+50)
  • *
  • Posts: 75
    • View Profile
    • About Me
Re: Cleaning up spam
« Reply #17 on: June 23, 2016, 12:32:56 pm »
If i can do something to help, I'm at your disposal too!

skylark

  • Poet of El Nido
  • Black Wind Agent (+600)
  • *
  • Posts: 640
    • View Profile
Re: Cleaning up spam
« Reply #18 on: June 28, 2016, 12:51:21 pm »
Yeah. I mean, holy crap. This spam is getting insane. Wish I had any kind of coding talent so I could help, but I don't. Best I can do is cheer you guys on. :o

Ramsus

  • Entity
  • Chronopolitan (+300)
  • *
  • Posts: 313
    • View Profile
Re: Cleaning up spam
« Reply #19 on: June 28, 2016, 09:27:50 pm »
There are better, more modern forums that we could use which would help reduce the SPAM problem, but migrating all the posts, accounts, groups, etc. would be a real pain.

Given the low participation rate in the forum, it may be better to relaunch the forums/community portions of the site using more modern software and provide a read-only archive of old forum posts.

Schala Zeal

  • Radical Dreamer (+2000)
  • *
  • Posts: 2127
  • 7th Elemental Innate, and vtuber
    • View Profile
Re: Cleaning up spam
« Reply #20 on: June 29, 2016, 05:35:50 am »
I see. Well, as long as the technical info on Cross and Trigger datamining is still available (and possibly updated). That's really all I come here for, and possibly with the hope of continued work on the 8th playable character hack patch.

TheMage

  • Artist of Termina
  • Time Traveler (+800)
  • *
  • Posts: 874
  • Dreaming through time.
    • View Profile
Re: Cleaning up spam
« Reply #21 on: June 30, 2016, 02:44:28 am »

still, it can always be revived. just like the chrono tarot project could be revived at any time if someone wants to make the art, since I already finished the selections.


I always wondered what happened to the tarot project. Sadly my art skills kinda end at paintings and sprites.

alfadorredux

  • Entity
  • Mystical Knight (+700)
  • *
  • Posts: 746
  • Just a purple cat
    • View Profile
Re: Cleaning up spam
« Reply #22 on: July 01, 2016, 12:44:08 pm »
The majority of the Cross technical info exists elsewhere as well. When I originally compiled it from a bunch of disparate forum threads, back in 2011, I put it in a Tiddlywiki--a Javascript-driven baby wiki contained in a single HTML file. I still have a copy of the last revision in that format (and I'd guess that a few other people do as well). The content of the Tiddlywiki was copied into the wiki at Triple-Tech, and then moved here. You can tell, because a lot of pages still contain Tiddlywiki formatting mark-up, complete with stray ~s.

I haven't actually attempted to do a systematic evaluation, but I think at least 75% of the technical information is unchanged since 2011.  I should probably see if I can compile a list of the changes and revise the old file, just in case.

Schala Zeal

  • Radical Dreamer (+2000)
  • *
  • Posts: 2127
  • 7th Elemental Innate, and vtuber
    • View Profile
Re: Cleaning up spam
« Reply #23 on: July 01, 2016, 08:03:28 pm »
Indeed. I'm sure there've been useful updates that I can put to use.

utunnels

  • Guru of Reason Emeritus
  • Zurvan Surfer (+2500)
  • *
  • Posts: 2797
    • View Profile
Re: Cleaning up spam
« Reply #24 on: July 01, 2016, 10:30:34 pm »
Found this in one of the recently registered member's profile.

www[dot]botmasterlabs[dot]net/

Now there are bots that deal with textual captcha and there are online services that help you type various captcha (not for free, but still cheap). Captcha questions won't survive forever as long as there are people who can actually register tell/sell the info to the bot makers.

I think maybe it is time to update the captcha questions?


Edit*

Another solution I can think of is changing the register link(maybe also the link text and the address that process the register requests) periodically as well.
« Last Edit: July 01, 2016, 10:44:30 pm by utunnels »

froodo

  • Porrean (+50)
  • *
  • Posts: 75
    • View Profile
    • About Me
Re: Cleaning up spam
« Reply #25 on: July 01, 2016, 11:56:29 pm »
Found this in one of the recently registered member's profile.

www[dot]botmasterlabs[dot]net/

Now there are bots that deal with textual captcha and there are online services that help you type various captcha (not for free, but still cheap). Captcha questions won't survive forever as long as there are people who can actually register tell/sell the info to the bot makers.

I think maybe it is time to update the captcha questions?


Edit*

Another solution I can think of is changing the register link(maybe also the link text and the address that process the register requests) periodically as well.

Wait, wait wait...

Those are a company? If yes, it means someone is hiring its services to attack us (yes, i know something called piracy, but even accounting this, there a chance someone actually paid for the software)?

About the change of CAPTCHA, perharps using Google's reCAPTCHA as a provider would be a nice idea. Perharps changing the entire CMS as was stated before (phpBB?).

alfadorredux

  • Entity
  • Mystical Knight (+700)
  • *
  • Posts: 746
  • Just a purple cat
    • View Profile
Re: Cleaning up spam
« Reply #26 on: July 02, 2016, 12:56:45 pm »
More likely someone's hiring them to spam every SMF instance they can find--the Compendium doesn't have high enough traffic that I can see anyone bothering to attack it specifically.

There are a lot of other things that could be done about the spam flood, with varying levels of effectiveness:

-send new users' first posts to a moderation queue for approval, if they contain more than x links or consist only of a link (4-5 is probably a sane value for x.  Requires moderators to catch the occasional legitimate post.)

-incorporate an obfuscated timestamp field into the registration and posting forms, and don't allow the submission through if the timestamp is more than several hours old. This defeats one common type of bot that just plays back a previously crafted HTTP POST message.

-incorporate a field in the registration or posting forms which is rendered invisible by CSS and refuse to process the form if it is filled out. Bonus if the name of the widget inside the HTML makes it look like it really should be filled out. This defeats another common type of bot that just fills out all the fields in the form with something that looks vaguely plausible. (You also need to include a hidden instruction for people using screen readers so that they understand what needs to be done.)

-kitten captcha: a type of captcha where you have a randomly ordered set of 8-9 images that look similar to a computer but are easily distinguishable by a human (the standard set is small fuzzy animals--kitten, puppy, bunny, etc.), and ask the user to click on a specific one. Less painful for the average user than a standard distorted-letter captcha, and most bots aren't pre-programmed to deal with it. (Doesn't play well with assistive equipment for the blind, though.)
« Last Edit: July 02, 2016, 12:58:20 pm by alfadorredux »

ZeaLitY

  • Entity
  • End of Timer (+10000)
  • *
  • Posts: 10795
  • Spring Breeze Dancin'
    • View Profile
    • My Compendium Staff Profile
Re: Cleaning up spam
« Reply #27 on: July 06, 2016, 12:02:11 am »
I upped the captcha intensity. Let's see if it does anything. There are tons of new registrations and I get an e-mail for each new member, so if it works, I'll know in 1 or 2 days.

Yeah, there's nothing to be done about the series being defunct. There is a basis for old fansites enduring into the modern era (No Mutants Allowed is a favorite of mine), but in their case, it's because new Fallout games keep getting released.

DarioEMeloD

  • Guardian (+100)
  • *
  • Posts: 150
  • Ñ
    • View Profile
Re: Cleaning up spam
« Reply #28 on: July 14, 2016, 04:39:55 pm »
They're back D:

Schala Zeal

  • Radical Dreamer (+2000)
  • *
  • Posts: 2127
  • 7th Elemental Innate, and vtuber
    • View Profile
Re: Cleaning up spam
« Reply #29 on: July 14, 2016, 05:24:25 pm »
My offer is still on the table. Unless I get extraordinarily busy with a job, I can handle it.