Spambots and how to deal with them

Cairnie

Cairnie

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As many of us old timers know, we get loads of spambots - automated accounts which try and spam the shiznizz out of the forums, some of which can be hella nasty. Somehow they keep making it past our captcha system but we're looking for ways to at least reduce the problem on both the forums and the wiki.

Please do NOT respond to any of their posts as this makes it harder for us to clear spam.
We [mods] try our best to flush them out before people end up seeing some of the really nasty crap they post, but if we're not online, then you can help by just reporting them with the Report [!] button. The red highlight isn't pretty but it does help us to get the job done.

Another type of bot that's been trying to spam the place up is the "cleverbot". They typically trace from India and it tries to pick up certain words in a topic to try and make their posts sound as human as possible, but half the time it still doesn't make sense. Again if you suspect that a member is one of these, please hit report so we can check out its IP and stuff.

Please note that since the sudden influx of bots in just the past few days, we are no longer trashing spam threads, instead we are deleting them straight away.

Thanks for listening.
 
Isn't there like a code thing that other forums have that prevent bots from even entering, and could that be implemented here?
 
Some forums have come up with the solution of adding in a sort of net on the very first postable forum to catch bots, though I see them post on the Off Topic section most of the time. They could also just scan for the words "off topic" together though.
 
Don't worry, we'll get rid of them soon. I just need some time at home to take care of it.
 
I feel more people need to use the report button, instead of mentioning things on the boards.
 
Phoenixan said:
It's alright. In the meantime, I've been using the good ol' report button myself.
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Haha yeah... as I said to you before, the first reported post I saw scared the hell out of me. :P
 
I saw a crapload of spambots in the french forums, they're long gone now but that's basicly the forum with the most spambots.
 
They usually hit the first forum they see, which is why some sites have a trap in the first one but not any others. :fou2:
 
The best way for small forums remains to create a custom anti-bot system. However simple it is, no one will be bothered to develop a bot specifically for us...
 
Gosh darn it! Those pesky spam bots do get on my nerves! I hope a solution is found soon, it's quite important to look out for the community, wouldn't you say?

Thanks.
 
th3fail said:
Gosh darn it! Those pesky spam bots do get on my nerves!
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Spam bots? I always thought those were... spaghetti!

Buoni gli spaghetti, buoni gli spaghetti, buoni buoni buoni buoni, buoni gli spaghetti ! :manger:
 
I know this is a bit of an old thread (Sorry)
But I'd like to point a little thign out. You said you knew a lot of things about spambots since you old timers came here>
I have definelty been a Rayman fan since 1997 or 1998, but NONE of my friends liked rayman 1 bit. So nobody ever told me about this site, I have been going to www.raymanzone.com all my life but I quit going there after the rabbids took over the entire website.
Sorry I know this was completely random and uncalled for but I feel like I betrayed my favorite videogame not ever knowing about this website :oops:
 
How's that got to do with spambots?

Do you mean the actual site or the forum? Because they pretty much made a Rabbids go Home forum but that's nearly as empty as a saloon in a ghost town because of Facebook so I wouldn't say Raymanzone is taken over by Rabbids anymore.
 
He means the site. He already told us that he didn't know about the forum.
 
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