Spambots and how to deal with them

[saerleiya]

Maybe because our admins are not as reactive as yours.

Is there a command that allows admins to block any attempt of creation of a new topic? I know this is kinda very restrictive method for members, but there are 20 new bot topics per hour.

[Shrooblord]

Is there a command that allows admins to block any attempt of creation of a new topic? I know this is kinda very restrictive method for members, but there are 20 new bot topics per hour.

I think maybe they need to improve on the registration security, or we could have an automatic filter that checks whether or not a post has too many links. If it does, a mod should review it before it appears. That could work.

It's because we're not surrendering.

Rulez you're a genius.

[Master]

There haven't been any new bots, it seems the ones that have joined previously just merely continue to spam, I think we need the banhammer here if we're to be rid of these putrid posts once and for all.

[saerleiya]

YEah take the banhammer of death!

[Adsolution]

I'm not entirely sure how spambots pick forums, but perhaps we could try something where, for a week or two, an administrator has to manually activate new members' accounts? Maybe that will give the forum a certain influence over the bots, making it known as a board not worth wasting spambots on.

[Master]

Darnit, I'd begun to think we'd be left in peace, then, more spam.

[Snagglebee]

How about captcha?

[Adsolution]

This site already uses Captcha, doesn't i?

[Snagglebee]

just checked it. yeah, sorry!

[Master]

I believe so, though there was a period where it asked a question and you had to provide an answer, that was the case when I joined.

[Rayfist]

Christ! This is just... bad. Yeah I know "Lol, we all know this Rayfist"
Just saying this is fucking insane- worse than it has ever been before, becoming a massive spamfest here, jesus, hope the mods can sort this out soon.

[Rulez]

Lol, we all know this Rayfie

[Master]

The problem is that Haruka's the only active mod at the moment, and unfortunately, while she can lock, delete and modify threads and posts, she cannot wield the mighty banhammer, which is looking to be the best solution for our spamming problem.

[Haruka]

The problem is that Haruka's the only active mod at the moment, and unfortunately, while she can lock, delete and modify threads and posts, she cannot wield the mighty banhammer, which is looking to be the best solution for our spamming problem.

Sorry, guys. We need to wait for Stace/Xenon/Hunch.

[Droolie]

Whenever I visit, I also take care of the spam threads in the RayTunes forum, as I'm a mod there. Even the moderator logs for just that small subforum are almost absurdly huge lately. Maybe we could IP ban them if they have a similar IP, but the only link between all of the new spambots I found so far is that they all have their gender set to female. We can't use that of course.

This site already uses Captcha, doesn't i?

Then how about a different captcha system?

[GNineify]

Yeah, I think the current Captcha is one of the easiest systems for the bots to pass.

[Rulez]

Aye, the current Captcha is so easy to pass, emshomar passed it.

[Snagglebee]

, emshomar passed it.

[Robotic Teensie]

Why not limit the amount of threads one can create to, say, 5 per day? No regular forumgoer is ever going to make 5 new threads a day, so only bots would hit the limit.

[Snagglebee]

That's a good idea RoboticTeensie.