Octopus Overlords

In order to limit the amount of spam bots on the forum, the new restrictions are in place immediately on newly created accounts:

1. A user must post 10 messages before they are allowed to link to any external sites (they can still link to posts here, but they can't link to any other external URL).

2. They must be registered 2+ Days ago to post external links (1 & 2 combined really).

3. I've included a regex to filter out non-english characters during the same time period above.

4. Min first post characters are 80 -- however in my testing this didn't seem to work.

This should greatly reduce the amount of spam bots and human spam bots, or at least make them really dedicated spammers.

Nice! It's not like we've got a huge flood of potential new users to risk offending.

Is spamming an issue here? I haven't noticed much, but I mostly peruse the PC Gaming section.

The Bad Shepherd wrote:Is spamming an issue here? I haven't noticed much, but I mostly peruse the PC Gaming section.

I don't get the feeling it's a huge problem, but it's enough of a nuisance that I can see the board mods and admins wanting to crack down on it. It usually seems to manifest in somebody resurrecting a really old thread and posting something that bumps it back to the top of the forum.

It's a trending issue here in that it's becoming more prevalent.

#4 on the crackdown list is one which is surprising to me. Were I to make an account on a new site (as a legitimate user) for some hypothetical new hobby, I could see that one catching me by surprise. If the response to the proposed post made it obvious what the problem was, it'd make for an easy fix, but if the warning message was vague, I could see skipping that posting (and potentially that entire site) forever.

The Meal wrote:I could see that one catching me by surprise.

80 characters? I don't think so.

LawBeefaroni wrote:

The Meal wrote:I could see that one catching me by surprise.

80 characters? I don't think so.

LawBeefaroni wrote:

The Meal wrote:I could see that one catching me by surprise.

80 characters? I don't think so.

I nearly stole the low-hanging fruit from your plate, but I'm glad it was you that snagged it.

And what about all the people who won't be able to join the community because they're terrible at making helpful and constructive co-- ... oh.

The Bad Shepherd wrote:Is spamming an issue here? I haven't noticed much, but I mostly peruse the PC Gaming section.

It's probably more of an issue to staff than it is to others. Most spammers get reported pretty quickly, but then I have to make so many dang clicks to ban them that I'm going to end up with carpal tunnel.

The error message tells whem what's up, so if a spammer wants to hang around for a few days, make 10 posts etc.. Then well, yep they can still spam. Usually the chinese sweatshop spammers don't have that kind of time on their hands.. Let's hope.

I was going to ask how you all cope with spammers. I have started a forum and seem to get at least 6 a week. It was funny in the beginning, cause I would get so excited that another person has signed up, then I look at the Email and realize it's another spammer. Now it's a pain in the butt! So, I guess that I don't feel so singled out (forum wise) with the constant housekeeping of removing spammers and the trash they leave behind.

Well damn! Now what am I gonna do?

KKBlue wrote:I was going to ask how you all cope with spammers. I have started a forum and seem to get at least 6 a week. It was funny in the beginning, cause I would get so excited that another person has signed up, then I look at the Email and realize it's another spammer. Now it's a pain in the butt! So, I guess that I don't feel so singled out (forum wise) with the constant housekeeping of removing spammers and the trash they leave behind.

Depends on what forum software you are using, but if it's PHPBB3, definitely check out the Spam Hammer mod. Seems to be the right approach!

Where's the cup for me to pee in?

I'm baffled that this doesn't seem to be helping. Seriously, what do you have to do to keep these f'ers out??

My understanding is that this latest measure won't actually stop the spammers from registering (we've tried a number of things there, with varying levels of success). What it does is prevent them from posting links, which reduces the effectiveness and incentive to register.

Ah, I get it. So we'll still get the thread necros unless/until they figure out that it's not worth the effort.

Wierd, I was logged out and had the maximum number of failed logins. Someone has been trying to login me in it seems?

i am all for spam prevention, but i am trying to get help for a problem someone asked for my system spec, but, it won't let me post them- says it looks too spammy-- how can i get help if i can't post the info they want??

shanesgirl wrote:i am all for spam prevention, but i am trying to get help for a problem someone asked for my system spec, but, it won't let me post them- says it looks too spammy-- how can i get help if i can't post the info they want??

It should tell you the criteria that made it too spammy.. External links etc are prohibited until you've been around for a few days and posted a few times, which you have. If for some reason you still have problems, send me a PM and I will look into it.

Heya

I asked for a DXDiag text file attachment showing the system specs for the Sims-2 problem reported in the following thread:
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=78090" target="_blank


Figured worst case scenario a copy / paste from the text file would give the info though...

@silvaril-- i just posted my specs- it finally let me.

FishPants wrote:

shanesgirl wrote:i am all for spam prevention, but i am trying to get help for a problem someone asked for my system spec, but, it won't let me post them- says it looks too spammy-- how can i get help if i can't post the info they want??

It should tell you the criteria that made it too spammy.. External links etc are prohibited until you've been around for a few days and posted a few times, which you have. If for some reason you still have problems, send me a PM and I will look into it.

It would look like what was attempted to be posted was an image. It also would seem that images aren't allowed until a user has amassed eleven posts (and/or some time criterion, I'm assuming).

maliahh wrote:hello I am new in this forum and these all information are really very useful to me.

Did a spammer really post in this thread???

stessier wrote:

maliahh wrote:hello I am new in this forum and these all information are really very useful to me.

Did a spammer really post in this thread???

It's positively surreal.

Thanks for all the reports, folks. We've banned the spammer.

Buahhahahahaha!

pitata wrote:I'm and glad to join.

I have to admit, if I was a spammer I would bump this thread to get my post count up, too.

priceless!

Lol well looks like I add another country level IP ban. Talk about persistent, especially when it hasn't been successful here yet.. Seriously guys, move along, we don't buy your junk.

FishPants wrote:

Lol well looks like I add another country level IP ban. Talk about persistent, especially when it hasn't been successful here yet.. Seriously guys, move along, we don't buy your junk.

Looks like you banned the whole of Singapore. Sadly, my work proxy goes through Singapore since that's where the regional HQ is so I'm "banned" from OO while I'm at work

Tokek wrote: Looks like you banned the whole of Singapore. Sadly, my work proxy goes through Singapore since that's where the regional HQ is so I'm "banned" from OO while I'm at work

Well, you're going to want to tell your employer to move their regional HQ.


But seriously, thanks for the info. Blocking legit members was a concern and while I can't promise anything for FishPants, I'm sure we'll look into it.

Just PM me your external IP address from your proxy (http://www.whatismyip.com/" target="_blank if you aren't sure what it is) and I will exclude it from the block ranges. Any normal user is more than welcome to send that stuff through, and as long as it's a work proxy and not an open proxy or a TOR proxy I will whitelist it.

So...

Longish time reader and recently registered on the board. Thought I had previously registered about 3 years ago but either I remembered wrong or the account was deleted as I never used it to post. Read through Bad Shepherds genius DF AAR and felt compelled to PM him congratulations and so on, so re-registered an account under the name 'Kalil'.

Apparently attempting to PM without having any posts triggers the anti-spam measures and so I was locked out of posting or PM'ing to rectify the problem...as Im not actually a spambot...I would like to offer my thanks to lokiju for trying to pass on my plea for non-spambot status via the Qt3 forums.

Looking forward to contributing 'witty' posts to a forum that has captured my interest. Ive lost some appreciation for those forums with smaller communities that I used to post frequently on plus a couple of others that have slowly drifted into becoming internet ghost-towns. That combined with my recent posting to the arse end of Nepal has resulted in a craving to post in a community rather than lurk.

So to summarise:

- The OP doesnt reflect that a PM triggers anti-spam measures if no posts have been made,
---(presumably otherwise not sure how I triggered spam measures)
- The anti-spam measures remove the ability to communicate with admins etc,
- Thanks to lokiju for his help,
- Thanks to Bad Shepherd and Hippolito for their excellent write ups,
- Hello to the rest of the membership.

Cheers,

'Kal'

Hey guys its me Tony. Ravens friend. I am back online. Had to see if the forum was stil here. It did not recognize myold login so i had to make a new one.

hi guys im new here

bye

Ariana_FFD wrote:While i do appreciate the reasons, I love to participate and so I do post links for subjects like the John Carter thread, I tried to post an ERB site link. I was asking about a new build and could not post my Newegg links . Makes me feel so limited in my ability to participate. I don't want to be a lurker for long....

Ariana

Well, you're already halfway through the time limit and already over the post count, so you're almost there!

bye