[Toasty]

First off, Split was the person to come up with the idea, not me. Bassically a post should be able to be automatically deleted if three seperate members report that post. If it's the only post in the topic, the topic is automatically deleted too. This way the spambot posts can be deleted quicker, and the mod's workload reduced. Obviously, not all of the posts are going to be deleted this way, but that's why we have mods.

So how about it?

[Someone Else]

Not deleted, moved to the moderator "vault" for "inspection" by the mod(s). It's kind of the same concept as putting a member on mod preview.

Split's exact post with the suggestion is here if anyone wants to see it: http://www.goldensun-syndicate.net/forum/i...st&p=309247

[PDM]

Keeping in mind you'd probably have to find the IPB mod if it exists...

[Mars Djinni]

It doesn't take much to remove all the spambots, really. Less than 2 minutes is all it takes. But of course, I do have a life outside the computer, so I don't get around to killing Spambots as soon as they appear.

[Someone Else]

Besides spam bots, I think it's a good idea.

[PDM]

BUY MY PRODUCT!!!!!


I suppose it wouldn't be THAT hard to create a mod.

Haha.

[The Wind Seer]

It's a good idea but is it even possible with Invisionfree or Invision?

[Toasty]

Uh, yeah. You can do almost anything with these boards as long as you know how to create mods for 'em.

[Eugine]

OK. It's a good idea in theory, but the question now, are there any MODs available to do that?

[Toasty]

I'll go take a look around. I didn't see anything like that the last time I was looking at mods, and I looked everywhere, but there's not harm in looking again.

[EDIT]

I didn't see this mod before, but I didn't check the broken mods bin. Obviously it's broken, but it's exactly the idea I suggested a while ago, a spam firewall for IPB. http://mods.invision...ndex.php/f/7355

[EDIT 2] Alright, I put in a request for a mod with the desired specifications at invisionize. I also asked if they could hook us up with a firewall to block spambots. Hopefully they'll work.

[PDM]

The Wind Seer, on Mar 17 2007, 09:23 AM, said:

It's a good idea but is it even possible with Invisionfree or Invision?

Lawl at him even saying "Invisionfree"

We use invision power board, here. :) It's what the big boys use.

[Golden Legacy]

I'm just curious, is it possible that this could be abused? Let's say there's a topic created by a member that is disliked by a few people, and they all report it, and it gets deleted.

Basically, my question is, how would we ensure that it's only used for spam bots?

And yes, as MD said, it really isn't too difficult a task to take care of spam bots. More annoying than hard, really.

[Mars Djinni]

I'm thinking the only way to avoid abuse is to have the moderators approve the deletion, yet that will defeat the whole point of the MOD.

Although, the MOD will make the report button a lot more powerful, and demands responsibility. So it'd be good in practise to make reports thorough at this point in time and not just the sarcastic remarks as I've seen.

[Toasty]

What the MOD will do, is remove the said post/topic from the forums, and move it to a "vault" visible only by the Mods and Admins. From there it can either be perminately deleted, or put back. If the post is returned, the Mods/Admins can leave a tag at the end of the most warning people to not report it again.

But of course, the MOD won't prevent the reports from going to their usual spot.

[Split Infinity]

Golden Legacy, on Mar 19 2007, 06:26 AM, said:

I'm just curious, is it possible that this could be abused? Let's say there's a topic created by a member that is disliked by a few people, and they all report it, and it gets deleted.

Of course not. First of all, it isn't DELETED, just temporarily removed and flagged for approval by a Mod. Second of all, if I were to abuse the Report button, what would happen? I'd probably get warned. The same logic would apply here.

I'd also like to suggest that we limit the rights of users below a certain number of posts. It might stop the spambots for a little while, and it only needs to be something like 5 posts.

[Toasty]

I'd put it as far up as 15. We had one spambot that posted 6 times, though then again it may have been a real person. But either way, it'll keep outsiders from abusing it.

[The Wind Seer]

Ok...guys I found something against them on the internet but I forgot where....

[Aquamarine]

So what was the point of that post then? Jesus Christ...

[Toasty]

The Wind Seer, on Mar 20 2007, 06:38 PM, said:

Ok...guys I found something against them on the internet but I forgot where....

Once you remember where it was, then you post about it. There's no point in makeing that post.

[The Wind Seer]

Ok here:

Quote

I may have spambot proofed Tohea. In case you are interested, I might as well post how I did it. All new members who register are instantly placed into a group titled 'Untrusted Member'. While they are in this group, they can reply to topics in the OOC discussion, but they can't start topics. As soon as they make 1 reply, they are placed into a 'Trusted Member' group, and from there their account is normal. They can start topics, reply to topics, etc.

Why did I do this? Well, if you haven't noticed, spambots make an account and then instantly post a topic and then leave. Well, if they don't reply to a topic first, then they can't post their advertisement topic...thus, it fails. This also works out because if a member registers, they can also just post their registration and they instantly are placed into a 'Trusted Member' group. Obviously this does not sort out the fact that there are some spambots that REPLY instead of posting a new topic, but if theres enough of them, then I'll simply not allow 'Untrusted Members' to reply to any topic and must only start them in the Registration Boards. Make sense?

[Split Infinity]

Only one post? Ah well, that was basically my idea anyway. I think we should also limit them from including ANY links in this first post, I'm sure that this would completely wipe these guys out.

[Mars Djinni]

Spambots that "attack" us sometimes reply as well as make topics, so some of that is rendered useless.

[Toasty]

He stated that in the article.

We should just go all rambo on the thing and use every idea so far at the same time. Add another question in the registration that's automatically set to "no" that asks if you're human. If possible, add the report button thingy. Only allow new members to post in a special forum, and then the mods, or if the report button thingy is ever able to be implimented, they can take care of any that pass through. If that fails, we can consider ourselves screwed.

[EDIT] Here's a mod to add the "Are you human?" question. http://mods.invision...ndex.php/f/7430

[Caael]

Smashboards.com has a perfect example of preventing bots.

"The following question prevents bots (computer programs) from registering and posting spam. It is not a trick question.
How many minutes are in one hour? (Escribe el número de minutos en una hora)"

http://www.smashboar...php?do=register


To this day I have never seen a spambot on those boards.

[Nyktos]

A similar idea was suggested before by Twit (I think) of making it ask "Are you human?" on the registration, which is how it works on Elemental Temple. Another thing I've seen used before is that users under a certain number of posts can't post links.

[Max]

The forum upgrade should eliminate most of our issues, as it has a new CAPTCHA system. But I will attempt to implement something similar to these basic questions as well. Thanks for your help everyone.

[Caael]

Nyktos, on May 13 2007, 03:45 AM, said:

A similar idea was suggested before by Twit (I think) of making it ask "Are you human?" on the registration, which is how it works on Elemental Temple. Another thing I've seen used before is that users under a certain number of posts can't post links.

Or create topics, like on Zelda online. I think it's 10 posts before you can make a topic.

[Max]

Well, since I turned on the new anti-spam-bot feature on Monday morning, I haven't noticed any spam bots posting. Please correct me if I am mistaken though.

[Golden Legacy]

I haven't noticed any yet, the new system seems to be doing its job.

On a side note, would it be too much to ask if we could run through the member list again, purging all the spam bots/inactive accounts that may still be around?

[Eugine]

Oh well.
I think the new anti-spambot feature is still doing wonders though.

[Split Infinity]

True, I've only seen one so far; perhaps the filter learns through experience.

[Golden Djinn13]

Well I guess the filter isn't really working as well as planned. Some are still slipping through the cracks.

SpamBot spy

[Max]

Note that bot's registration date, it is actually before the new system went into place. It seems a few of the bots learned to come back and post multiple times. If I can remember, I will try to go through the register members from the past few weeks and clean out any bots I find (like that one).

[Toasty]

Just get rid of any profile with 2 posts or less. I look through there occasionally, and I see a LOT of spambotish names. Most with 2,1, or no posts.

[Folcon]

Mr. T is right (can't believe i said that) dump all profiles with less than two posts, and you get rid of around 500 or so profiles, many of which are repeat profiles.

[Toasty]

How could you say that? I'm always right! ;)
Hopefully we'll be able to get rid of 'em all. There are a few with about 5 posts though.

[Split Infinity]

If we recount the deleted posts and they're still there, they're obviously not spambots.

[Toasty]

But we've had ones in the past with that many posts. Better safe than sorry.