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Posted: Sun Feb 04, 2007 9:20 pm
by Fenrir
But the fact is you are denying the forum people's oppinions, the very foundation of what this forum was built for, to have people give their oppinion 8)

Posted: Sun Feb 04, 2007 10:27 pm
by Kaebora
I'll be searching the net for some new security measures to possibly bring to the attention of our admins. The only forum I've been in that got rid of bots entirely was www.steelbattalion.org , which swapped out the php forum to vBulletin. Php is natorious for spambots and hackers. We'll see what I can turn up. Some friends of mine in the hosting service biz might be able to give me some answers. They haven't gotten back to me yet. I'm going to call them instead of send e-mails, tomorrow.

Posted: Sun Feb 04, 2007 10:32 pm
by ravaged_warrior
Anubis has a point, but I'm going to have to go with Fenrir on this one. Closing off the site will only be restrictive of new ideas. I would have been pretty annoyed if I had been blocked away from the site for no fault of my own. Still, this spamming is getting to the point where I'm beginning to wish that I was a mod so I could have the pleasure of taking these people down myself (though I understand I'm still relatively new at the moment).

Posted: Sun Feb 04, 2007 10:50 pm
by Set
Anubis wrote:(( any way can i be a mod?))
I can answer that one for you: No. You've got too much of a temper. I'd make mod status before you would, and I'm pretty notorious for not giving a rat's a** about people or their feelings.

I do think validating e-mail is a good idea. Maybe we can have a few people just do that specifically, and leave the rest of the mods to clear out the spam.

Posted: Sun Feb 04, 2007 10:52 pm
by Kaebora
Locking down the fourm entirely is not an option. We welcome new people. However, if e-mail verification is needed, I will oblige in taking on that task with the other admins if needed. Somehow I have a feeling that wont work for very long.

Edit:
Set wrote:
Anubis wrote:(( any way can i be a mod?))
I can answer that one for you: No. You've got too much of a temper. I'd make mod status before you would, and I'm pretty notorious for not giving a rat's a** about people or their feelings.

I do think validating e-mail is a good idea. Maybe we can have a few people just do that specifically, and leave the rest of the mods to clear out the spam.
Mods also shouldn't be judging people that harshly. In my opinion, haveing empathy for others is important in doing my job.
Nevertheless, It's up to the Admin to decide if someone is worthy of moderator status. At the moment we may not need more moderators. I'll see if there are other options.

Posted: Sun Feb 04, 2007 11:34 pm
by Shadow Wulf
Fenrir wrote: Isolationism is not the answer.
But it's the old American way!! :lol:

Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2007 12:33 am
by Lupin
Currently I'm thinking of a little bit of javascript that fills in that hidden field in the post form.

...if I can ever get around to writing it. :(

Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2007 6:26 am
by Timber-WoIf
well, if another mod is needed, i'd volunteer.

Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2007 11:42 am
by ravaged_warrior
(Hope I don't get laughed at for this...)

I'd like to volunteer. I know I don't have very many posts, but I'm on enough that I could probably help quite a bit.

Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2007 12:35 pm
by Figarou
It's getting worse!! One bot, under one name, is posting about 20 times!! Then it posts again under another name!! I try to put its e-mail in the ban control. But I'm not sure if its going to help.

I may need more mods to help fight this.

If the mods now are to busy doing other things, then let me now so I can make someone else a mod. I need people that can get online everyday. Not every once and a while.

Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2007 1:36 pm
by White Paw
i will volunteer but i already know the answer.... :|


on a side note...... you make your decision on how often you see me here.....

not who i am... :|

Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2007 3:51 pm
by Kaebora
I'm online once to twice a day. Lately, I've deleted spam every visit.

And here's the answer I got from my admin buddy.
roadki1 wrote:
Kaebora wrote:I realize you have some expertise in forum management. I'm a moderator for the forum of http://www.thepacksden.com. We have a rising number of spambots that post pornographic links and images on a daily basis. We don't have the manpower to verify individual e-mails so that wont be an option. Is there any kind of software fixes that can weed out the bots from real members?
There are no fast fixes to this problem. I would suggest that the forum admin keeps the phpBB2 that you are using as updated as possible and implement some hurdles when registering for an account. Image and e-mail verification work well and if that doesn't curb the problem then you can always add in a probation period that does not allow a new user to post until they have been registered for a few days.

But try the image and e-mail verification and keep the banlist up to date along with the latest version of the software and you should be able to reduce the amount of spam.

Also, switching to vB would work, but that costs money. I paid nearly $200 to own the software license that I use for the steel battalion forums.

Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2007 6:10 pm
by Figarou
White Paw wrote:i will volunteer but i already know the answer.... :|


on a side note...... you make your decision on how often you see me here.....

not who i am...
:|

How many times must I hear that from you?


Right now...we have enough mods to deal with the problem.

If it gets REALLY bad....heck....I'll make EVERYONE a mod!!

Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2007 6:31 pm
by Timber-WoIf
keep in mind jokerwolf is afc for two weeks.

Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2007 9:22 pm
by Sky
My my only here for a couple days and talk of making everyone mod :o hell yes please... lol I know that was sarcastic... anyways I will ask around to see how and give some feed back and who knows maybe even a FREE program to help stop the spam bots.

Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2007 9:23 pm
by Kaebora
That might be partially why it seems like there are more spambots around.

So basically, we have to make changes to how the registration process works, and lock out all non-members. Otherwise, spambots will run rampant as they do now. I hope the above suggestions from my friend Roadki1 have brought up some new ideas.

Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2007 9:57 pm
by White Paw
Figarou wrote:
White Paw wrote:i will volunteer but i already know the answer.... :|


on a side note...... you make your decision on how often you see me here.....

not who i am...
:|

How many times must I hear that from you?


Right now...we have enough mods to deal with the problem.

If it gets REALLY bad....heck....I'll make EVERYONE a mod!!
*cowers* sorry

Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2007 10:05 pm
by Set
Kaebora wrote:Mods also shouldn't be judging people that harshly. In my opinion, haveing empathy for others is important in doing my job.
Hey, I may be harsh, but it keeps the idiots to a minimum. I've had my own forums in the past and even moderated a couple of LiveJournal communities. Never had any problems either. You may not like it, but it works.

Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 3:01 am
by Sky
Harshness doesn't necessarily mean that rudeness should be involved -shrugs- which ever works i suppose -scampers off to eat those duckies-