David Nahmani Posted April 22, 2007 Share Posted April 22, 2007 (edited) Hey everybody. I have just modified the code on this forum to prevent spambots from polluting us. It seems to have worked so far: it's only been an hour or two and already a dozen attacks have been automatically fought back, and the bots have ended up turning away. There is nothing more annoying than trying to fight bots. They get smarter and smarter every time, they can easily read all those visual confirmation pictures that we can barely read ourselves. However, it is quite satisfying when you find something that works. Obviously, future robots will figure it out, and we'll have to fight again soon, as we already have in the past, but it seems we should be fine for a while. Please, if you see any spam posted in any of our forums use the contact button at the bottom of this post to report it to me asap. Edited April 23, 2007 by David Nahmani Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kent Sandvik Posted April 23, 2007 Share Posted April 23, 2007 (edited) Hey everybody. I have just modified the code on this forum to prevent spambots from polluting us. It seems to have worked so far: it's only been an hour or two and already a dozen attacks have been automatically fought back, and the bots have ended up turning away There is nothing more annoying than trying to fight bots. They get smarter and smarter every time, they can easily read all those visual confirmation pictures that we can barely read ourselves. However, it is quite satisfying when you find something that works. Obviously, future robots will figure it out, and we'll have to fight again soon, as we already have in the past, but it seems we should be fine for a while. Please, if you see any spam posted in any of our forums use the contact button at the bottom of this post to report it to me asap. Thanks. Yes I think one way is to make a *custom* login sequence with an additional odd question, we did this over at the protonradio forums, and the spam attacks went down to zero (any ones were those spams who registered accounts before we put in this additional question at registration time). --Kent Edited April 23, 2007 by Kent Sandvik Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dkgross Posted April 23, 2007 Share Posted April 23, 2007 as long as that 'additional odd question' isn't something like "what will be in Logic 8?" 8) nice job David! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonphoenix Posted April 23, 2007 Share Posted April 23, 2007 !!!LOL!!! Hell I don't think Apple even knows that one!!! But on the other hand... "Is Microsoft a corrupt, powermonging organisation whose sole aim is to claim originallity for 5 year old Apple innovations??" ...is all too easy to answer!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Robinson Posted April 23, 2007 Share Posted April 23, 2007 thank you, david. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fader8 Posted April 23, 2007 Share Posted April 23, 2007 Our Hero! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yofi Posted April 23, 2007 Share Posted April 23, 2007 good work Thanks David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rounik Posted April 23, 2007 Share Posted April 23, 2007 keep fighting the good fight David! *i had to restrain myself from using the david vs goliath cliche* oops i just did it anyway Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrewMusic007 Posted April 23, 2007 Share Posted April 23, 2007 Adversus incendia excubias nocturnas vigilesque commentus est! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Nahmani Posted April 23, 2007 Author Share Posted April 23, 2007 Haha.. thanks guys for the encouragements. Seems to be working so far! What's amazing is the amount of bots that try to attack the forum everyday. But as long as I detect them and reject them we'll be fine! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dkgross Posted April 23, 2007 Share Posted April 23, 2007 you should spam them BACK with Logic 8 rumors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kent Sandvik Posted April 23, 2007 Share Posted April 23, 2007 Haha.. thanks guys for the encouragements. Seems to be working so far! What's amazing is the amount of bots that try to attack the forum everyday. But as long as I detect them and reject them we'll be fine! The problem is phpbb, it's the most common bb system out there,so the spam bots are tuned for the code, and they just scan for any kind of phpbb board they find. And a huge majority are vanilla installations with no protection for automatic registration... Hence any uniqueness in the login sequence will make the bot code confused.--Kent Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Nahmani Posted April 23, 2007 Author Share Posted April 23, 2007 Yup, pretty much what I came to realize. Which is why I'm not giving any further comments on what I did to confuse the bots: I don't want to share my techniques with the spammers (some humans reprogram bots for specific installations and even custom forums). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonphoenix Posted April 24, 2007 Share Posted April 24, 2007 Beware of the "Bot" named Bender. He usually associates with an individual that goes be the name of Fry. If he asks you for any money don't trust him... oh wait... We're talking about SPAM Bots!!!... Bender is actually a SCAM Bot So, um.... ah.... Don't trust scam bots either!!!.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marcel72 Posted April 24, 2007 Share Posted April 24, 2007 Whoa, am I confused. I thought this was a thread about a new Flaming Lips record... And getting a really good deal on some Xanax. Best, Marcel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Nahmani Posted April 24, 2007 Author Share Posted April 24, 2007 Oh you're right! I messed up. The thread title should have been "David Battles the pink Spambots". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonphoenix Posted April 25, 2007 Share Posted April 25, 2007 Thank God I'm not a SpamBot... I look TERRIBLE in PINK!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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