spam stopping idea
 

So recently CD has been getting hit harder then normal (from my view atleast) with spammers. While the mods always do a great job at getting the threads very fast I was trying to think of ways to minimize spam. I know that the latest version of vBulletin has word verification built into it. So I was wondering if it was possible that for a member's first 10 or so posts they would have to do the word verification. It wouldn't be that much of a hassle for real new members but might significantly cut down on the amount of 1-2 post new member spam. I am not sure how easy this would be to implement so I leave this idea out there for you programming types.

Re: spam stopping idea
 

Is there a CAPTCHA challenge given when someone registers?

Re: spam stopping idea
 

I was thinking the same thing today about the WildStang forums. Remember that the image verification is also used to make new accounts, so they are already doing one image verification to sign up for the forums, a second would only take them another minute.

Re: spam stopping idea
 

Spam has become an serious issue for all forums and email handlers. Our work email hits have gone from 25,000 a month last August to 100,000 in October.

Re: spam stopping idea
 

Yeah, when you register you have an image verification. I think theres one for posting as a guest (which we have turned off) .. I'll have to see how hard it would be to make it only appear for new members.

Re: spam stopping idea
 

Maybe having to have at least one non chit-chat post would deter spammers from starting those ridiculous threads about free this and that. Although A) I have no idea if it could be done and B) It would make it a little hard for that rookie team who runs here to make a new thread with a quick question.

Re: spam stopping idea
 

Problem is, they post everywhere--General Forum, Career, and occasionally Programming, IIRC.

Re: spam stopping idea
 

I think you misinterpreted what I meant. I meant that you would have to have a set number of 'good posts.' IE technical posts (so no chit-chat stuff). After so many 'good posts' you could start a thread about something. At a Jeep Enthusiast website that I frequent, they have a system where so many technical ('good posts') allows you do certain things, like start a thread, use the search feature (it bogs down the website), and to link pictures inside of you posts and what not.

Re: spam stopping idea
 

As mentioned earlier (I think,) this would be difficult for rookie teams. I have been in Chief for a few years now, but this new team that I am on is a whole bunch of students who have never seen Chief. If they have a quick question to ask but have never used CD before, then they are kind of out of luck and would have to ask someone else to use their account. Then that post would not count toward their 'good posts', and the next time they have a problem it would be the same situation.

Just looking at it from this way (and BTW, you guys are really good about handling spammers,)

Jacob

Re: spam stopping idea
 

Actually I think that we need to emphasize more on the "Search" button rather than to do anything like this. Most questions that rookie teams have, have been answered and are searchable, yet in the last two days I have seen the same question arise three times, and before posting if persons had looked at the bottom of the forum, they would have had an answer.

On InvisionBoards, you can create rules for forums that will be displayed above the forum, and they serve as a sort of reminder, and I believe if we emphasized the usage of the search feature not only spam, but the creation of duplicate threads would also be scaled down a little.



Pavan.

Re: spam stopping idea
 

You could have a multiple choice quiz when you register like
1. Where is the Championship even held?
A. Delaware
B. Canada
C. Atlanta

2. What state has FRC a regional competition in it?
A. Delaware
B. Alaska
C. Maryland

But make the answers easy so that even a rookie member would know it or be able to ask a mentor the answer or even have to look on usfirst.com to find it.

or something like that That way even spammers who can get past image or word checks still cant not post.

Re: spam stopping idea
 

Wouldn't that defeat the whole point of these boards?

This is about spam and advertising, not repeat questions.

Re: spam stopping idea
 

I always found CAPTCHAs kind of annoying, so when Team 237's forums were hit by spambots I found a better idea.

Rather than image verification, make the user answer a simple question. "What is two plus two?", "Pick what doesn't fit: Cow, Goat, Lamb, Blender" etc.

If the spammers were really dedicated, they'd search through all the questions and figure out the answers themselves, then feed them to the bots. However with a big enough question bank, they will probably just go to a more vulnerable board.

Re: spam stopping idea
 

There is a hack like this for vBulletin -- I may install it to try and slow down some of this spam.

Re: spam stopping idea
 

I used to work at a survey company and when we'd do the mass emails (to people who signed up on our website or their company provided the email addresses for a company survey), people would sign up the email to receive spam... we'd get around 14,000 emails marked as spam by spamassassin. It's just too easy for people to get you on spam lists these days.

Re: spam stopping idea
 

One method that another forum I am on uses is to have the first 2 posts verified by a moderator before they show up after that its like normal.(It is another vBulletin forum so it shouldnt be hard)

Re: spam stopping idea
 

We gotta do something fast.
The last spammer was posting porn on the site.
That is unacceptable!
I say if they don't post a team number they don't get an account.
At the very least it'll slow them down.

Re: spam stopping idea
 

My friend called me up and told me that his torrent host was down and he told me to help him look, and I got a call from him less than 30 seconds later saying that a site called Demoniod has an odd registration key you need since their registration is off so he couldn't download. Anyways here is a link to Demonoid's registration here and it requires an invite. Maybe we could have something like that with team names, numbers, etc. Where the invitation code is a team name, sponsor, or something along those lines.

Pavan.

Re: spam stopping idea
 

Is there any way we can see where the spam comes from (IP address for example) and then just block it?

Re: spam stopping idea
 

Yes, but it wouldn't stop it -- very very few of the spammers will be coming from the same IP address. We can stop repeat spam -- the moderators do a good job of shutting off the spamming accounts quickly after reported.

I installed a hack last week that requires a user to answer a simple question (2+2, etc.) when making a new account. Since then, we have had a dramatic drop in spam, so I guess it worked. So until the bots figure that out.. I think we're safe.

Re: spam stopping idea
 

Make the answer wrong for 2+2 so it will be 1 or 5 and put then in the registration process that way they can't program the bots to just use math.

Re: spam stopping idea
 

That's one of many questions that may come up. Others are things like 'Dean Kamens last name is ..' or 'Type the word Inspiration in the box provided ..', etc..

Re: spam stopping idea
 

I actually had this idea of just blocking certain screenames of spammers. If one bot is found spamming then more than likly a google search will multiple other hits on other message boards. It's not something that I would expect you to do but Im just throwing it out there.

Re: spam stopping idea
 

That is hilarious!

Re: spam stopping idea
 

Ugh, today there was four different spam threads created within five minutes.. It makes me wonder if it is really a bot or if it is a person.

Re: spam stopping idea
 

they are bots. 4 is nothing, it has been a lot better lately.

Re: spam stopping idea
 

Just how bad is bad? 4 spam posts seems like a lot, but maybe I haven't seen enough.

Re: spam stopping idea
 

I like this idea and would like to extend it a little to the Word Association thread. Have a every new member post on the association thread. When they post that one time they also have to include in parantheses () why they chose the word that they did. Assuming that the answer is satisfactory, they are free to post as they wish. But by giving a series of tasks that require a human to do, you might be able to reduce the amount of spam a little more.

Re: spam stopping idea
 

How about asking what does FIRST stand for. Thats abstract enough that a bot would have to be specifically written to invade these forums