Spambot Prevention Suggestions

[magnets]

My first couple posts took about a day to go through because it said that a moderator was approving it. From what I see, this only happens to a few of the new users, or moderators are approving spam. Perhaps this policy should be tightened to the first ten posts from any users.

[jwallace15]

Although strange locations and non-FIRST postings are among the activities of spambots, not all people who join CD that do those things are spammers.

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=117653

Couple weeks ago, this person not affiliated with FIRST asked a viable programming question.

From what I've seen spambots only spam when they start their own thread, not on an existing thread. My suggestion is to pre-screen new thread requests from new users.

I also like Efoote868's suggestion about basically granting more priveliges to those with higher rep.

I recall starting a thread when I first joined and seeing a message that said my thread would be previewed by Moderators before it was posted, and that I kept checking to see if it was approved. Was this feature taken away?

EDIT: I recall once seeing a viable thread started by a new user that was edited once it was posted to be spam. So the system can be fooled.

[connor.worley]

A lot of the spam threads contain 15+ links. Maybe a hyperlink limit/verification would be ideal?

[Caleb Sykes]

Require new accounts to receive at least some positive reputation before they're allowed to create a new thread, which is where most spam goes.

I disagree. I made my CD account specifically to ask a time-sensitive question during the build season. There is no way that I would have even bothered if I had had to weigh in on other discussions and wait for someone nice to give me rep points. I had, in fact, searched through CD several times, and my question hadn't been asked.

OK, if image verification or IP blacklisting won't work, why not ask a FIRST related question. For example, what was the 2011 game name? Or, Which country are 1114 and 2056 located in? Or, what is one FRC supported programming language?

I didn't learn about 1114 and 2056 until the end of the 3rd year on my team. "Common knowledge" on CD is, quite frankly, not common knowledge for a lot of students/mentors out there.

[techhelpbb]

Ask FIRST for the list of mentors they use to control access to the official question forum.
Then ask those mentors to register at ChiefDelphi.
Then give them the ability to confirm team member registrations.

No confirmation ... no post without moderation.

Set up modrewrite on this domain.
Track inbound IP.
Anyone claiming to be one place posting from more than 1 adjacent state/province not mentor approved gets flagged.
Saves moderation time.

Use Bayesian rules to flag posts.

Any post flagged by 2 confirmed mentors is redacted prior to review.

Hyperlinks are shortened. Checked by SourceFire, RBL and local black list.
This allows caching as well.
Any non-confirmed poster with less then 10 posts no hyperlinks allowed.
Allow any confirmed users to flag a hyperlink as a threat then setup a warning or make it text.

Allow donations over $15.
Allow donations of FIRST items ChiefDelphi can resell.
Allow donors to select to be listed if they like.

Expire confirmed accounts after 4 years.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by techhelpbb

Ask FIRST for the list of mentors they use to control access to the official question forum.
Then ask those mentors to register at ChiefDelphi.
Then give them the ability to confirm team member registrations.

Not happening, for the following reasons:
1) Probably half the mentors won't register, unless it's required (and FIRST won't require it, I'm sure). And confirming team member registrations? Har.
2) The odds of a spambot using a given team number are slim--but the odds of them using 0000 are pretty decent.
3) Restricts Chief Delphi to only FIRSTers--which doesn't help with growing FIRST at all.

Essentially, that places a burden on the mods the first few times any given new member posts. As I noted earlier, I think the mod list needs a shakeup before any more work is placed on them.

The location tracking, and mentor approval... I think that's a bit clunky.

Oh, wait, I know! What's the most current version of vBulletin again, and which version are we on? (hint: they aren't the same)

[efoote868]

Originally Posted by inkling16

I disagree. I made my CD account specifically to ask a time-sensitive question during the build season. There is no way that I would have even bothered if I had had to weigh in on other discussions and wait for someone nice to give me rep points. I had, in fact, searched through CD several times, and my question hadn't been asked.

Asking a new question might not require a new thread; especially if there were one stickied for that purpose.

[Scott L.]

The use of a verisign generated token that changes everytime the use logs in. there is a phone apps from verisn to work as the token. this would lower the amount of repeat spammers, since the code changes each time based on an algarith, and changes every 30sec.