Spambots

[ToPleaseHim]

Hey @Manu and @Laurel - have you considered adding CAPTCHA or other human verification to the registration process to stop the spambot assaults we’ve been seeing? I know new accounts have email verification, but they are clearly sailing through that.

 

[TheWritingGroup]

Will the various "prove your humanity" services support an adult site?

 

[SmilingLez]

Will the various "prove your humanity" services support an adult site?

Yes.

However, the real question you should be asking is - can Lit's backend handle CAPTCHA or another human verification app?

 

[TheWritingGroup]

Yes.

However, the real question you should be asking is - can Lit's backend handle CAPTCHA or another human verification app?

A friend of mine added AI scraping protection (which also blocks spambots) to his self-hosted blog in a few hours. Granted he's very smart, I don't think he's he greatest sysadmin genius on Earth.

 

[SmilingLez]

A friend of mine added AI scraping protection (which also blocks spambots) to his self-hosted blog in a few hours. Granted he's very smart, I don't think he's he greatest sysadmin genius on Earth.

How old is his server?

 

[TheWritingGroup]

How old is his server?

I don't know and it doesn't matter. It's mostly a matter of DNS and Apache (or other server) settings.

 

[SmilingLez]

Perhaps the easiest way (and not screw with the fragile failing backend) to curb spam bots is to not allow new members to post hyperlinks for 5 days. It seems that all of their effing posts are within the first several hours of becoming members. The people behind the spam bots will get bored and leave on their own

 

[Underscore_2]

Hey @Manu and @Laurel - have you considered adding CAPTCHA or other human verification to the registration process to stop the spambot assaults we’ve been seeing? I know new accounts have email verification, but they are clearly sailing through that.

That's not a bad idea except for those who have to use a proxy server to access the site for legal reasons

 

[TheWritingGroup]

That's not a bad idea except for those who have to use a proxy server to access the site for legal reasons

I use a proxy. CAPCHA works fine through this proxy (Proton).

 

[AG31]

We're asked to report spambots, but how does one know that's what a poster is?

 

[ToPleaseHim]

We're asked to report spambots, but how does one know that's what a poster is?

In the past couple of weeks, there has routinely been a brand new member posting nothing but a link in hundreds of threads in rapid succession. And, to be honest, they are getting reported dozens if not hundreds of times, so rest assured the reports are happening.

 

[ICantLeafYou]

In the past couple of weeks, there has routinely been a brand new member posting nothing but a link in hundreds of threads in rapid succession. And, to be honest, they are getting reported dozens if not hundreds of times, so rest assured the reports are happening.

Yeah, I've reported every single one of those that I've seen.

 

[barefootgirl69]

Yeah, I've reported every single one of those that I've seen.

We only need one report and we look through the forum after that, otherwise it's a lot of added work. Thankfully, admin has banned these bots within a short time and the posts disappear, but the reports remain until dealt with (marked resolved).

 

[AH_Mod]

Yes, please only report one spam post per forum when you come across a bunch of them from the nightly spam-bot. Once you report one, the moderators will use the profile of the spammer to report it for banning to Laurel, and to find/remove all the posts in the forums they manage. Otherwise, the cleanup on the reports is another long task on top of the task of removing the spam.

And please do not quote the spam-bot. That creates another post to edit, and it may get missed while we're dealing with the direct posts from the spam-bot.

 

[ToPleaseHim]

Echoing what these two awesome mods have said Please just report one spam post per spammer and don’t quote them. Quoting them amplifies their reach and keeps the spam links present on the boards if we don’t see it to edit it.