A better spread of moderation powers.....

[Ian]

Captcha will always get broken eventually hence why there have been so many different versions. I would hardly call moderating the first 5 posts of a new user using a sledgehammer, more using the tools that are provided for their intended purpose.

[Galahad/FLT]

A better combination idea would be to adopt the 5/10 post rule, but no-one but mods get to see the posts, after all, we don't want to see spammers at all, they should be invisible.

When a spammer is identified, don't ban them, let them stay in the hidden area where they think their accounts are still active and likely will only repost to that account, and set their post limit to be viewable by others as so impossibly high, that once they are identified as a spammer, they need never be touched again.

The spammer thinks they have a live account that is viewable by all, but in reality no-one sees their efforts at all.

Win, win.

[emufan]

Originally Posted by Galahad/FLT

Win, win.

maybe not, unfortunately.
example: TMidi request - the author, once joined, already lost his initial account.
If he ever considers coming back, do you think he will post 5+ times, to make his posts finaly visible?
maybe he already skiped it, coz he lost his 1st account :/

#1) and most new users will not get the hassle about their hidden posts,
so they will go away instantly.

#2) another example: new user seeks help for a ceratin game. 1st post.
now he has to repeat that post 5 times, eventually hit by a LART,
coz he does spam is help-request.
for how long do you think he will stay as a member on EAB?

again: bad idea

[DamienD]

Originally Posted by Graham Humphrey

I think a lot of these suggestions here are akin to using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

Whilst the current influx of spambots is hugely annoying, they do tend to get dealt with very quickly. Damien in particular has managed to stamp out a lot before they even create a post, and there's usually at least one of us about in waking hours to swiftly act on reported posts - and of course we normally spot them ourselves if they happen to post when we're online (I've certainly taken down several within a minute or two of their posts appearing in the forums and some have even had the good grace to submit their posts in the News sub-forum so they have to be seen by a moderator first).

I think making it harder for genuine new members to post, and creating more work for moderators in the process (if, say, we had to approve the first few posts of all new members), would only serve to be counter-productive.

The best way is to try and deal with it 'at source' (i.e. during the registration process) but they always seem to find a way round it in the end unfortunately.

I'm with you on this one Graham

Guys, yes it's been a huge issue for the past 3 months but we are pretty much on top of things.

Trust me, it's a lot of work and a right pain in the butt, getting sooooo bored of it.

...but I'm sure RCK will come up with a solution and implement soon.

[PeterK]

Originally Posted by Graham Humphrey

The best way is to try and deal with it 'at source' (i.e. during the registration process) but they always seem to find a way round it in the end unfortunately.

How about asking new users for their email address to send them a registration key (maybe as an image) that they need for activating their new account?

[Galahad/FLT]

Originally Posted by emufan

maybe not, unfortunately.
example: TMidi request - the author, once joined, already lost his initial account.
If he ever considers coming back, do you think he will post 5+ times, to make his posts finaly visible?
maybe he already skiped it, coz he lost his 1st account :/

#1) and most new users will not get the hassle about their hidden posts,
so they will go away instantly.

#2) another example: new user seeks help for a ceratin game. 1st post.
now he has to repeat that post 5 times, eventually hit by a LART,
coz he does spam is help-request.
for how long do you think he will stay as a member on EAB?

again: bad idea

New genuine users will be obvious and a mod can simply validate their account, no biggie.

[malko]

Originally Posted by Galahad/FLT

New genuine users will be obvious and a mod can simply validate their account, no biggie.

+1 .

[Ian]

Guess we are getting to the age where we fear change.

Lets just carry on as is, as no one ever sees the forums full of spam messages, no sir.

[Graham Humphrey]

Yes, 'cos I have nothing better to do with my life than to validate new members and their posts just becuase one of them might be a mean and nasty spambot.

[Galahad/FLT]

Originally Posted by Graham Humphrey

Yes, 'cos I have nothing better to do with my life than to validate new members and their posts just becuase one of them might be a mean and nasty spambot.

Sarcasm aside, does that also work for nothing better to do than removing spambots which is the reality now?

Some of us do the sarcasm better than others, but if the job of mod is too much Graham, theres no compunction on you to remain doing it, im sure others are happy to step up.

Just a thought

[meynaf]

New members shouldn't be allowed to post anything full of links. Defeats current bot, forces bot authors to rethink their strategy - which they might find not worth the trouble for a single site.

[emufan]

there are some vBulletin addons, like these:
SpamBuster
Spambot Stopper
Spam-O-Matic
some more links on vBulletin board, post #2.
some are for vB v4.x.x

[rare_j]

I've deployed Google's "I am not a robot" captcha on over 30 websites and found it to be very effective.
It also addresses the cat-and-mouse situation where the webmaster is constantly having to deploy new methods to keep the bots out. Google keeps the process updated so they take care of that.
Maybe people who sign and post while having fewer than 5 posts have to tick the 'I am not a robot' box.

[emufan]

Originally Posted by rare_j

Google keeps the process updated so they take care of that.

yes, that's a good point.
additionaly the server does not have to cope with another addon, those I listed above.

[Ian]

hehe, the irony of someone with 11000 posts implying they have better things to do with their lives.

[DamienD]

Who, me or Graham?

...no, I know who you were referring to

[Galahad/FLT]

Actually I heard of one method which is pretty much foolproof.

The bots can get past these "I am not a robot" captchas not through anything clever, but simply by scanning the code for all boxes and then auto tick them.

One method to defeat them is to have an extra box which cannot be visibly seen onscreen, but is there in the code, the bot doesn't know that it shouldn't be ticked because it has no idea the box isn't even visible onscreen.

That way a genuine user can't see the box so don't click it, whereas a bot will click it because they scan at the code level, if its clicked, it means its a bot.

[PeterK]

Originally Posted by Galahad/FLT

That way a genuine user can't see the box so don't click it, whereas a bot will click it because they scan at the code level, if its clicked, it means its a bot.

... and what happens if the bot writer is reading your suggestions here?

[rare_j]

Originally Posted by Galahad/FLT

That way a genuine user can't see the box so don't click it, whereas a bot will click it because they scan at the code level, if its clicked, it means its a bot.

Yes the honeypot used to be effective and still is against the simpler bots. But more sophisticated ones don't just look at the code, they render the page and check to see if the field is visible. Yeah I know, who would go to that effort? There must be money in it.

[donnie]

50 post before you can create a thread.