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Spam attack

Questions about the forum itself, suggestions or issues with the forum software.

Re: Spam attack

Postby Gijs » Wed Apr 15, 2009 3:50 pm

Natovr wrote:With all due respect, that is stupid. I think all mods should be able to remove users and to on o_O

Permissions can be completely customized (even per user). I agree atleast someone else, beside Curt, should have the rights to ban users.
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Re: Spam attack

Postby QF52 » Wed Apr 15, 2009 3:52 pm

watch out we are having a Drought in Australia dont use our water
lol
No i think this spam should stop
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Re: Spam attack

Postby bnex10 » Wed Apr 15, 2009 3:53 pm

yeah it's really annoying
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Re: Spam attack

Postby bnex10 » Wed Apr 15, 2009 3:56 pm

Lol, the google, yahoo, and MSN bots are on because of the stupid spam. they're indexing the spam.


EDIT: I notice that the spammer are attacking the forums numbers 2, 3, and 4 as in the url
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Re: Spam attack

Postby Hooray » Wed Apr 15, 2009 4:04 pm

YourDailyTsunami wrote:That looks like a lot of work for the mods...

As previously said, this can be easily automated from an admin's point of view, it doesn't even require access to SQL tools, but can be mostly done automatically from the phpBB admin panel itself. Ideally, admin privileges would be shared with long standing and proven community members, so that people like Gijs or stuart could easily jump in to help in such situations.
Please don't send support requests by PM, instead post your questions on the forum so that all users can contribute and benefit
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Re: Spam attack

Postby Hooray » Wed Apr 15, 2009 4:05 pm

[quote="Gijs"]There are mods availble to strengten a forums defence system. I think it's time to take a look at some of these...
You won't solve this by adding another moderator.
Totally agreed, this is a technical problem. It need someone with admin privileges and ftp/shell access to modify the registration scripts, so that standard scripts will fail.
Please don't send support requests by PM, instead post your questions on the forum so that all users can contribute and benefit
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Re: Spam attack

Postby technobill » Wed Apr 15, 2009 4:30 pm

That's true, when and if Curt comes around, (which he no doubt will, I'm just waiting!) he'll have a lot of work cut out for him.

Now, I think phpBB can utilize CAPTCHA forms on registration. Would this not kill any entry attempts to be made by spam bots in the future?

And thank you so much Stuart! Have a cookie!
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Re: Spam attack

Postby bisutti » Wed Apr 15, 2009 4:40 pm

But I wonder.. How could this happend? I mean.. so many spam topics in a few days? :?
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Re: Spam attack

Postby Liam » Wed Apr 15, 2009 5:05 pm

If you updated to PHPBB3 some of the forum styles force users to enter a text verification thing on creation of a topic, not for posting, but for creation of new topics. Did I mention phpbb forum templates are free? :)... This forum could do with a logo too! its very simple to do....
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Re: Spam attack

Postby Gijs » Wed Apr 15, 2009 5:08 pm

technobill wrote:Now, I think phpBB can utilize CAPTCHA forms on registration. Would this not kill any entry attempts to be made by spam bots in the future?

We already have that one available ;)
But most bots can "read" such images. One of the best ways to secure a forum right now is the use of random questions. Like: "how many Es has the word FlightGear" or "How is our simulator called?". As long as you use questions that aren't (often) used on other forums the bots won't be able to deal with them...

Liam wrote:If force users to enter a text verification thing on creation of a topic, not for posting, but for creation of new topics.
Then the bots will just post in existing topics. They're like real life virusses. They will addapt...

bisutti wrote:But I wonder.. How could this happend? I mean.. so many spam topics in a few days? :?

Those "members" are bots that are programmed to automaticly create topics with a certain content (links/spam). As long as the bot is alive, it will keep on creating topics. So we have to destroy it (remove the account) and defence ourself to stop them next time.
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Re: Spam attack

Postby bnex10 » Wed Apr 15, 2009 8:13 pm

This is stupid but why not spam them back? :D

I'm joking...

But, we really need to stop the bots.
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