I am not a smart person when it comes to message board operations, but I wonder if we could create an extra registration process that requires the applicant to tell us why he or she wants to be a member of this board. Yahoo Groups have this option. The individual (s) who review them can make the determination if it is legit. Just a thougt...or is that too much work?
Thanks FF.
I keep trying to stay ahead of them, but spammers can switch domain names so fast that it hardly matters.
I keep jamming the domains that I know are temporary ones created by them on their own spambot servers, but then they come back with another. It looks like we have a bunch from Russia and then a lot from Germany (The Bauers). I stopped the Russian ones and it looks like they are actually done for now (fingers crossed), but the German ones keep switching on me. Until we get an update to the actual registration page so that a spider cannot get past the activation code (right now it is in plain text and not wobbly with different colors as it should be) this is going to keep happening. I don't want to block an IP block as I might be blocking a bunch of real German posters and since they don't post...I really don't have an IP anyway!
Does anyone know of a place to get one of the wobbly things that Camusa is talking about and exactly what is needed to install it? I realize this is something Ernest basically has to do, but I thought maybe if we were able to do the homework on it we could let Ernest know and it might be able to be done. (Just a thought)
Fortunatley we are all keeping a good eye out for problems and squashing them when they appear which is a great band aid for now. Pat yourselves on the back [QUOTE=Firefly]
Does anyone know of a place to get one of the wobbly things that Camusa is talking about and exactly what is needed to install it? I realize this is something Ernest basically has to do, but I thought maybe if we were able to do the homework on it we could let Ernest know and it might be able to be done. (Just a thought)[/QUOTE]
Ernest already has it employed on the main page! That's the funny thing. The main page to send an email to administration has all of this eupdated stuff in place, but not the actual forum!
ETA: Something like this, but even more elaborate with color, numbers and more randomness...this one is actually kind of simple (Makes it harder for the spiders):
Ours would simply look like this right now:
villanova liberated
Very easy for a spider to crawl over.
Everyone keep there eyes open and PLEASE Let an admin know (make a post here with the username as a link or click report) when you find a troll or spammer BEFORE deleting so we can get rid of the pesky guest.
ETA the obvious - this has only midley slowed down the spammers unfortunately, but thanks Camusa for trying to alleviate the problem. I know you will keep brainstorming it.
EEEEEwwwwww I hate spiders!
Oh that wasn't the kind you meant was it? - Well I hate those other kinds too! Pesky little critters!
On a serious note, am I understanding that basically all that needs done is for Ernest to implement whathe already has in software?
Got Cha. Hopefully when ernest has time he will let us know about it.
I understand the thought behind your idea little byrd and appreciate all the ideas. However I have been on the other side of having to approve memberships and with more than 6000 members here and probably between 5 - 10 new members adding daily it can be alot of work approving each membership.
Also the problem comes when a parent of a newly diagnosed child finds this site and desperately want to post but has to wait for membership approval, it is devistating to them.
No Little Byrd it is a great thought. It would take the admins approving every new member, but I would be up for that. Thing is, this board does not currently support such functionality. We have discussed tis one before. If we had the option we would employ it, but we probably won't see a security upgrade until ernest visits and upgades the software.[QUOTE=Firefly]Also the problem comes when a parent of a newly diagnosed child finds this site and desperately want to post but has to wait for membership approval, it is devistating to them.
[/QUOTE]
This is a really great point.
I have hidden the mod forum contents from all save mods so I am hopeful we can start posting topics. We shall see!
I have activated the "Registration requires a confirmation email" on this site.
Firefly has brought a bunch of troll regitrations to my attention none of whom are posting. The only common thread is the birthdate and frankly, since I do not have an IP block with 0 posts, I cannot be sure that this is the same person.
The email registration will mean that they really have to want to get in and have a membership.
The security on this site is for sh*t. The security code that one needs to type in is old and plain text...this means that a bot could screen scrape that code. Usually these codes are distorted and of various colors to thwart bots, but since we are on version 7.x and the software is up to version 9.x and I cannot get in touch with Ernest we will have to make a go of it with what we have until he gets to us.
The measure I put in place is only a small measure and does not ensure that we will not get spammers or trolls.
Firefly, I will keep looking for a common thread to block these users, but again, I am not convinced that they are the same person. Two from a Russian domain is the only commonality I can see. Delete them as you see fit.