Bot problem

[Santaissick]

Shit!

We really need something to stop these bots. We have been humiliated by army of them and I think that they are posting more all the time.

Is there anything you can do?!? Or is this the end of Kenshi forums?

[Duck]

There is something users can do too, I ran a few forums in my day and at a point we had users who's accounts were compromised due to trojans. Those accounts were then used to spam similar messages.

[toaster Assassin]

On it now, toasting time!





Edit: I would love to take the time to thank Blxz for the PM about the bots, without his PM I would've missed the chance to spread fear and destruction amongst the spamming community.

[Kamos]

Do you get emails for reported posts or just PM's or something?

[John]

We shall destroy all bots.

[Santaissick]

Do you get emails for reported posts or just PM's or something?

I believe there is this door of power that only the chosen ones can access. Behind the door is orb of secrets that will tell them all they need to know to use the right amount of pixie dust to bend time and space. Then they prevent any misbehaving posts before it's too late. Or they might have separate mod post thingy where they see all reports and messages for them and actions made by other mods I dunno.

[Kamos]

What a preposterous thing to say. It's clearly pollen, not pixie dust, from Beedorum's honeyed halls.

[Kanaro]

Edit: I would love to take the time to thank Blxz for the PM about the bots, without his PM I would've missed the chance to spread fear and destruction amongst the spamming community.

Really?? I check out the New Posts link on the forum index page every time I visit the site. I could barely see anything due to 4 pages of spam posts, all easily identifiable. Had I known a PM was in order, that could have been done last night.

[Marrow]

Instead of highlighting the fact that there are bots when everyone knows there are bots, why don't you just report them and move on?

[iSuck345]

Instead of highlighting the fact that there are bots when everyone knows there are bots, why don't you just report them and move on?

IT'S A MIRACLE, SOMEONE HAS RISEN UP TO STATE THE OBVIOUS THAT WE IGNORED BECAUSE WE WERE PANICKING!

[Kamos]

He is the messiah!

[Xanmyral]

You know what would be more useful than banning bots? Having a better system to prevent them coming in. Just having them type in a static word, much less a word that is at the top of the list of "things to guess when having to type in human verification" is kind of a bad idea. Why not just implement a simple Recaptcha, or a more difficult word to guess? If you go the second route, instead of typing it up, put it in a picture. I don't doubt that some bots simple enter every single word on the register page into the human verification box until it gets it right, then guesses until its right.

Banning them is temporary, pretending its anything but is a folly. You don't treat an infection in an open wound by just dabbing at it. You close it up and sterilize it.

[toxiciron]

Oooh, I have a good idea for anti-bots. Just put a picture of a common thing in and have the answer be
"What is this object?"
Like an apple, or a toothbrush...

[Blxz]

Oooh, I have a good idea for anti-bots. Just put a picture of a common thing in and have the answer be
"What is this object?"
Like an apple, or a toothbrush...

Or a close up of a really obscure object. =)

But seriously, these bots have been swarming in lately. Just now the most recent one has put like 10 posts in each thread. Hope the mods visit soon.

[John]

Oooh, I have a good idea for anti-bots. Just put a picture of a common thing in and have the answer be
"What is this object?"
Like an apple, or a toothbrush...

Or a close up of a really obscure object. =)

But seriously, these bots have been swarming in lately. Just now the most recent one has put like 10 posts in each thread. Hope the mods visit soon.

Holy fuck, we need a better system of stopping bots.

[toaster Assassin]

Did another sweep. Honestly, this is just f***ing crazy.

I will ask that any forum user who views a spam bot to please REPORT it and I shall personally "greet" the bot (In the way I am normally accustomed to).

I WILL be doing a spambot-sweep throughout the forum every day till this is resolved. I will ask for your patience because clearly these damn spam-bots multiply quite a bit.

Any questions PM myself or any other mod/Admin.

-Toaster Assassin.


Feel free to respond to this post.

[Santaissick]

Just one question. Are you able to change the requirements to register/post on forums? Like can mods add recaptcha or is Chris only one able to make changes that big?




I think only few variations on thing you have to write would reduce the bot clutter significantly.

For example... Some have to write human, some have to write Beedorum, some have to write Kenshi and some have to write supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. And the pictures might be good too. I think that would be enough to eliminate most of the bots.

[Kamos]

I support all motions involving Beedorum.

[toaster Assassin]

It is up to Chris and his mighty beard, for only his voice can reach the honeyed halls to call upon Beedorum!

Sadly, we Mods lack the beard-power to do so ourselves.

[ArcaneSaint]

Adding better recaptcha measures would certainly decrease the amount of spambots getting in, but no matter how complicated you make it some will still get through (and I guess rules of diminishing returns apply here as well). These things are getting really good lately. For example: at the RockPaperShotgun site you have to solve a frikkin' puzzle (pair the right colour screens with the right colour PCs or something like that) to create an account, and they STILL have spambots appearing on almost every article.

But yeah, if you see spam, simply report and a mod will take care of it. And to answer the question, no we don't use pixie dust/pollen nonsense, it's simply a voice in our head generated by the mandatory brain implants mods need to receive, which tells us it's time to bash in some heads (or is that just me?).