Ways to reduce spambots? | Bitcointalksearch.org

hilariousandco

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Quote from: alani123 on May 13, 2015, 10:38:41 AM

Quote from: hilariousandco on May 13, 2015, 04:10:35 AM

You just nuke them as you see them, or if a users first post was required to be checked by a mod before it was submitted publicly you could nuke them then and it doesn't clutter up the forum in the meantime, but again, they're not that much of a disturbance when they normally get nuked within minutes.

Bot accounts haven't been that extensive lately have they? What would you do in the event that someone started creating accounts by the hundreds each day?

Well either of the options works, but just nuking them as they post seems to be working ok.

alani123

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Quote from: Muhammed Zakir on May 13, 2015, 10:43:53 AM

Quote from: Muhammed Zakir on May 12, 2015, 09:09:49 AM

-snip-

So

• Change captcha.
• 'Website URL' should be disabled for newbies.

Can anybody comment on which captcha to use and whether there should be a limit for number of registrations per IP and browser fingerprint* per period? Also on how much time should that period be.

* If it is being saved.

I personally suggest AreYouAHuman captcha and one account per IP per 24 hours. Anybody?

I think theymos's points of evil system already prevents newly created accounts from posting if they were signed up from a IP that had previously been banned (etc.). Accounts with points of evil would have to pay a tiny fee in order to be able to post, this way making them useless to bots. However, getting a new IP is too easy so I don't think more IP based restrictions would be particularly useful.

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Quote from: Muhammed Zakir on May 12, 2015, 09:09:49 AM

-snip-

So

• Change captcha.
• 'Website URL' should be disabled for newbies.

Can anybody comment on which captcha to use and whether there should be a limit for number of registrations per IP and browser fingerprint* per period? Also on how much time should that period be.

* If it is being saved.

I personally suggest AreYouAHuman captcha and one account per IP per 24 hours. Anybody?

alani123

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Quote from: hilariousandco on May 13, 2015, 04:10:35 AM

You just nuke them as you see them, or if a users first post was required to be checked by a mod before it was submitted publicly you could nuke them then and it doesn't clutter up the forum in the meantime, but again, they're not that much of a disturbance when they normally get nuked within minutes.

Bot accounts haven't been that extensive lately have they? What would you do in the event that someone started creating accounts by the hundreds each day?

hilariousandco

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Quote from: XinXan on May 12, 2015, 07:19:39 AM

Quote from: hilariousandco on May 12, 2015, 06:58:43 AM

Quote from: XinXan on May 12, 2015, 06:42:01 AM

Quote from: hilariousandco on May 12, 2015, 06:39:53 AM

It's possible but like you said time-consuming. I wouldn't be opposed to approving accounts or people's first post but I'm not entirely sure it's needed as bots get nuked pretty quick.

How would you be able to know if someone is making an account from the same computer if he can just change his IP, i mean manual approval wont help at all right? Maybe looking into the username to see if its example and example1 made in the last 5 minutes then of course you would know its the same person but other than that it would still be impossible

You don't need to know what computer it's come from; it's the content of their post.

But for that you would need to wait until he posts with all his accounts, what OP is asking for is a way to reduce the registrations because afterall having more than 1 account is not against the rules and if you post good content with all of them you wont get banned.

You just nuke them as you see them, or if a users first post was required to be checked by a mod before it was submitted publicly you could nuke them then and it doesn't clutter up the forum in the meantime, but again, they're not that much of a disturbance when they normally get nuked within minutes.

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Quote from: ajw7989 on May 12, 2015, 09:35:12 PM

Limiting by IPs is a bad idea. Many people use VPN or servers. Using a captcha of sorts seems like a great idea and I would definitely support that though. Maybe also limit a section (such as marketplace) until you have x number of posts.

I know it can be easily bypassed but it will increase workload of users as they will have to use new IPs but still not hard. Limiting Newbie to certain boards is not I wanted.

Quote from: JarvisTechnology on May 13, 2015, 12:48:41 AM

Limiting the forum and only using invite only would be the only be to completely or nearly completely reduce the amount of bot accounts registering.

I don't agree with this.

JarvisTechnology

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Limiting the forum and only using invite only would be the only be to completely or nearly completely reduce the amount of bot accounts registering.

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Quote from: ajw7989 on May 12, 2015, 09:35:12 PM

Limiting by IPs is a bad idea. Many people use VPN or servers. Using a captcha of sorts seems like a great idea and I would definitely support that though. Maybe also limit a section (such as marketplace) until you have x number of posts.

I think there is not a definitely way to reduce the spam, if there will be one ... the work of mod. will not be necessary anymore (or am I wrong?). Maybe the report function could be improved, to talk with the mod (who handles the report) for a fast & better resolution.

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Limiting by IPs is a bad idea. Many people use VPN or servers. Using a captcha of sorts seems like a great idea and I would definitely support that though. Maybe also limit a section (such as marketplace) until you have x number of posts.

botany

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We should probably ask EyeOfSauron to take care of this.

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Quote from: alani123 on May 12, 2015, 06:52:37 AM

This has been discussed before. People that create those accounts are likely using very expensive software that's really good at captcha solving. There's a high chance that there are even humans solving those captchas through a service like anti-captcha. I'll have to agree that the current captcha is not the best, but other captcha's certainly wouldn't help mutch since they can still be solved by softare or some sort of semi-automation.

I found AreYouAHuman captcha is not easy to solve by a bot like other captchas, so adding it will be useful. I also tried using bots to solve Solvemedia captcha, the difficulty increased when I did but I guess it is still easier than AreYouAHuman. I know there are human captcha-solvers but all people won't spend money for this. It will certainly helps to reduce spambots.

Quote from: alani123 on May 12, 2015, 06:52:37 AM

We should look at why those accounts actually get created. Bitcointalk is a PR 6 website, this makes it realy good for websites that want to receive backlinks around the web. Those websites that get advertised here certainly aren't looking for targeted advertising but for better website ranking. I'd suggest dissalowing newbies to link to any sorf of website through their profiles. Maybe some restrictions when posting links too. Linking to your website through a PR6 forum is a priviledge, it's so easily abused at the moment.

People that create an account should be forced wait to get some activity before they can take advantage of bitcointalk's page rank for SEO. IMO this would reduce acount creation abuse for blackhat SEO purpuses dramatially.

This is a good suggestion.

So

• Change captcha.
• 'Website URL' should be disabled for newbies.

Can anybody comment on which captcha to use and whether there should be a limit for number of registrations per IP and browser fingerprint* per period? Also on how much time should that period be.

* If it is being saved.

XinXan

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Quote from: hilariousandco on May 12, 2015, 06:58:43 AM

Quote from: XinXan on May 12, 2015, 06:42:01 AM

Quote from: hilariousandco on May 12, 2015, 06:39:53 AM

It's possible but like you said time-consuming. I wouldn't be opposed to approving accounts or people's first post but I'm not entirely sure it's needed as bots get nuked pretty quick.

How would you be able to know if someone is making an account from the same computer if he can just change his IP, i mean manual approval wont help at all right? Maybe looking into the username to see if its example and example1 made in the last 5 minutes then of course you would know its the same person but other than that it would still be impossible

You don't need to know what computer it's come from; it's the content of their post.

But for that you would need to wait until he posts with all his accounts, what OP is asking for is a way to reduce the registrations because afterall having more than 1 account is not against the rules and if you post good content with all of them you wont get banned.

hilariousandco

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Quote from: XinXan on May 12, 2015, 06:42:01 AM

Quote from: hilariousandco on May 12, 2015, 06:39:53 AM

It's possible but like you said time-consuming. I wouldn't be opposed to approving accounts or people's first post but I'm not entirely sure it's needed as bots get nuked pretty quick.

How would you be able to know if someone is making an account from the same computer if he can just change his IP, i mean manual approval wont help at all right? Maybe looking into the username to see if its example and example1 made in the last 5 minutes then of course you would know its the same person but other than that it would still be impossible

You don't need to know what computer it's come from; it's the content of their post.

alani123

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This has been discussed before. People that create those accounts are likely using very expensive software that's really good at captcha solving. There's a high chance that there are even humans solving those captchas through a service like anti-captcha. I'll have to agree that the current captcha is not the best, but other captcha's certainly wouldn't help mutch since they can still be solved by softare or some sort of semi-automation.

We should look at why those accounts actually get created. Bitcointalk is a PR 6 website, this makes it realy good for websites that want to receive backlinks around the web. Those websites that get advertised here certainly aren't looking for targeted advertising but for better website ranking. I'd suggest dissalowing newbies to link to any sorf of website through their profiles. Maybe some restrictions when posting links too. Linking to your website through a PR6 forum is a priviledge, it's so easily abused at the moment.

People that create an account should be forced wait to get some activity before they can take advantage of bitcointalk's page rank for SEO. IMO this would reduce acount creation abuse for blackhat SEO purpuses dramatially.

XinXan

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Quote from: hilariousandco on May 12, 2015, 06:39:53 AM

It's possible but like you said time-consuming. I wouldn't be opposed to approving accounts or people's first post but I'm not entirely sure it's needed as bots get nuked pretty quick.

How would you be able to know if someone is making an account from the same computer if he can just change his IP, i mean manual approval wont help at all right? Maybe looking into the username to see if its example and example1 made in the last 5 minutes then of course you would know its the same person but other than that it would still be impossible

hilariousandco

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It's possible but like you said time-consuming. I wouldn't be opposed to approving accounts or people's first post but I'm not entirely sure it's needed as bots get nuked pretty quick.

erikalui

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Is it possible for the moderators to manually approve accounts to prevent bots from registering on the forum and then banning them? I know it's time consuming but if it's a method to help the forum, it's worth the time.

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Quote from: monbux on May 11, 2015, 05:22:28 PM

Quote from: NLNico on May 11, 2015, 05:30:50 AM

Just remember to always press that little "REPORT TO MODERATOR" link in right bottom. Generally deleted after few minutes of reporting.

I do this and they get taken down pretty fast. I haven't seen any spambots around, is that because I've been in the wrong sections? Could someone post some examples of some posts made by spambots?

See https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.11336341. There was an interesting post by a bot which shorena reported in Meta. I will post the link if I found it.

Edit: Shorena's post: https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/what-did-i-just-read-1019415

Quote from: XinXan on May 12, 2015, 01:04:55 AM

No what i mean is not IP ban or IP restrictions because you can easily just change your IP and boom start registering again, what i was asking for is if there is any way to restrict a PC like no matter what IP that PC has. I dont know if its possible probably not but that would solve the problem

IP ban is not much helpful but it can increase workload of spammers. Maybe banning by Browser Fingerprint if that's possible? It can also be bypassed like IP ban.

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Quote from: Muhammed Zakir on May 11, 2015, 05:41:34 AM

Quote from: XinXan on May 11, 2015, 05:39:00 AM

Is there any way to block the registration from 1 PC, like no matter what IP it has if its the same PC it gets blocked and you cant register more accounts? Or is that impsossible.

IP ban can happen but registrations shouldn't be blocked if there is an account from that IP. But there should a restriction for number of registrations per IP per day.

Quote from: XinXan on May 11, 2015, 05:39:00 AM

And what is the patrol thing?

See the link. https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=recent;patrol

It is a page for patrollers(aka staffs) for moderating newbies' posts.

No what i mean is not IP ban or IP restrictions because you can easily just change your IP and boom start registering again, what i was asking for is if there is any way to restrict a PC like no matter what IP that PC has. I dont know if its possible probably not but that would solve the problem

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Quote from: NLNico on May 11, 2015, 05:30:50 AM

Just remember to always press that little "REPORT TO MODERATOR" link in right bottom. Generally deleted after few minutes of reporting.

I do this and they get taken down pretty fast. I haven't seen any spambots around, is that because I've been in the wrong sections? Could someone post some examples of some posts made by spambots?

Topic: Ways to reduce spambots? (Read 1485 times)