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Author Topic: Spambots  (Read 3525 times)

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Offline iago

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Spambots
« on: November 16, 2008, 08:49:23 am »
Lately, we've been getting several registrations/day from spambots. We already had "require approval" enabled, so they haven't gotten through, but it also means that it's difficult to tell real people from bots. So, if you know somebody who's legitimately registering, either send me a PM or post on the forum or get them to email me or something.
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Offline Skywing

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Re: Spambots
« Reply #1 on: November 17, 2008, 03:19:27 pm »
Can you just enable email validation instead of require approval, or are they actually wiring up enough logic to follow the activation links in the validation emails now?
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Offline iago

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Re: Spambots
« Reply #2 on: November 17, 2008, 03:38:48 pm »
I've seen software that can follow the activation links, so it might. It'd definitely solving the most difficult CAPTCHA that a human can read (I tried the "hard" CAPTCHA but couldn't solve it), so I assume it's at least a decent bot. I'd rather not clean up spam. :)
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Offline Newby

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Re: Spambots
« Reply #3 on: November 17, 2008, 04:47:01 pm »
We should write some sort of delayed activation. Randomly between 1 and 5 minutes after you register, it'll activate your account. Bots won't know how long to wait around, and I doubt they'd come back.
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Offline Camel

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Re: Spambots
« Reply #4 on: November 17, 2008, 04:48:32 pm »
Years ago, I solved a problem like this by modifying the captcha to add moderately thick black bars over the letters. You certainly will have results that are not human readable with that approach, but most of them will be.
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Offline iago

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Re: Spambots
« Reply #5 on: November 17, 2008, 07:05:55 pm »
I'm not too worried about "fixing" it, since it isn't really a problem. I've taken a couple steps to make sure we don't turn down real people, so everything should be fine.
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Offline iago

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Re: Spambots
« Reply #6 on: November 19, 2008, 05:14:09 pm »
Heh, latest one signed up with:
     bsr.bot@gmail.com

At least he's being honest. :)
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Offline Sidoh

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Re: Spambots
« Reply #7 on: November 19, 2008, 06:01:23 pm »
Hahaha.  We should let him post just for that. :)
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Offline Lead

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Re: Spambots
« Reply #8 on: November 20, 2008, 07:02:00 am »
If I'm not mistaken there's some kind of Meta Tags you can use to stop them from registering(?).
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Offline Sidoh

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Re: Spambots
« Reply #9 on: November 20, 2008, 12:34:46 pm »
Quote from: Lead on November 20, 2008, 07:02:00 am
If I'm not mistaken there's some kind of Meta Tags you can use to stop them from registering(?).

Yeah, maybe if they give a shit what you tell them to do.  Spam bots rarely care about that, though. ;P
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Offline Camel

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Re: Spambots
« Reply #10 on: November 20, 2008, 01:17:22 pm »
I read something about a proposed enhancement to SMTP, whereby emails that are not digitally signed with a legally binding contract that says "this is not spam," the MX rejects the message. Too bad it could never work :(
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<Camel> i said what what
<Blaze> in the butt
<Camel> you want to do it in my butt?
<Blaze> in my butt
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<Blaze> Okay!
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