Warhammer-Empire.com
Admin & Moderator Area => The Library => The Altdorf Press (Archive) => Topic started by: Midaski on January 19, 2012, 06:40:03 PM
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Many of you will have noticed that we are increasingly being plagued by Spam members and posts.
We have been monitoring the 'new' members and getting up to 30 a day of which 28/29 are spammers.
We have therefore decided to introduce an approval system for new members - guests trying to join will have their registration interrupted and an email is sent to all the staff - much like when a member hits the 'report' button.
Staff are directed to a link where they can see the prospective new member and if they think it is genuine they can click an 'approve' button.
To all guests who may read this we wish to say that this is not what we wanted, but the sheer volume of spam is ruining our genuine members enjoyment and we feel forced to act.
If you have been browsing the site already I am sure you will feel it is worth a bit of a wait to get approved.
Our staff coverage across the globe and time zones is pretty comprehensive and we hope that in most cases genuine applications will be approved within a couple of hours.
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Looks like some bots got in before the new system was enacted!
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But with fire and faith we will cleanse this place from them ! For Sigmar ! For the Empire !
*blush* Ooops, I seem to have gotten carried away a little...
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But with fire and faith we will cleanse this place from them ! For Sigmar ! For the Empire !
*blush* Ooops, I seem to have gotten carried away a little...
No, seems a legitimate response.
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But with fire and faith we will cleanse this place from them ! For Sigmar ! For the Empire !
*blush* Ooops, I seem to have gotten carried away a little...
YEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSS.
UNLOCK THE SHIT.
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Just a quick update.
The assault seems relentless - we reviewed over 70 new membership sign-ups yesterday and I think 3 looked legit - one has posted an intro.
I've just reviewed another 120 that have come through in the last 16 hours.
We have the 'blurry figures' image set on "High" and have just changed the 'question' from simple maths to a warhammer related one.
Need to see if that helps - we are being besieged.
:engel:
In the dim dark depths of recession 2012 there is only war - Midaski against the spambots.
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While I like the change to the question that should keep a lot of bots out, I think it may keep out some potential real members. As odd as it seems, I bet there are a lot of players that don't know the answer! It may be better to ask "Who is the current Emporer of the Empire?" Even newbie Empire players will know that, where as a whole lot of them won't know where the GW HQ is.
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The porn in the EF was particularly troubling.
Thanks guys!
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Might a workable solution be to disallow posting privs to ALL boards on the site until the member has been approved by a Mod, with the exception of a board specifically set up for intro posts?
Then, tell new users (after that have run the gauntlet of Midaski's verification) they must post a post in that forum and THEN they get approved.
If the post is a picture of a real-life Klockenbooty model doing unmentionable things to a man with an Ogre mustache, then we know they are not a real person. If the post is "Hello, I like the Empire and I want to paint models" we know they are a real person.
Or a particular type of fetish-porn-spam-bot, take your pick.
This would concentrate the spam into a single board which people could ignore at their pleasure.
Just a suggestion for "the next stage" in the arms race. You have my sympathy, guys - thank you for your service.
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The problem with that approach is that were are supposed to be a family freindly board. Isolating it to just one board, still makes it viewable. I think the goal is to elliminate it, so everyone coming here doesn't have to see it, including the young 'uns.
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I am not suggesting we get rid of Midaski's Maze, but rather we (if necessary) add an additional level of protection. So, if someone gets past Midaski's Maze of having a good username which is not ciallis4cheep etc, answering the question correctly, and is STILL a bot they cannot mess up the rest of the forum.
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The problem with that approach is that were are supposed to be a family freindly board. Isolating it to just one board, still makes it viewable. I think the goal is to elliminate it, so everyone coming here doesn't have to see it, including the young 'uns.
I was about to say that we could make the intro board mod only, but then I realized the stupidity of that idea.
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I was about to say that we could make the intro board mod only, but then I realized the stupidity of that idea.
This is also exactly what I did.
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Well I seem to have cured the spambots.
5 hours on from the 'new' questions and not a single "new" member awaiting approval.
The worry now is it may have discouraged a prospective member. That is difficult to know - we probably average a couple of real people a day.
Time will tell.
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The porn in the EF was particularly troubling.
Thanks guys!
I can understand why porn on here is troubling Finlay, but what's the EF....?
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The porn in the EF was particularly troubling.
Thanks guys!
I can understand why porn on here is troubling Finlay, but what's the EF....?
The Electors' Forum.