talad recently upgraded the captcha verification...
Are you certain this was an "upgrade"?
Hardly saw so many since then... :P
Title: Re: Spam bots
Post by: ohforf on December 08, 2010, 08:48:05 am
I did some Research in Captcha solving by OCR... the Captcha in this Forum is very weak. :thumbdown: Of course, one could hire cheap Labour to solve the (quite good) Recaptcha (http://www.google.com/recaptcha)... but the usual Rate of 2$/1000 is too much for Spammers.
Title: Re: Spam bots
Post by: LigH on December 08, 2010, 11:49:33 am
And once again, 3 more.
The most annoying part of reporting spammers is that I always need to waste 30 seconds before I am allowed to report the next one. And Opera seems to be half-supported by SMF only, it always gets the submit buttons (both Post and Preview) disabled when it returns to my reply after that 30-seconds warning. So I always have to copy my reply, reload the page, and paste it back to send it again.
Title: Re: Spam bots
Post by: Talad on December 08, 2010, 06:46:28 pm
The forum has three settings: low, medium, high. The forum was on medium when the attacks started. I've change it to high about 2 days ago, but seems the attacks even increased!! So I've put it back on medium, and I'm looking at some additional modules to add a different captcha check. Unfortunately SMF is very popular and spam bots break it easily.
About reporting the spammers, just report one for each user. We delete all posts of the offending user in one shot.
Title: Re: Spam bots
Post by: Earowo on December 09, 2010, 06:57:46 am
@LigH dont worry, i do my share of reporting the spammers. @Talad, I noticed that you added, the thing where you look at the picture of a word, and you type it to make an account, is it the same for the forum now? if so, how are they getting by?
Title: Re: Spam bots
Post by: weltall on December 09, 2010, 08:35:19 am
because they can be read from computers
Title: Re: Spam bots
Post by: LigH on December 09, 2010, 10:33:23 am
There are many different styles of "Captchas" = elements which shall be hard to recognise for a computer, but possible to recognise for a human. But some seem to be either not as hard as one believes, or the registration is indeed done by humans. Or there are known board software flaws a hacker can use to circumvent the captcha.
Whatever it is, it appears to be quite easy at the moment. There may be more features to avoid spammers (e.g. IP area blacklists, moderator managed registration), but they may either have side effects or require more efforts from the staff (maybe more staff even).
Title: Re: Spam bots
Post by: weltall on December 09, 2010, 10:36:30 am
according to the ip to avoid them we would have to ban 3/4 cities in china (among them Singapore which seems the only outstanding of them)
Title: Re: Spam bots
Post by: BoevenF on December 09, 2010, 10:39:54 am
There's a way to file a report about a spambot before the first post? because there are fake users who don't post anything yet. this one, for example, is the last forum member when I'm writing that:
user: ege42dtdg floretta.kyles4ts@hotmail.com
sorry Floretta, but we'll kill you :D
Edit: just found what CAPTCHA means, now I can work hard with a smile on my face ;D CAPTCHA is a Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Human Apart
Title: Re: Spam bots
Post by: LigH on December 09, 2010, 11:28:57 am
Incredible how much spam comes from China, although China is known to use such a strong internet censorship?! :P
Well, no bias against nations. Being criminal is an individual attribute.
Title: Re: Spam bots
Post by: BoevenF on December 09, 2010, 05:46:14 pm
super.vicente@yahoo.co.uk user: TechGiraffe known aliases: TenSiren, RoundLion, RoundWasp, GreatBanana (lol)
Wanted, preferably dead. Shoot to kill.
end of Report. :devil:
Title: Re: Spam bots
Post by: Earowo on December 11, 2010, 12:41:00 am
NO TRESSPASSERS VIOLATERS WILL BE SHOT SURVIVORS WILL BE SHOT AGAIN
Title: Re: Spam bots
Post by: Candy on December 13, 2010, 08:50:57 am
*Candy pulls a smallish bottle out of her trenchcoat*
Wanna buy some Viagra?
Title: Re: Spam bots
Post by: Vakachehk on December 13, 2010, 12:25:01 pm
I sent a few reports in but now I can't because I am 'Abusing it'
Title: Re: Spam bots
Post by: ohforf on December 13, 2010, 12:39:57 pm
You may want to try reCAPTCHA for SMF (http://custom.simplemachines.org/mods/index.php?mod=1044). There are Instructions for a Manual Install on SMF 1.1.12. Sure its annoying as Hell, but a Forum without proper Spam Protection will soon be flooded with Garbage.
Title: Re: Spam bots
Post by: Vakachehk on January 15, 2011, 09:54:41 am
These forums went quiet, but they're backa nd I am seeing every thread covered in them!
Title: Re: Spam bots
Post by: Sangwa on January 15, 2011, 02:10:50 pm
Yeah, recaptcha works.
Title: Re: Spam bots
Post by: BoevenF on February 22, 2011, 04:52:57 pm
name: phonereview33 profession: spambot
shoot to kill please
Title: Re: Spam bots
Post by: BoevenF on July 16, 2011, 04:26:30 pm
Title: Re: Spam bots
Post by: Earowo on August 06, 2011, 03:54:00 am
Boe Is the host of the last 4-5 posts. I suspect him of spamming :innocent:
Title: Re: Spam bots
Post by: MishkaL1138 on August 06, 2011, 11:32:22 am
I want to say happy birthday to all the spambots :flowers: :flowers: Happy birthday little snippets of data, some of us still love your nonsensical babbling.
Title: Re: Spam bots
Post by: BoevenF on August 06, 2011, 01:18:31 pm
I feel more like a ghostbuster :P http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a83xRP5u59A
Title: Re: Spam bots
Post by: LigH on October 07, 2011, 09:57:21 am
Now they are even able to post in highly privileged areas (http://www.hydlaaplaza.com/smf/index.php?topic=31960.msg452205#msg452205), like the "Announcements" forums group.
The funny thing about that is: There the "normal user" is not even able to "Report" bad threads! :o
Title: Re: Spam bots
Post by: Minks on October 07, 2011, 01:00:12 pm
And this one is even using a PS-related text. :D
Title: Re: Spam bots
Post by: MishkaL1138 on October 07, 2011, 07:21:53 pm
These AI features won't cease to amaze me. I wish I could create a bot that smart. Maybe I could even hook him up on a Minecraft server.
Title: Re: Spam bots
Post by: LigH on October 12, 2011, 02:44:13 pm
Once again, spammers posted in locked threads (http://www.hydlaaplaza.com/smf/index.php?topic=31960.msg452376#msg452376); and normal users can not even "report" such posts because the thread is locked.
If they did not get group memberships, then they probably posted via SQL injections.