Discover Seattle!

General Category => Discover Seattle! => Topic started by: TehBorken on May 27 07 07:41

Title: Anti-Bot Measures
Post by: TehBorken on May 27 07 07:41
  Because we've seen a rise in the number of 'bots' ([a href="vny!://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_bot#Malicious_purposes"]automated robot posters[/a]) dumping spam into the forum, we'll be installing a simple anti-bot trap in the next day or so. It'll ask you to type a few letters/numbers into a field to post your message.

It's not a distorted graphic, it's just some simple specially-formatted text that bots won't be able to figure out but that people can see clearly. It won't stop human scumbags from posting their penis-pill junk, but every little bit helps. (//forums/richedit/smileys/Happy/14.gif)      
Title: Re: Anti-Bot Measures
Post by: TehBorken on May 27 07 09:10
[span style="font-weight: bold; background-color: rgb(17, 17, 17); color: rgb(255, 255, 0);"]UPDATE: Installed and running. Please let me know if you have any trouble at all with it. [/span]
 
Title: Re: Anti-Bot Measures
Post by: P.C. on May 27 07 11:46
Will we have to punch this in with EVERY POST?
Title: Re: Anti-Bot Measures
Post by: P.C. on May 27 07 11:50
Aaaaa.....I see that I do.
Title: Re: Anti-Bot Measures
Post by: kitten on May 27 07 11:51
Hi, Princess of the paint brush!  How is it going today?
Title: Re: Anti-Bot Measures
Post by: TehBorken on May 27 07 11:52
  P.C. wrote:
Aaaaa.....I see that I do.

I'm looking into ways to make it disappear after your first post of the day or not appear at all for registered users. May take a few days for that to happen. I hate doing this stuff but the pills, porn & mortgages spam was becoming more and more frequent.

 
Title: Re: Anti-Bot Measures
Post by: kitten on May 27 07 11:55
It's going to be a bit awkward for us slower typists.  It takes longer to shift up and down than it does for a one-word response.  However, I think it is a very good idea to have it in place.KXCmcT
Title: Re: Anti-Bot Measures
Post by: P.C. on May 27 07 12:00
lol....I just PM'd that very question TB.....to apply it to guests only.

  Upper case, lower case....numbers, upper case. [img style="CURSOR: pointer" onclick=url(this.src); src="vny!://www.cheesebuerger.de/images/more/bigs/c025.gif" border=0]

    ....and I just noticed, that if I have to hit re-post if another message have been posted.....I have to type in another code.      
Title: Re: Anti-Bot Measures
Post by: kitten on May 27 07 12:03
I suppose it's worth it for the added security, but it will drag out the responses.
Title: Re: Anti-Bot Measures
Post by: P.C. on May 27 07 12:06
Oy.
Title: Re: Anti-Bot Measures
Post by: P.C. on May 27 07 12:08
I suppose on the up side, it will surely cut down on one or two word responses.  It isn't worth the effort......lol
Title: Re: Anti-Bot Measures
Post by: Orik on May 27 07 12:09
im not a fan of such a device...
damn them bot spammers, making life harder for us regular john q posters...

KbzGMf
 
Title: Re: Anti-Bot Measures
Post by: kitten on May 27 07 12:12
But that would mean losing "Let's try a little..." and "I am a - z", two of my favourites.
Title: Re: Anti-Bot Measures
Post by: P.C. on May 27 07 03:05
I shouldn't have come on so negative.  I don't mean to be busting TB chops.  I know he's got a ship load of that crap to deal with and it's time consuming as well as annoying.  I have faith that he'll come up with a workable solution.
Title: Re: Anti-Bot Measures
Post by: Sportsdude on May 27 07 04:52
Hmmm, This will really slow down the conversations, I think.
 
Title: Re: Anti-Bot Measures
Post by: TehBorken on May 27 07 06:06
  Sportsdude wrote:
Hmmm, This will really slow down the conversations, I think.
 
I'm trying to make this as easy as possible, so please bear with me. Instead of random letters and numbers the form now gives you a simple word to enter, in all lower-case.

Seriously, SD, if this is really such an impediment for you, tell me and I'll step back and let the spammers rape the forum to death. I'm doing this to try and keep this place from being trashed on a daily basis. Believe me, there are lots of things I'd have rather done than spend the last 12 hours or so coding this stuff up. I hate having to do this shit more than you can imagine. If you'd rather the forum be overwhelmed by spam posts for penis pills and crap like that, let me know. It'd be a lot easier for me to let it happen than to try and prevent it.

I'm also looking at trying create a moderation system that lets people click a "This Is Spam" button; after a certain number of "votes" the post would be cleared, but frankly that's a hell of a lot of work to design, code, test, and install. If you want to code it up for me in your spare time, I'd appreciate it.
 
 
Title: Re: Anti-Bot Measures
Post by: Sportsdude on May 27 07 06:18

I don't have a problem with it at all
 
 
 
Title: Re: Anti-Bot Measures
Post by: TehBorken on May 27 07 06:33
  Sportsdude wrote:
I don't have a problem with it at all

My apologies if I sound cranky. The truth is, I am cranky. I hate spending my time trying  to keep one step ahead of the scumbags who just want to fill this forum with their useless spam and marketing crap. I had stuff to do today, and none of it got done because I was working on this thing. It's not how I wanted to spend my Sunday.  (//forums/richedit/smileys/Angry/5.gif)  
Title: Re: Anti-Bot Measures
Post by: Sportsdude on May 27 07 06:36
I know exactly how your feeling. Your a life saver, especially on Memorial Day weekend.  
Title: Re: Anti-Bot Measures
Post by: kitten on May 27 07 07:11
I'm sorry if I sounded negative, TB.  I can't begin to imagine the crap you have to wade through to keep this site going.  Thank you for all your hard work on our behalf, and thank you for making it easier to post.  I do appreciate what you have done in setting up this friendly forum.
Title: Re: Anti-Bot Measures
Post by: Sportsdude on May 27 07 07:14
me too :)  
Title: Re: Anti-Bot Measures
Post by: Sportsdude on May 27 07 08:32
thanks for changing the codes to words. :)  
Title: Re: Anti-Bot Measures
Post by: GORDY GAMBINO a1 on May 27 07 08:42
Spammers shit me. I agree with Teh Borks stance on this one.

One dickhead on either this site or Discover crap was selling ROLLEX watches. Yeah right. ROLLEX

What a fu.cken moron!
Title: Re: Anti-Bot Measures
Post by: Sportsdude on May 27 07 09:14
must have been the watch of Lex Luthor.  
Title: Re: Anti-Bot Measures
Post by: kitten on May 27 07 09:17
The lower case makes it a lot easier and faster to type it in before posting.  Thank you for changing it.  I struggle with the Canadian postal codes with the upper and lower cases.  My fingers try to tie into knots with the constant shifting.
Title: Re: Anti-Bot Measures
Post by: Sportsdude on May 27 07 09:34
gosh writing in postal codes compared to zip codes is like reading Russian for me. Especially my future postal code will have 5's and S's in it. lol I'm always fretting if I contrasted my S to the 5 enough.  
Title: Re: Anti-Bot Measures
Post by: kitten on May 27 07 09:36
I know what you mean.  Thats why I got address stickers for my mail.  I still have to print the code where I'm sending the mail, but I don't have to keep writing mine.  For a few bucks it was worth it.
Title: Re: Anti-Bot Measures
Post by: Sportsdude on May 27 07 09:39
Him I should do that because the postal code goes S5S or something, that's just going to give me fits.  
Title: Re: Anti-Bot Measures
Post by: kitten on May 27 07 09:44
Oh, that's going to be fun!  When this anit-bot security thing started it felt like I was typing several unknown postal codes.  It wasn't easy for me, because when I'm in a hurry I tend to transpose letters and numbers.  I've ruined quite a few envelopes by transposing the sequence of letters and numbers.  It's a pity when it comes to birthday cards because you can't get the right envelope without buying another card of the same size.
Title: Re: Anti-Bot Measures
Post by: Sportsdude on May 27 07 09:59
yeah reeeeeal fun. lol the 5S5 is going to give me headaches for the next 4 years.
 
Title: Re: Anti-Bot Measures
Post by: kitten on May 27 07 10:00
Imagine what it does for the mail sorting machines.
Title: Re: Anti-Bot Measures
Post by: Sportsdude on May 27 07 10:04
It must drive them nuts. I did 3 envelopes to Mala because the S and the 5 looked to similiar. Thank goodness I still remember shop class and spending hours and hours writing in draft lettering.  
Title: Re: Anti-Bot Measures
Post by: kitten on May 27 07 10:06
Practice, SD.  That's all you can do.
Title: Re: Anti-Bot Measures
Post by: Sportsdude on May 27 07 10:08
yup practice. At least I told my parents I'm not going to a school in Quebec, then they'd have to write everything in french. lol!
That would really give them and especially my family down on the farm headaches.
 
Title: Re: Anti-Bot Measures
Post by: kitten on May 27 07 10:10
They could write it in English, and just write the addresses in French.  Have to remember the accents on some of the letters.
Title: Re: Anti-Bot Measures
Post by: Sportsdude on May 27 07 10:13
That's what I was saying they'd have to write the address in french, that would drive my cousins especially nuts. They'd probably be like "Rue? wtf is Rue?"
Yup that's my family, god bless'em....
 
Title: Re: Anti-Bot Measures
Post by: GORDY GAMBINO a1 on May 28 07 05:49
FRENCH IS A WIERD POOFY LANGUAGE. A BIT LIKE PEOPLE FROM QUEBEC,IT SERVES NO PURPOSE AND MAKES NO SENSE.THIS IS AN AMERICAN SITE SO f*ck THE FRENCH. F.UCKEN FROG BASTARDS!!