I think we need to change the sign-up process so as to make it less easy for bots to create duplicate accounts and post never-ending spam. I've been playing a game of whack-a-mole today in the General Discussion forum... every time I checked it, there'd be another friggin' message about free pr0n etc. I've deleted the threads and banned the fuckers, but they just keep a-comin'. :wyatt: They seem to be faking their IPs, too, or they're using IPs from zombie PCs, because none of the spam posters had the same IP. The only similarity was their time zone: (GMT -12.00) Eniwetok, Kwajalein. The Marshall Islands? Hm.
Spam Wars - The Phantom Menace I think this all began with Cav-Action, who 'joined' back on 2/17/2006. It started with a trickle, but since then it's become all-out war. :transform
The ads I can handle, the free animal pr0n was a tad disturbing. Looks like someone has had a really good tidy up tonight, which is always a good thing
I've asked Sol to ban certain free mail providers (used by those spammers) from registering new accounts. What gets me is the fact that those bots are apparently able to beat the "Image Verification" test! These things are getting more and more intelligent. They'll take over the world before we know it.
One article I've read recently compares the level of A.I. in neural nets to that in a frog's brain. What it didn't mention was anything about their capability to actually learn things, especially in the way humans do. Their real power lies in calculations & speed; handling complex activities that are beyond the scope of human beings. In many cases, they have already taken over the world, or influenced it to such a degree that certain things in life are not possible without them. A symbiotic relationship, almost.
Can a pHp text field entry and also registration confirmation by email be established for new user accounts, please, to stop the spam garbage promoting gambling, drug sales, and porno sites?
I agree something needs doing. :rant: Alternative plan, which may be quicker to implement and have the same effect: AUTOMATICALLY DELETE EVERY NEW USERS' FIRST POST!!!! :twisted: As long as you tell people this will happen when they sign up, then real people will simply post a single new thread - which would then be auto-deleted before carrying on as normal. Spam bots, however, usually only post once don't they, so we'd never see their garbage... :evil_laug
I've now enabled the option "Verify Email address in Registration" in the vBulletin Admin panel. Thus, new users won't be able to post until they click a link that is sent to them by Email. Hopefully that'll keep the number of spam posts down.
