Please do not respond to the Spambots

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Taleweaver
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Re: Please do not respond to the Spambots

#16 Post by Taleweaver »

PyTom wrote:I'm not sure how to stop such people.
Really, I don't see the few spambots (or if they're people, spamdrones?) I've encountered here so far as a problem. Reporting them and just deleting their accounts on the first offense should work nicely as they usually get paid per click to the spam link.
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Re: Please do not respond to the Spambots

#17 Post by Wright1000 »

What are spambots, anyway?
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Re: Please do not respond to the Spambots

#18 Post by Taleweaver »

Wikipedia says:
Wikipedia wrote:Forum spambots surf the web, looking for guestbooks, wikis, blogs, forums and other types of web forms which it can then use to submit bogus content. These often use OCR technology to bypass CAPTCHAs. Some spam messages are targeted towards readers and can involve techniques of target marketing or even phishing, making it hard to tell real posts from the bot generated ones. Other spam message are not meant to be read by humans, but are instead posted to increase the number of hyperlinks to a particular web site, to boost its search engine ranking.

This category of spambot has gained considerable notoriety since November 2006, with the introduction of XRumer, a forum and wiki spambot which can often bypass many of the safeguards administrators use to reduce the amount of spam posted.

One way to prevent spambots from creating automated posts is to require the poster to confirm their intention to post via e-mail. Since most spambot scripts use a fake e-mail address when posting, any email confirmation request is unlikely to be successfully routed to them. Some spambots will pass this step by providing a valid email address and use it for validation, mostly via webmail services. Using methods such as security questions are also proven to be effective in curbing posts generated by spambots, as they are usually unable to answer it upon registering.
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Creator of The Loyal Kinsman
Scriptwriter and director of Daemonophilia
Scriptwriter and director of The Dreaming
Scriptwriter of Zenith Chronicles
Scriptwriter and director of The Thirteenth Year
Scriptwriter and director of Romance is Dead
Scriptwriter and producer of Adrift
More about me in my blog
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Re: Please do not respond to the Spambots

#19 Post by dramspringfeald »

A Spambot is a bit of AI designed to gather/submit/alter/gain information. used mostly for Getting people to go to a website that has attack software where people or more bots grab personal info and brake into your computer/bank account.

It's pretty sophisticated as of late but yeah. bots are just bits of programs used to get info. Much like Google Spider or other programs. just they've been turned to the dark side.
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Re: Please do not respond to the Spambots

#20 Post by dott.Piergiorgio »

so, wright1000 is a spambot per Papillon's type 2 (curious spambot) ? lol.

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Re: Please do not respond to the Spambots

#21 Post by Snowflower »

It seems like we're getting a ton of spambots these days... :(
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Re: Please do not respond to the Spambots

#22 Post by Taleweaver »

Today I saw a spambot post a VN into the Completed Games forum, all just to link to a few paysites in the signature. The bot even put a line like "I'm posting this game though I didn't create it; I just like it" into the thread...
´
These things get more intelligent by the minute now...
Scriptwriter and producer of Metropolitan Blues
Creator of The Loyal Kinsman
Scriptwriter and director of Daemonophilia
Scriptwriter and director of The Dreaming
Scriptwriter of Zenith Chronicles
Scriptwriter and director of The Thirteenth Year
Scriptwriter and director of Romance is Dead
Scriptwriter and producer of Adrift
More about me in my blog
"Adrift - Like Ever17, but without the Deus Ex Machina" - HigurashiKira

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Re: Please do not respond to the Spambots

#23 Post by LVUER »

There's even a spambot that review and talking about YuYuHakuso anime! And the thread is interesting too o_O Almost tempted to reply that thread! Though I'm pretty sure the spambot just copy+pasted it from somewhere...

BTW, guys. Please don't reply those spambots for whatever reason. For those who couldn't differentiate them from ordinary post, just take a look for whatever links on that post (usually at the signature/most bottom of the text). If the links leads you to suspicious sites (not DA, not blog) or smells like advertising, it IS a spambot.

In this case (the spam that post game and reviewing anime), it gives links to sites that sell some video games controller and other peripheral.
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Re: Please do not respond to the Spambots

#24 Post by PyTom »

I have re-instituted the rule that you need 5 posts in order to add a signature. Hopefully, that will slow these guys down a bit. (You wouldn't believe how many spammers/spambots don't make it through our filters.)
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Re: Please do not respond to the Spambots

#25 Post by dott.Piergiorgio »

Thanks, Pytom !
raise it at least to 25, to be more secure <g>

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Re: Please do not respond to the Spambots

#26 Post by PrivateEyes »

Yeah they are becoming a bit problematic. Them getting more intelligent by the day isn't helping either XD
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Re: Please do not respond to the Spambots

#27 Post by ririruetoo »

It's going to be iSpambot pretty soon...LOL
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Re: Please do not respond to the Spambots

#28 Post by OtomeWeekend »

this might be impossible i dunno and this might be a bother to the admins but why not try that the VERY first posts should be reviewed by admins first before it could appear in the forums just to avoid spammers i mean. ^^" I know it was quite impossible but just tried asking.
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Re: Please do not respond to the Spambots

#29 Post by sonone »

Ooh, so that's why I couldn't get a signature XD

oh well... lol

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Re: Please do not respond to the Spambots

#30 Post by LVUER »

Is it possible to block hyperlink tag for the first 10 or so post? Spambot power lies on links after all ^_^
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