[DEV] Forums update

Submitted by saudor on Thu, 04/08/2011 - 6:00am
Hello all! As some of you know, some of the spam have been getting through in the forums. The forums may act weird in the next day or so as I update some of the security features (The Captcha has been made more complex) On the other hand, because the bots are getting smarter, I will be coding in a new measure to check all registrations against a central anti-spam server. This database is user managed and constantly updated so should do quite well to provide an extra level of protection. It's basically a list of email address and ip addresses used in spamming So if things mess up or act weird, then that is the reason :P
Forums: 
Development & Suggestions
  • 7336 reads

Thanks for that saudor appreciate you telling us whats happening as the spam stuff gets frustrating but also know it cant be helped. I am selling Maps,Paintbrushes,Stamps,Coins,Training,Collectables & Morphing Potions in my shop. To get to my shop please press on the link below http://www.neopets.com/browseshop.phtml?owner=buy_swap_or_sell
I have 51 Pages of Wearable Items 4 Sale in my shop, you never know what Bargains you may find. I restock around 7 times a day. To get to my shop please press on the link below http://www.neopets.com/browseshop.phtml?owner=buy_swap_or_sell
Sales | Thu, 04/08/2011 - 7:04am |

Yay! Don't you love having to do work because of evil jerks? Thanks for the hard work and time!
zixianna | Thu, 04/08/2011 - 8:49am |

Indeed lol. we've been getting hit real hard for the past few weeks. We've been getting so many bots trying to find holes in the system, spambots trying to get in, etc And that is why you sometimes see 300 "guests" online on neomallers Still keeping a close watch but for the most part, those attempts are useless [quote]Final Trial of Heroes Please enter the specified word. You are almost there. However, staring back at you, you see, what appears to be an encoded message written in solid stone. The message contains twenty words and is written in such an ancient language that you cannot read it. You immediately pull out your Ultimate Field Guide to NeoMallers and find that this is indeed is the last test of the heroes. You know that the tenth #word# is the most important in the following coded message. You also realize that the part inside stars/bolded in English are simply deterrents and that you should ignore it. The stone reads: " ? START COUNTING AFTER THIS POINT? owig oxilise ataxo izaqu owevo owebasa ifurac rihowo xodide uramad lolz neopets is serious biz girofalcon harvard pets "?: *[/quote] Genius lol. Working perfectly. The bots arent even identifying that part as "captcha" so it's not even trying to crack it but rather trying to fill it in with random profile stuff 0:-) Now we just need to link our page to that database for a second layer of protection ----------------------------- [color=purple]Are you protected?[/color] http://www.neopets.com/~punchback_bob CG information & more
----------------------------- [color=purple]Protect your account[/color] http://www.neopets.com/~punchback_bob CG information & more
saudor | Thu, 04/08/2011 - 9:00am |

[color=Gray]Good Idea: Feeding stray kittens in the park.[/color] [color=Blue]Uhhh... so the code word is "serious"? No, no, it's "is"! That can't be it... Can someone help me count to 10? :P I've never noticed the 300 guests... though it seems like they're trying too hard to be worth it. So that block of text looks like it'll serve as a pretty good bumper for a while, though anyone who wanted to manually get through, non botting, could easy. Though in the words of Jason Fox, "Hand crafted spam just isn't worth the hassle." --Incorrectly quoted from foxtrot.[/color] [color=Gray]Bad Idea: Feeding stray kittens in the park... to a bear.[/color]
[color=Gray]Good Idea: Feeding stray kittens in the park. Bad Idea: Feeding stray kittens in the park... to a bear.[/color]
davymuncher | Thu, 04/08/2011 - 10:26am |

haha. i think the one that's breaking in seems to be manual (or a really smart bot). I looked in the server logs and there were no failed attempts. They first tried to post but it failed since neomallers now restricts posting to accounts that are at least 2 hours old. Sure enough, they came back within 2 hours ----------------------------- [color=purple]Are you protected?[/color] http://www.neopets.com/~punchback_bob CG information & more
----------------------------- [color=purple]Protect your account[/color] http://www.neopets.com/~punchback_bob CG information & more
saudor | Thu, 04/08/2011 - 1:19pm |

[color=Gray]Good Idea: Feeding stray kittens in the park.[/color] [color=Blue]It could be some of both, a person just makes the accounts, lets them sit for a couple hours, then had the bot spam post all over the site. Do you have anything set up like neopets does with a wait time between posts? It seems like a hassle sometimes when you're talking on different threads, but it would inhibit bots quite a bit. [/color] [color=Gray]Bad Idea: Feeding stray kittens in the park... to a bear.[/color]
[color=Gray]Good Idea: Feeding stray kittens in the park. Bad Idea: Feeding stray kittens in the park... to a bear.[/color]
davymuncher | Sat, 06/08/2011 - 10:41pm |

Yep i partially implemented it a month ago. It still doesnt work for new topics though. Eventually im going to change the filters around and block posting of links to websites other than neomallers/neopets for accounts that are less than say.. a month old ----------------------------- [color=purple]Are you protected?[/color] http://www.neopets.com/~punchback_bob CG information & more
----------------------------- [color=purple]Protect your account[/color] http://www.neopets.com/~punchback_bob CG information & more
saudor | Sun, 07/08/2011 - 7:53am |

[color=Gray]Good Idea: Feeding stray kittens in the park.[/color] [color=Blue]By "new topics" do you mean you can create 50 in a row but not post 50 times in a row without it catching you?[/color] [color=Gray]Bad Idea: Feeding stray kittens in the park... to a bear.[/color]
[color=Gray]Good Idea: Feeding stray kittens in the park. Bad Idea: Feeding stray kittens in the park... to a bear.[/color]
davymuncher | Mon, 08/08/2011 - 2:24pm |

Wow this is a clever thing lol, that gigantic block of words just to get a single one out of it :P surely spammers will be demotivated by that lol even manual ones. Just one question>? You said that you can block certain email & IP addresses that are used to spam, but I have heard that there are certain ways to hide your ip or to change your ip like using proxy servers. Also, if you ban a certain ip address from posting, then wouldnt that hurt anyone else using that same ip but on different computer? like a person that acts normally but someone else uses that same ip?
harrier93 | Mon, 05/09/2011 - 12:22am |