spambots

Dakeru

It's getting worse and worse all the time.
The screenshot below represents the new daily normal.

Will mmorpg install features to limit this?

https://abload.de/img/spambotsvljeo.jpg

Nilden

Bots gone wild and apparently they give zero shits.

kitarad

It takes an actual person quite a bit of time to go through the threads and remove the posts but the bot just runs some script I guess that finds posts and posts on them. A lot of effort to remove not much to post.

This site probably doesn't have then time and manpower to do it so they just let it go.

MightyUnclean

kitarad said:

It takes an actual person quite a bit of time to go through the threads and remove the posts but the bot just runs some script I guess that finds posts and posts on them. A lot of effort to remove not much to post.

This site probably doesn't have then time and manpower to do it so they just let it go.

Put in the tech where you at least have to click on all the images with a certain item (like a stoplight or fire hydrant) in them to create an account, or even at every post made.  Personally, I would be willing to have that 5-second inconvenience at posting to stop the bots on here.  But I imagine implementing that system would cost money that MMORPG.com doesn't have, or at least isn't willing to spend.  That, and I believe at this point, those who run this site have simply stopped caring.

Slapshot1188

MightyUnclean said:

kitarad said:

It takes an actual person quite a bit of time to go through the threads and remove the posts but the bot just runs some script I guess that finds posts and posts on them. A lot of effort to remove not much to post.

This site probably doesn't have then time and manpower to do it so they just let it go.

Put in the tech where you at least have to click on all the images with a certain item (like a stoplight or fire hydrant) in them to create an account, or even at every post made.  Personally, I would be willing to have that 5-second inconvenience at posting to stop the bots on here.  But I imagine implementing that system would cost money that MMORPG.com doesn't have, or at least isn't willing to spend.  That, and I believe at this point, those who run this site have simply stopped caring.

If you could put in such a system for the first X posts that would be great.  Maybe have to do it for the first 50 or so and then the requirement gets dropped

Tiller

 

Slapshot1188 said:

MightyUnclean said:

kitarad said:

It takes an actual person quite a bit of time to go through the threads and remove the posts but the bot just runs some script I guess that finds posts and posts on them. A lot of effort to remove not much to post.

This site probably doesn't have then time and manpower to do it so they just let it go.

Put in the tech where you at least have to click on all the images with a certain item (like a stoplight or fire hydrant) in them to create an account, or even at every post made.  Personally, I would be willing to have that 5-second inconvenience at posting to stop the bots on here.  But I imagine implementing that system would cost money that MMORPG.com doesn't have, or at least isn't willing to spend.  That, and I believe at this point, those who run this site have simply stopped caring.

If you could put in such a system for the first X posts that would be great.  Maybe have to do it for the first 50 or so and then the requirement gets dropped

First 100 posts I say. That way know it will take dedication to spam these forums.

MightyUnclean

Slapshot1188 said:

MightyUnclean said:

kitarad said:

It takes an actual person quite a bit of time to go through the threads and remove the posts but the bot just runs some script I guess that finds posts and posts on them. A lot of effort to remove not much to post.

This site probably doesn't have then time and manpower to do it so they just let it go.

Put in the tech where you at least have to click on all the images with a certain item (like a stoplight or fire hydrant) in them to create an account, or even at every post made.  Personally, I would be willing to have that 5-second inconvenience at posting to stop the bots on here.  But I imagine implementing that system would cost money that MMORPG.com doesn't have, or at least isn't willing to spend.  That, and I believe at this point, those who run this site have simply stopped caring.

If you could put in such a system for the first X posts that would be great.  Maybe have to do it for the first 50 or so and then the requirement gets dropped

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing.  Even if they only did the first 10 or 20, I bet that would eliminate the problem.  These spam bot companies are probably looking for zero-effort, easy pickings like is currently the case on here.

MightyUnclean

Currently 13 recent posts in a row with responses from the same spambot.  It's getting worse and worse, and nothing is being done.

AlBQuirky

Bethesda's old forums had a NO LINK until X number of posts. I think theirs was 5. Simple. Easy. No hassle.

Make it 5 or 10 posts before someone can post a link. Problem mostly solved.

MightyUnclean

AlBQuirky said:

Bethesda's old forums had a NO LINK until X number of posts. I think theirs was 5. Simple. Easy. No hassle.

Make it 5 or 10 posts before someone can post a link. Problem mostly solved.

Yeah, but some of the bots on here are already posting things like wwxw.scamsite.com to get around that.  They need to prevent the spam bots from posting at all.

Slapshot1188

My question is always:  Who actually clicks those?  I mean, what level of human sees a bot post, in poor English, making insane claims about "I make $16k a month and you can too!" on an MMORPG site and decides to click the link?

Nyghthowler

This may sound naive but doesn't flagging the post and giving 'spambot' as the reason go straight to the Mods?

AlBQuirky

Slapshot1188 said:

My question is always:  Who actually clicks those?  I mean, what level of human sees a bot post, in poor English, making insane claims about "I make $16k a month and you can too!" on an MMORPG site and decides to click the link?

Apparently, enough idiots do

AlBQuirky

Nyghthowler said:

This may sound naive but doesn't flagging the post and giving 'spambot' as the reason go straight to the Mods?

I'm not sure, but those have to be manually removed. I see posts I flagged over 2 months ago (March/April) still here.

Nanfoodle

Simple fix is give limited mod rights to trusted forum members. Also add some of the things mentioned above. Like no links till you have done 10 posts. No ability to create a thread till you have 20 replies. Some action is better then none. 

Albatroes

There could be a rea$on why $pambot$ are running wild on thi$ $ite unchecked for a while, I'll ju$t leave it at that.....

kitarad

Nanfoodle said:

Simple fix is give limited mod rights to trusted forum members. Also add some of the things mentioned above. Like no links till you have done 10 posts. No ability to create a thread till you have 20 replies. Some action is better then none. 

I am trusted /gets ready to ban !!!

Tiller

Slapshot1188 said:

My question is always:  Who actually clicks those?  I mean, what level of human sees a bot post, in poor English, making insane claims about "I make $16k a month and you can too!" on an MMORPG site and decides to click the link?

Came close when I had a double click issue with my mouse and the "Flag this!" button on the report window appeared right over the link in the thread. Luckily I was able to move my mouse cursor off to the side enough to not click through it.

MightyUnclean

Nanfoodle said:

Simple fix is give limited mod rights to trusted forum members. Also add some of the things mentioned above. Like no links till you have done 10 posts. No ability to create a thread till you have 20 replies. Some action is better then none. 

Oh God, no.  Moderator rights to members would be so much worse and cause so much more unhappiness than the spambots do.

MightyUnclean

Siall1961 said:

I essentially started about a month and a 1/2 age one and i have gotten a couple of test for a whole of $2,200…this is the best call I made amidst pretty some time! “grateful to you for giving Maine this incredible possibility to profit from home. This similarly cash has changed my existence in such an excellent measure of courses, to the point that, bypass on you!”…….GOOD LUCK Click this Below connect
HERE☛……………  http://www.gocash9.com

Now that is funny.  A spambot spamming on a post about spambots.

Iselin

MightyUnclean said:

Siall1961 said:

I essentially started about a month and a 1/2 age one and i have gotten a couple of test for a whole of $2,200…this is the best call I made amidst pretty some time! “grateful to you for giving Maine this incredible possibility to profit from home. This similarly cash has changed my existence in such an excellent measure of courses, to the point that, bypass on you!”…….GOOD LUCK Click this Below connect
HERE☛……………  http://www.gocash9.com

Now that is funny.  A spambot spamming on a post about spambots.

Also impressive that he started doing this, as far as I can tell, when he was 13.5 months old and now he seems to be offering (heart?) bypasses. 

Nyghthowler

MightyUnclean said:

Siall1961 said:

I essentially started about a month and a 1/2 age one and i have gotten a couple of test for a whole of $2,200…this is the best call I made amidst pretty some time! “grateful to you for giving Maine this incredible possibility to profit from home. This similarly cash has changed my existence in such an excellent measure of courses, to the point that, bypass on you!”…….GOOD LUCK Click this Below connect
HERE☛……………  http://www.gocash9.com

Now that is funny.  A spambot spamming on a post about spambots.

Look at his post count; 14. Thats a dedicated spambot!

Scot

AlBQuirky said:

Bethesda's old forums had a NO LINK until X number of posts. I think theirs was 5. Simple. Easy. No hassle.

Make it 5 or 10 posts before someone can post a link. Problem mostly solved.

This would be a good step, but it is not full-proof. I have seen bots make a post or two without links, then edit them later to put links in. Also I have seen bots quote other posters and insert a link in the quote.

Wizardry

I have a simple solution albeit kind of hurts legit users.
5 days needed after sign up and 1 month before you can post a link.Number of posts is not as effective as 1 month because they could simply spam 5 posts in 2 minutes lol.

The reason i use 5 days and 1 month is because i feel both need to be long enough to make the person lose interest and/or forget.Maybe 5 days is too harsh because a new user will be turned off big time so idk that what number makes perfect sense but the 1 month i would be steadfast on for links.

I find it sad that detection cannot spot a link just by changing one letter in the string,seems very odd.

BrotherMaynard

Making it scan for links will not work, just like it doesn't work for in-game gold spammers. They'll use spaces, special characters and what have you and will easily get around the restriction.

Introduce a captcha for the first five posts after registration and use a cooldown system after each post for accounts with < 20 posts.

Bots generate a dozen spam posts within a minute or two - no human will ever be able to do that. It's not that hard to detect.

Once the forum detects a large number of posts from the same (new) account within 5 minutes or so, all of them would be automatically hidden and flagged for review. Also, add a 1h cooldown after each post from a new account (in addition to a captcha on the first posts) and that should do it.


Edit: take a look at the comments section in the Vermintide article. It's ridiculous.

Bloodaxes

What's even sadder, no mod even replied as of yet.