Banning Spammers - A Permanent Solution (Full Version)

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Knavery -> Banning Spammers - A Permanent Solution (8/4/2010 9:46:01 PM)

Hey Guys,
This forum is getting ruined by spammers. I'm seeing more and more of this every day in just about every thread I read.

I'm calling all forum members to come up with ideas to present to Erik and company to help them eliminate each and every spammer that tries to access the site.

Here's an idea:

When registering to the forums, users must present at LEAST one serial number from a purchased Matrix game to get access. If that's too tightly controlled, require a small questionairre to be filled out by the applicant specific to wargames that can be reviewed by a Matrix Games representative. This might deter spammers from taking the time to fill in the questions. And I have a feeling if a spammer did in fact fill it out, Matrix can read right through it. Those are a couple of ideas.

I'm hoping some of you come up with some other ideas. I know there's not a lot of traffic on the Matrix forums, but some of us enjoy hanging out here and I personally don't want it ruined by these idiots.



Karri -> RE: Banning Spammers - A Permanent Solution (8/4/2010 10:11:20 PM)

Have some god damn moderators.



V22 Osprey -> RE: Banning Spammers - A Permanent Solution (8/4/2010 11:02:48 PM)

Having them put in a serial number of a Matrix game wouldn't work, as this prevents newbies from asking important questions or asking questions like "What Matrix games would you recommend?" In the end that kind of system would cause more harm than good. Questionnaire could work, though again, you don't want it too much work as this again, might deter newbies. I think it would be best just to do like most forums and have so that a new account must be approved by the admin or moderator BEFORE they can post.



TonyAAA -> RE: Banning Spammers - A Permanent Solution (8/4/2010 11:22:39 PM)

How about limited new forum members to only posting or responding to threads in a single forum (like "Beginner's Questions" or something) for the 1st month of any membership?

Something like that could at least be automated. Reading a questionable from every new applicant would be very tedious.





Terminus -> RE: Banning Spammers - A Permanent Solution (8/4/2010 11:55:51 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: V22 Osprey

Having them put in a serial number of a Matrix game wouldn't work, as this prevents newbies from asking important questions or asking questions like "What Matrix games would you recommend?" In the end that kind of system would cause more harm than good. Questionnaire could work, though again, you don't want it too much work as this again, might deter newbies. I think it would be best just to do like most forums and have so that a new account must be approved by the admin or moderator BEFORE they can post.


There's 32000+ users already. How many people do you think Matrix employ? Would you rather have them making games, or reading questionaires?



Fred98 -> RE: Banning Spammers - A Permanent Solution (8/5/2010 12:37:40 AM)

A questionaire could be automated and not require a human to check the answers.

The questions need to vary from day to day otherwise a bot would learn how to complete it.

-



sveint -> RE: Banning Spammers - A Permanent Solution (8/5/2010 12:53:16 AM)

The only way to fix this is:

a) Users can tag other users as spammers
b) Too many tags (10 is good) and you can no longer post + old posts are hidden
c) Email if you think you have been unfairly blocked

PS: http-referrer block does nothing but block legitimate users like myself



Phatguy -> RE: Banning Spammers - A Permanent Solution (8/5/2010 2:07:13 AM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: sveint

The only way to fix this is:

a) Users can tag other users as spammers
b) Too many tags (10 is good) and you can no longer post + old posts are hidden
c) Email if you think you have been unfairly blocked

PS: http-referrer block does nothing but block legitimate users like myself


But you run into a problem with this too. Let say I dont like what person x wrote..I could tag him/her..I'm sure I could get 9 others to agree to tag that user....Discrimination....



htuna -> RE: Banning Spammers - A Permanent Solution (8/5/2010 3:26:24 AM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: Karri

Have some god damn moderators.


I agree.. I think more 'moderators'.. could solve it



Poolmick -> RE: Banning Spammers - A Permanent Solution (8/5/2010 3:33:48 AM)

Its been so long that I forget but

what about those letters that are weird shaped that you need to type in at registration?

send a registration link to a email?




e_barkmann -> RE: Banning Spammers - A Permanent Solution (8/5/2010 3:39:55 AM)

I think everyone has some great ideas about how to stop this, just like my Aunt Alice.
Although one day she was bitten by a moose, and everyone was sad.




http://hatsofmeat.com/




Knavery -> RE: Banning Spammers - A Permanent Solution (8/5/2010 4:58:00 AM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: Chris Merchant

I think everyone has some great ideas about how to stop this, just like my Aunt Alice.
Although one day she was bitten by a moose, and everyone was sad.




http://hatsofmeat.com/



Oh good lord. LOL.



E -> RE: Banning Spammers - A Permanent Solution (8/5/2010 5:44:41 AM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: cmurphy625


quote:

ORIGINAL: Karri

Have some god damn moderators.


I agree.. I think more 'moderators'.. could solve it


That's a double-edged sword. If the forums become too much of a hassle or personnel burden for Matrix, they may consider at the only true and permanent way to stop spammers.... shut down the forums, as many wargame companies have done in the past.

I think Erik does a fantastic job here, and it's obvious that something has come up for him. I think everyone should try some patience (and quit foolishly answering the spams), without rocking our boat too much.



jomni -> RE: Banning Spammers - A Permanent Solution (8/5/2010 6:40:54 AM)

[image]http://www.crunchgear.com/wp-content/photos/spam_1.jpg[/image]



Southernland -> RE: Banning Spammers - A Permanent Solution (8/5/2010 7:11:23 AM)

Easy, we should take it upon ourselves to answer every spammer with a link to an equivilent but cheaper item for sale on ebay.



Bamilus -> RE: Banning Spammers - A Permanent Solution (8/5/2010 7:39:30 AM)

LOL I just saw this topic and currently the four topics below it are bot-spammer topics! [:D]

EDIT: Make that 5



Vincenzo_Beretta -> RE: Banning Spammers - A Permanent Solution (8/5/2010 7:54:56 AM)

Banning the poster into next timezone is not a solution. Many "accounts" just re-register by changing a letter in the username. This prevents an efficent "vigilantism" from legit posters, too.



sterckxe -> RE: Banning Spammers - A Permanent Solution (8/5/2010 8:39:47 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Joe 98
A questionaire could be automated and not require a human to check the answers.

The questions need to vary from day to day otherwise a bot would learn how to complete it.


The only way to make sure : have newbees write a treatise on the tactical advantages of using horse artillery versus 18 pounders in the Mexican-American War before they can post [;)]

Seriously : some extra moderators in different timezones would go a long way to solving the problem ... or we could just ignore the obvious spam threads - it's not as if they're hard to spot.

Greetz,

Eddy Sterckx



Les_the_Sarge_9_1 -> RE: Banning Spammers - A Permanent Solution (8/5/2010 2:29:23 PM)

quote:

When registering to the forums, users must present at LEAST one serial number from a purchased Matrix game to get access.


Damned genius actually. I support it 100%.

For potential new customers I would add having a mod like Erik ok all new accounts which might be a lot of work for Erik, but I'm assuming he's being paid to actually be here. And how many new members would he need to see in a day anyway. 30 minutes in his morning likely would greatly exceed the needs of the idea.

I'd go so far as to just log out the whole lot of us and have those that actually want to be here be the only ones actually really here. Let anyone else unwilling, be only able to visit as a guest.

Not that the spammers are seriously bothering me, but the idea of a solution certainly works.



NefariousKoel -> RE: Banning Spammers - A Permanent Solution (8/5/2010 4:05:07 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: Knavery



Here's an idea:

When registering to the forums, users must present at LEAST one serial number from a purchased Matrix game to get access.


That's a terrible idea.

Matrix just needs to change their confirmation code thing and appoint a reliable regular as anti-spam forum cop if their current moderators can't keep up with it.



Lützow -> RE: Banning Spammers - A Permanent Solution (8/5/2010 5:08:39 PM)

Blocking Chinese IP's would be a good start.



diablo1 -> RE: Banning Spammers - A Permanent Solution (8/5/2010 5:12:32 PM)

I think they should use the old copyright protection scheme they used in the old days.

What is the word on paragraph 2 of the forum rules, line 3, word # 6 spelt backwards?



htuna -> RE: Banning Spammers - A Permanent Solution (8/5/2010 11:42:55 PM)

Took a few days to get approved for both Wargamer and theblitz, probably cause Humans do the approving.. could be the way to go..



E -> RE: Banning Spammers - A Permanent Solution (8/6/2010 12:10:50 AM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: diablo1

I think they should use the old copyright protection scheme they used in the old days.

What is the word on paragraph 2 of the forum rules, line 3, word # 6 spelt backwards?


Error.
Disc Not Found.
Please Insert Disc 3 and hit Return.
You do not have enough free memory to run application.
Path not found.
Read, Try, Abort?



Jeffrey H. -> RE: Banning Spammers - A Permanent Solution (8/6/2010 2:00:57 AM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: Lützow

Blocking Chinese IP's would be a good start.


It's not Matrix is getting many sales from China anyway. Most of these organic spambots are Chinese or Indian I think.



Doggie -> RE: Banning Spammers - A Permanent Solution (8/6/2010 3:07:30 AM)

Using the "report post" button flags the thread with a saymbol only moderators can see. We got rid oif the spam bots at our forum by adding an advanced CAPTCHA that requires the usaer to solve a simple math problem in addition to the reading the warped characterd. MDDT is spam free.



jomni -> RE: Banning Spammers - A Permanent Solution (8/6/2010 3:21:48 AM)

You mean spammer's can't do math? I think they can since they're real people instead of bots.



Widell -> RE: Banning Spammers - A Permanent Solution (8/6/2010 10:37:10 AM)

Maybe a distinction between users with registered games and "potential customers"? User groups can be pretty useful against at least some types of spammers, aka, you need at least one registered game to post links or attachments for example. At least makes posting less interesting for the "human bots", and can most likely be automated as well = No additional workload for Matrix beyond the initial job to set it up.

Second, maybe a few of the frequent users here could be assigned to the "Matrix SPAM Guard", and at least be able to place users "in custody" until a formal Admin can ban them and their IP's? Not sure if and how Matrix would be willing to implement this....



SS Hauptsturmfuhrer -> RE: Banning Spammers - A Permanent Solution (8/6/2010 2:23:59 PM)

I'm not too fond deciphering those squiggly letters on every site now and wouldn't want even more hoops to jump through which are no harder for spammers to jump through than for me.

I reckon the spammers you got here are humans doing random copy & pastes with their TV DVD links inserted and the easiest solution is just delete their rubbish and accounts as they arise. We can only hope karma in the form of some gory accident catches up with them.



SuluSea -> RE: Banning Spammers - A Permanent Solution (8/6/2010 2:29:18 PM)

Spam does seem like it's getting worse not just here but other forums as well. To sit back and do nothing is doing the offenders a favor.



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