birthday / user list spam
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- planetmaker
- OpenTTD Developer
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birthday / user list spam
I'd like to suggest to have run on the database daily a script which bans the birthday list spam:
Users which
* only logged-in once, on the day they created their account
* and have a link in their profile
From my experience that'd remove like one to two dozen spammers per day.
Users which
* only logged-in once, on the day they created their account
* and have a link in their profile
From my experience that'd remove like one to two dozen spammers per day.
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Re: birthday / user list spam
Hello planetmaker: I agree absolutely. Not only do I support this suggestion, but it might be an idea to ban showing websites in members profiles altogether. Obviously this has been abused, and must be stopped. If this is implemented, there are going to be some members who will be disappointed. But it's the usual story in life. "It's the minority that stuff it up for the majority". I hope Owen will post some thoughts on this.
Windows 10 discussion here: http://www.tt-forums.net/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=72527
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Looking for AMI trains, Chicago Locomotive Works, etc: You'll find your needs here: http://www.locomotiondepot.net/
Here's another: http://www.walter1940.de Lots of interesting stuff on this site, including tutorials.
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Re: birthday / user list spam
I don't think we should ban websites in user profiles. The only users that abuse the field in their profile are spam bots and occasional human spammer. I presume such a (spam cleaning) measure could be done daily after the nightly backup.Greyfox wrote:Hello planetmaker: I agree absolutely. Not only do I support this suggestion, but it might be an idea to ban showing websites in members profiles altogether. Obviously this has been abused, and must be stopped. If this is implemented, there are going to be some members who will be disappointed. But it's the usual story in life. "It's the minority that stuff it up for the majority". I hope Owen will post some thoughts on this.
Formerly known as r0b0t_b0y2003, robotboy, roboboy and beclawat. The best place to get the most recent nightly builds of TTDPatch is: http://roboboy.users.tt-forums.net/TTDPatch/nightlies/
Re: birthday / user list spam
Fair enough roboboy. However, I would still like to see Owen's comments on this point. I have recently contacted him through PM, after I found some links to sites that contain "inappropriate" material, considering the age of some of the members.
Windows 10 discussion here: http://www.tt-forums.net/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=72527
Looking for AMI trains, Chicago Locomotive Works, etc: You'll find your needs here: http://www.locomotiondepot.net/
Here's another: http://www.walter1940.de Lots of interesting stuff on this site, including tutorials.
__________________________
"Don't badger the Badger"....(Retired Moderator)
Looking for AMI trains, Chicago Locomotive Works, etc: You'll find your needs here: http://www.locomotiondepot.net/
Here's another: http://www.walter1940.de Lots of interesting stuff on this site, including tutorials.
__________________________
"Don't badger the Badger"....(Retired Moderator)
Re: birthday / user list spam
The notifications are the best way to get rid of things like that. I've done that myself in the past, which roboboy can attest to. But not every spammer's profile has an ad for "Best Porn Site." Also, I recall Owen having said that it's really not necessary to do a full-scale wipe unless half of the users here have never made a post.
Re: birthday / user list spam
It's something that needs to be monitored. Any spam.......then delete them.
Windows 10 discussion here: http://www.tt-forums.net/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=72527
Looking for AMI trains, Chicago Locomotive Works, etc: You'll find your needs here: http://www.locomotiondepot.net/
Here's another: http://www.walter1940.de Lots of interesting stuff on this site, including tutorials.
__________________________
"Don't badger the Badger"....(Retired Moderator)
Looking for AMI trains, Chicago Locomotive Works, etc: You'll find your needs here: http://www.locomotiondepot.net/
Here's another: http://www.walter1940.de Lots of interesting stuff on this site, including tutorials.
__________________________
"Don't badger the Badger"....(Retired Moderator)
Re: birthday / user list spam
We try to move as much of the spam out into the trash as possible. Sometimes it is not possible to remove enough of it to be effective eg when on a mobile device it is almost impossible to go through the memberlist. Also the memberlist almost becomes unmaintainable after a day or two of not doing it. I will have a look at it later.
Formerly known as r0b0t_b0y2003, robotboy, roboboy and beclawat. The best place to get the most recent nightly builds of TTDPatch is: http://roboboy.users.tt-forums.net/TTDPatch/nightlies/
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Re: birthday / user list spam
@Greyfox, this is a well-known problem and had been discussed a lot. Unfortunately, since Owen´s last forums´ cleanup, there have already a lot of spammers being registrating.
Most of the time I visit tt-forums, there are no human beings active but only bots, spiders, and dozens of spammers "changing profile settings" (registrating).
regards
Michael
Most of the time I visit tt-forums, there are no human beings active but only bots, spiders, and dozens of spammers "changing profile settings" (registrating).
regards
Michael
- orudge
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Re: birthday / user list spam
A script to monitor the birthday list seems a good idea, I'll see what I can do with that.
I will perhaps also do another run through the memberlist to try to clear out some more spammers, similar to what was done a couple of months ago.
I will perhaps also do another run through the memberlist to try to clear out some more spammers, similar to what was done a couple of months ago.
Re: birthday / user list spam
Well most of page 1 when sorted by Join Date was spammers 7 out of 30 in fact.
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- orudge
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Re: birthday / user list spam
By definition, 7/30 is just 23%, so not "most". Still a reasonably significant percentage though.
Re: birthday / user list spam
Whoopsie, meant to say 27 out of 30.
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Re: birthday / user list spam
Do spammers have their posts deleted, or just moved to an admin only board of advertisements?
If they're deleted, then post count would be 0. So can you simply just if post count = 0, add a bit of code to ignore the user from birthday list. If they're moved, just check if all their posts are in an admin only section. Would kill off all the spam birthdays, no?
I've modified phpBB myself a few times, so I know its fairly simple to implement, just then maitaining the updates through phpBB updates.
If they're deleted, then post count would be 0. So can you simply just if post count = 0, add a bit of code to ignore the user from birthday list. If they're moved, just check if all their posts are in an admin only section. Would kill off all the spam birthdays, no?
I've modified phpBB myself a few times, so I know its fairly simple to implement, just then maitaining the updates through phpBB updates.
- planetmaker
- OpenTTD Developer
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Re: birthday / user list spam
Spammers with a post count != 0 are not that much of a problem. Those postings will be detected. And the people banned.Jolteon wrote:Do spammers have their posts deleted, or just moved to an admin only board of advertisements?
If they're deleted, then post count would be 0. So can you simply just if post count = 0, add a bit of code to ignore the user from birthday list. If they're moved, just check if all their posts are in an admin only section. Would kill off all the spam birthdays, no?
I've modified phpBB myself a few times, so I know its fairly simple to implement, just then maitaining the updates through phpBB updates.
Spam postings are contained in a special board dedicated to spam. It's a failsafe measure to not inadvertly delete postings in the case of an error.
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Re: birthday / user list spam
Well, it'd be easy to detect those spammers, or specifically the spam accounts, and drop them from the birthdays list, from my phpBB modding experience anyway.
- planetmaker
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Re: birthday / user list spam
They are not a problem. Banned accounts don't show there.Jolteon wrote:Well, it'd be easy to detect those spammers, or specifically the spam accounts, and drop them from the birthdays list, from my phpBB modding experience anyway.
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Re: birthday / user list spam
...I'm not really referring to banned people uniquely. The same can be applied to any users. Such as those that register but never post, no one really gives a hoot about their birthdays.
Re: birthday / user list spam
Jolteon does raise a valid point. Why show the birthday of a human who visited a few times in 2011 but never even posted? The birthdays we do care about would logically be the birthdays of users who actually post here. Such as me.
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Re: birthday / user list spam
I had a look at the member list earlier and there were 2 whole pages of presumably spammers.
Formerly known as r0b0t_b0y2003, robotboy, roboboy and beclawat. The best place to get the most recent nightly builds of TTDPatch is: http://roboboy.users.tt-forums.net/TTDPatch/nightlies/
Re: birthday / user list spam
Actually, I don't care much about the birthday list at all. If someone wants to celebrate their birthday here, we got a topic in off-topic. IMO this birthday lists causes more problems than it does good. But I guess one of the reasons I never use it is because it's quite rare to see a familiar name pop up there. Having a birthday listed there is nothing special. We got tens of them each day.Chrill wrote:Jolteon does raise a valid point. Why show the birthday of a human who visited a few times in 2011 but never even posted? The birthdays we do care about would logically be the birthdays of users who actually post here. Such as me.
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