is there a way to eliminate bots?.

G

galactus

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I know this has been asked before, but is there a way to eliminate all these infernal 'bot attacks'?. You know what I mean, the endless porn, pill, etc. posts which come from all directions. I bet there is software or something available; I have deleted countless numbers of them; They are insidious; The graphic porn, which periodically appears, is nauseating. It's a shame some sharp programmer couldn't write some sort of 'revenge virus' which attacks the source of these techno-abominations.
I notice they are mostly in the Intermediate Algebra section. Wonder why?. I have noticed other sites do not get inundated as this one does.
That's what leads me to believe perhaps they have some sort of blocker.
 
Yes.

We need a randomly generated CAPTCHA authentication image for registration:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captcha

Thiscan be added to phpbb2 but Ted will most likely be adding this sign up challenge-response test with the next forum upgrade. (be it IPB or, if he decides to stick with phpbb3, there is an addon for that, as well)

along with an image CAPTCHA, something could always be setup to tell the forum software not to include links for specific sites, sites that are in another language, or sites that include keywords in their URL such as xxx... or even a step forward not to be able to post a topic of there are generic words like "porn, sex, drugs, Viagra" :)

Add those two features to any forum software and then you can leave the mods to delete one or two a week.



John
 
The word screening is not all that useful. The list immediately becomes very, very long. Even the slightest misspelling circumvents efficacy. The CAPTCHA is a good idea. Is there a price?
 
No...no price. Almost every forum software comes with the captcha...I am /very/ surprised that it doesn't come standard with phpbb2, being both are open source.

Very easy to implement and should be avalible as a phpbb forum plugin...that you could download and install via the forums plugin manager in phpbb....If not it would only take 5 min to hack the registration page with a little php.

CHeckout: http://www.matthewleverton.com/howto/ph ... ptcha.html
 
Hopefully I'll be upgrading this weekend. Still haven't made the decision IPB vs. phpBB3. Both will be much better at stopping these things.

Thanks for your help as always

Ted
 
Hopefully I'll be upgrading this weekend
Click to expand...
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Cool. I am anxious to see the new format. Is it actually an automated system of some sort that posts these porn and pill sites, ad nauseum?.
Just think, there's scum out there that get filthy rich by developing and implementing these types of irritating and invasive programs. If only they would put their expertise to something worthwhile.
 
Well, it's either bots or "bots." What I mean by "bots" is basically sweatshop labor in China or India, where they could be paying workers a few dollars a day to post all over the internet. It happens, especially on financial sites. I suspect these are just automated though because there's nothing personalized about them at all.
 
That's what I thought. Have you noticed the largest share are always posted in the Intermediate Algebra forum for whatever reason?.
 
It has the most posts, and I'm sure the bots just aim for the most active board on a site. Why don't they post the same message to every board instead of just the most active? I dunno.
 
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