vB.org hit by spammers!

[Paul M]

Originally Posted by Max Taxable

Not mine - the mod in my signature stops them cold.

No, it doesnt. It may limit them, but thats all.

[Max Taxable]

Originally Posted by Paul M

No, it doesnt. It may limit them, but thats all.

It stops them completely and redirects them off the site, and places the IP used in MU. I'm down to catching only 20 or so a day now with it.

--------------- Added [DATE]1354293038[/DATE] at [TIME]1354293038[/TIME] ---------------

Originally Posted by kh99

You might be right about that. But I think one should distinguish between spam and a spam "problem". On this site it's limited to a few forums that non-licensed members are allowed to post in, so I don't think it interferes with operation of the site, and it gets removed in a matter of hours. Also, there *are* measures being taken to limit it, but it takes time and it's not announced to the public (or even to me since it's an admin issue).

ALL spam is a spam problem. I don't distinguish. It's about standards.

[kh99]

Edit: There's not much point in us going back and forth about this - if you think this site doesn't do enough to stop spam, that's your opinion. Mine is that it's only a problem for the people who are looking to make it one.

[BirdOPrey5]

Originally Posted by Max Taxable

It stops them completely and redirects them off the site, and places the IP used in MU. I'm down to catching only 20 or so a day now with it.

Not wise. Those settings must be loaded and parsed on every page load of your forum. With a handful of entries it's no big deal, but leave that on long enough and hundreds of IPs will turn into thousands, and then tens of thousands... Eventually you will exhaust your PHP memory limit or MySQL packet limit- but well before then you'll see noticeable slowdown of your site.

The vBulletin Ban IP box, or any mod settings is not designed to hold thousands of entries.

The best solution would be to regularly output a text file of IP addresses and have some way to block them on the server level- before vBulletin or even htaccess is accessed.

[Max Taxable]

Originally Posted by BirdOPrey5

Not wise. Those settings must be loaded and parsed on every page load of your forum. With a handful of entries it's no big deal, but leave that on long enough and hundreds of IPs will turn into thousands, and then tens of thousands... Eventually you will exhaust your PHP memory limit or MySQL packet limit- but well before then you'll see noticeable slowdown of your site.

The vBulletin Ban IP box, or any mod settings is not designed to hold thousands of entries.

The best solution would be to regularly output a text file of IP addresses and have some way to block them on the server level- before vBulletin or even htaccess is accessed.

I purge it once a week and submit to Project Honey Pot.

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Originally Posted by kh99

Edit: There's not much point in us going back and forth about this - if you think this site doesn't do enough to stop spam, that's your opinion. Mine is that it's only a problem for the people who are looking to make it one.

Who's looking to make a problem, a problem? It IS a problem. It's been the bane of message boards since day one and the defeatist attitude of "no matter what you do there will still be spam" is a big part of the reason why. I'm just too militant about it I suppose.

[kh99]

Originally Posted by Max Taxable

It IS a problem. It's been the bane of message boards since day one and the defeatist attitude of "no matter what you do there will still be spam" is a big part of the reason why. I'm just too militant about it I suppose.

Spam in general is a problem. But to "solve' the problem it isn't necessary to eliminate 100% of all spam, it's only necessary to reduce it to the point where it doesn't interfere with purpose of the site. If you want to insist that it must be 100% eliminated, that's your business, but I disagree.

Again, to accept that there will always be spam isn't defeatist, it's just practical. There's a trade-off between allowng spammers and making it easy for "legitimate" users to use the site. I think there are a lot of people who would rather deal with some spam by removing it when it happens rather than deter even one legitimate user from registering.

[Max Taxable]

Originally Posted by kh99

Spam in general is a problem. But to "solve' the problem it isn't necessary to eliminate 100% of all spam, it's only necessary to reduce it to the point where it doesn't interfere with purpose of the site. If you want to insist that it must be 100% eliminated, that's your business, but I disagree.

Again, to accept that there will always be spam isn't defeatist, it's just practical. There's a trade-off between allowng spammers and making it easy for "legitimate" users to use the site. I think there are a lot of people who would rather deal with some spam by removing it when it happens rather than deter even one legitimate user from registering.

Definitely a no-no and it's never happened on my site.

Annoying legitimate users is part of the trade-off for many anyway, no? Lots of boards use post count and/or time since registered restrictions, to inhibit spammers. They use CAPTCHA and/or random questions, etc. These annoy legitimate users. Therefore for my own personal goal, the bar is set higher. Make 100% of ALL spam impossible on my site. That's the standard.... The goal being shot at. Is it Don Quixote and the windmill? Well, currently there are three botnet administrators in federal prison who I personally helped put there. I wonder what they would say about it?

Everyone sets their personal standards for their own sites regarding spam and I have no problem with that. I personally believe vB dot org's standards need to be higher. I just saw three new spam threads, right before I read your reply here. I wonder how many of those could be stopped with the registration time check? I wonder what the resistance is for trying it, since it cannot interfere with legitimate humans and doesn't conflict with native vB human verification or any anti-spam mod out there?

I'm just saying, vB dot org should try harder than it appears they are.

[kh99]

Originally Posted by Max Taxable

I just saw three new spam threads, right before I read your reply here.

Sorry, but that's not true. I can see a list of new posts and of spammers who were banned today, and there hasn't been three in the past few hours, much less three new threads.

I'm just saying, vB dot org should try harder than it appears they are.

Again, based on your idea that it has to be 100% eliminated, not on any real problem being caused by it.

[Max Taxable]

Originally Posted by kh99

Sorry, but that's not true. I can see a list of new posts and of spammers who were banned today, and there hasn't been three in the past few hours, much less three new threads.

Hey Man, I SAW them. They were in this very forum and they are indeed gone now. You're calling me a liar?

--------------- Added [DATE]1354299450[/DATE] at [TIME]1354299450[/TIME] ---------------

Originally Posted by kh99

Again, based on your idea that it has to be 100% eliminated, not on any real problem being caused by it.

Where did I say it HAS to be? I didn't, I said it was the GOAL.

[kh99]

Originally Posted by Max Taxable

Hey Man, I SAW them. They were in this very forum and they are indeed gone now. You're calling me a liar?

No, sorry, I was wrong - there were three by the same spammer, which is why I only saw the one spammer banned recently.

The point is (again) that the amount of spam this site is getting is not a problem to the operation of the site. Maybe it doesn't meet your standards, but that doesn't make it a problem. It's obvious that you keep bringing this up because of the mod you're pushing. You didn't come up with the idea for that mod nor did you code it, so what *is* your reason for pushing it on this site? Do you just want bragging rights for having "solved" the spam "problem" here?