Discussion:
Cocoaforge spam
Robert Vehse
2012-08-30 14:25:23 UTC
Permalink
Hey folks,

I see that Zac and I have been banning/deleting a couple of spammers on Cocoaforge every week in recent months (people with access see http://forums.cocoaforge.com/adm/index.php?i=logs&mode=admin).

Would someone be able to try and stop the spam? Maybe updating Cocoaforge's forum software, phpBBPlus, would help. For what it's worth, we are running 3.0.5 which was released in May 2009, 3.0.11 is five days old. Plus, I found some suggested anti-spam measures: https://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=2122696.

Thanks!

Cheers,
Robbie
Evan Kinney
2012-08-30 15:08:11 UTC
Permalink
I can definitely update phpBB. I'll get on that this afternoon.

Sent from my iPhone
Post by Robert Vehse
Hey folks,
I see that Zac and I have been banning/deleting a couple of spammers on Cocoaforge every week in recent months (people with access see http://forums.cocoaforge.com/adm/index.php?i=logs&mode=admin).
Would someone be able to try and stop the spam? Maybe updating Cocoaforge's forum software, phpBBPlus, would help. For what it's worth, we are running 3.0.5 which was released in May 2009, 3.0.11 is five days old. Plus, I found some suggested anti-spam measures: https://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=2122696.
Thanks!
Cheers,
Robbie
Robert Vehse
2012-08-30 21:22:30 UTC
Permalink
Post by Evan Kinney
I can definitely update phpBB. I'll get on that this afternoon.
Sent from my iPhone
Thanks, Evan. We've been missing you on IRC. :)
Evan Kinney
2012-10-08 21:37:28 UTC
Permalink
Forgot about this.

It's done now. I also stripped out all the phpBB Plus stuff, as it's a defunct project.

/ek
Post by Robert Vehse
Post by Evan Kinney
I can definitely update phpBB. I'll get on that this afternoon.
Sent from my iPhone
Thanks, Evan. We've been missing you on IRC. :)
Robert Vehse
2012-10-08 22:01:15 UTC
Permalink
Post by Evan Kinney
Forgot about this.
It's done now. I also stripped out all the phpBB Plus stuff, as it's a defunct project.
/ek
Thank a lot. :) Let's hope it does the trick.

Cheers,
Robbie
Robert Vehse
2012-10-23 01:22:19 UTC
Permalink
I hate to say it but spam has really gotten out of hand recently.

I'm thinking of trying a Q&A Captcha (https://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=2122696) with a question along the lines of "which drink does this forum refer to?".

Any objections? Any suggestions for a suitable question? (It should probably work for users of the whole forum, not just Adium users.)

Regards,
Robbie
Graham Booker
2012-10-23 01:53:20 UTC
Permalink
Post by Robert Vehse
I hate to say it but spam has really gotten out of hand recently.
I'm thinking of trying a Q&A Captcha (https://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=2122696) with a question along the lines of "which drink does this forum refer to?".
I did the same sort of thing with the awkwardtv forums (AppleTV hacking). Basically, I made the questions plainly obvious for anyone who knew what the forum was about, but a bot would not know nor would anyone seeing the question out of context. It killed the spam entirely.

I might suggest a few questions. Since it rotates between them and someone may not understand one particular question, that gives them a chance to try another which they may better understand.
Post by Robert Vehse
Any objections? Any suggestions for a suitable question? (It should probably work for users of the whole forum, not just Adium users.)
Another questions could be:

This forum refers to several products. Who makes the hardware they runs on? (Apple)
Post by Robert Vehse
Regards,
Robbie
- Graham
Peter Hosey
2012-10-23 01:56:19 UTC
Permalink
Post by Graham Booker
This forum refers to several products. Who makes the hardware they runs on? (Apple)
Can we do variants? There are several valid ways to spell this answer, including ?Apple, Inc.? and, for those who didn't get that memo, ?Apple Computer, Inc.?, plus punctuation permutations of each.

My suggestion:

?Name the thinnest Mac that will run the products this forum discusses.? (MacBook Air)
Paul Wilde
2012-10-23 02:03:26 UTC
Permalink
Prowl runs on an iPhone, so this question the best of choices.
Post by Peter Hosey
?Name the thinnest Mac that will run the products this forum discusses.? (MacBook Air)
Paul Wilde
2012-10-23 02:04:20 UTC
Permalink
Oops. I meant isn't the best of choices, of course.
Post by Paul Wilde
Prowl runs on an iPhone, so this question the best of choices.
Post by Peter Hosey
?Name the thinnest Mac that will run the products this forum discusses.? (MacBook Air)
Peter Hosey
2012-10-23 02:05:58 UTC
Permalink
Post by Paul Wilde
Post by Peter Hosey
?Name the thinnest Mac that will run the products this forum discusses.? (MacBook Air)
Prowl runs on an iPhone, so this question the best of choices.
Well, that's not a Mac, but yeah?good point.

Anyone have any others (besides Robbie's, which is my favorite so far)?
Christopher Forsythe
2012-10-23 12:49:07 UTC
Permalink
"Type the word 'cocoa' as the answer"
Post by Peter Hosey
Post by Paul Wilde
Post by Peter Hosey
?Name the thinnest Mac that will run the products this forum
discusses.? (MacBook Air)
Post by Paul Wilde
Prowl runs on an iPhone, so this question the best of choices.
Well, that's not a Mac, but yeah?good point.
Anyone have any others (besides Robbie's, which is my favorite so far)?
--
Chris Forsythe
@The_Tick <http://twitter.com/The_Tick>
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Peter Hosey
2012-10-23 02:32:08 UTC
Permalink
Post by Paul Wilde
Post by Peter Hosey
?Name the thinnest Mac that will run the products this forum discusses.? (MacBook Air)
Prowl runs on an iPhone, so this question the best of choices.
Well, that's not a Mac, but yeah?good point.
Graham Booker
2012-10-23 02:04:26 UTC
Permalink
Post by Peter Hosey
Post by Graham Booker
This forum refers to several products. Who makes the hardware they runs on? (Apple)
Can we do variants? There are several valid ways to spell this answer, including ?Apple, Inc.? and, for those who didn't get that memo, ?Apple Computer, Inc.?, plus punctuation permutations of each.
I think you can, but perhaps that's the wrong route. How about something along the lines of this:
This forum refers to several products. Who makes the hardware they runs on? (First word only; First letter capitalized)

It may be better to try and indicate which variant you want rather than try to imagine them all.
Post by Peter Hosey
?Name the thinnest Mac that will run the products this forum discusses.? (MacBook Air)
(most of the products) :P


- Graham
Robert Vehse
2012-10-24 01:36:43 UTC
Permalink
Thanks a lot for the feedback.

For now, I went with a modified version of my initial suggestion, "Which drink does this forum's name refer to?", with a case-insensitive "cocoa" being the answer and "This forum refers to several software products. Who makes the hardware they run on? (one word)" for which "Apple" is the solution (also case-insensitive).

Cheers,
Robbie

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