Playing Whack-A-Mole with Spammers

[Indirik]

So... The wiki is now a target for wiki spammers. They create an account, upload a single graphic, then create one new page with it.  We've blocked 13 of them so far this month.  10 of them in the past week or so.

Anything we can do to block this kind of thing?

[Anaris]

By the looks of it, the BadBehaviour extension we were using before won't cut it, either, as they also create a user page for themselves.

It seems almost like we need to restrict Wiki account creation to those with BM accounts :-\

[Perth]

Cast a hex upon the unholy aberrations!  >:(

[Tom]

I've updated Bad Behaviour to the latest version and also add the Nuke extension so we can get rid of the crap easier and more completely.

Let's see if the new Bad Behaviour cuts this down. Otherwise... I don't know.

[Bael]

I've updated Bad Behaviour to the latest version and also add the Nuke extension so we can get rid of the crap easier and more completely.

Let's see if the new Bad Behaviour cuts this down. Otherwise... I don't know.

Every player of BM has an application key in their player data. Why not make it a requirement for creating a wiki acount? After all, who else but BM players would need a wiki account?

Sure, they could go to all the trouble of creating a BM account, and then get a key and then create a wiki account, but that would be quite a bit more of a mission.

[Tom]

Sure, they could go to all the trouble of creating a BM account, and then get a key and then create a wiki account, but that would be quite a bit more of a mission.

Most importantly, it can't be automated that easily. But it means messing with the MediaWiki code, probably writing another extension. There should be an easier way.

[Ramiel]

Most importantly, it can't be automated that easily. But it means messing with the MediaWiki code, probably writing another extension. There should be an easier way.

Easier but far more time consuming would be having only the Admins making new accounts? Guessing its out of the options anyways.

Maybe more Wiki admins to help deal with the threat from the abomina.... errr... Spammers?

[Indirik]

Locking/deleting them at the current pace is no big deal. Delete a page, an image, and lock an account. It's just repetitive and annoying. Better to prevent them from doing it in the first place.

It used to not be a problem In the first eight months of this year, we locked, I think, 11 accounts. Now there are 13 more so far this month alone. Hopefully the updated plugins will fix it.

[De-Legro]

Can we tell if the spamming is automated or not?

[Indirik]

We can pretty much guarantee that it is. All the spammer account names are two real names followed by a number (f.ex. FrankSmith4), they upload one graphic with a characteristic name appended with random numbers (f.ex. solar panels 4453.jpg), then create a page that *looks* real and has phrases relating to the supposed topic with links to their advertised site. Almost guaranteed to be automated.

[De-Legro]

Something as simple as a captcha extension might do the job.

[Indirik]

It might. But captchas have been broken, too. Let's hope Bad Behavior fixes it.

[Tom]

Captchas are broken, though they still offer some defense.

The best bet really would be to do something during account creation that is specific to the BM wiki. If anyone finds an extension that does that, I'll be more than happy to install it. Something simple like "you need to enter your family name so we can link it" would do. Or the other option would be to move account creation into the game and disable account creation in MediaWiki. But that needs someone who researches how to script account creation in MediaWiki because I really don't have time for that right now.

[Nosferatus]

remove TMP and i'll stop, if you don't i'll keep adopting new methods to anoy your asses to death! ha!

::)

[Tom]

sorry, Nos, this is not funny. Spammers deserve the death penalty and I don't want to hear jokes about these life-sucking, time-wasting parasites.