The Magic Librarities

mystical_tutor wrote:My posts to Alexis have gone unopened for some time.

Gary

Hi Gary
I was in the house of my dad in the countryside for sometimes, needed to solve things there, while , there's no internet for me, there, I was checking E-Mails, etc...3 times a week in the closest town.

gzeiger wrote:Is it possible to either expand the number of people who can approve accounts, or use an automated process such as CAPTCHA to screen out bots? This forum is dying because of how hard it is to get an account.

Hi
Within 48 hours an account is approved. I definately think, there's a problem with Members that want to join, either don't send me an E-Mail or at wrong E-Mail adress.

CHaPuZaS wrote:I know of at least two spanish people that want to register in the forum but can´t.

Hi
Ask them to send an E-Mail at dragsamou@noos.fr. or dragsamou@hotmail.com . Within 48 hours it will be done.

hammr7 wrote: Now, the wait can be many months and repeated requests. This is sad, since there are ways to minimize bots and spammers from becoming members, and to efficiently remove them if they do join.

Hi Hank
Let me know which way, the amount of bots, etc...Is amazing. If there's a way , I can filter them through phpBB here, I gladly do it, otherwise, I never refused any member, I get an E-Mail, account is approved within 48 hours, 72 hours at the max. Will go through the Anti Bot Question MOD - Admin-Index, tomorrow, as I just get back from the countryside where I was for sometimes.

dragsamou wrote:

CHaPuZaS wrote:I know of at least two spanish people that want to register in the forum but can´t.

Hi
Ask them to send an E-Mail at dragsamou@noos.fr. or dragsamou@hotmail.com . Within 48 hours it will be done.

Oops. The best way to get spammed like hell is to publish your emails here.

Hi guys,

I have been contacted by a Spanish guy who is looking for Sampler and Demogame packs. I cannot supply him so I pointed him towards the forum.

He his here: http://www.magiclibrarities.net/forum/p ... le&u=13771

PLease make sure this account is being approved ;)


And, while I'm at posting, I've got a question: what's the point for bots to register useless users???

Thanks,
Eric.

Erl00 wrote: And, while I'm at posting, I've got a question: what's the point for bots to register useless users???

if
1. registration and approval is automated
2. the forum has no posting restriction

then bots can be used to spam the forums with posts and links the same way they are used in email

Erl00 wrote:And, while I'm at posting, I've got a question: what's the point for bots to register useless users???

"useless" users is a value judgment that can not be made by a bot--or in many cases by other users.

Such will usually make themselves known over time and can be deleted. Good users will also become known and make a valuable addition to the community--which we need to grow and be of value.

Gary

Erl00 wrote:Hi guys,

I have been contacted by a Spanish guy who is looking for Sampler and Demogame packs. I cannot supply him so I pointed him towards the forum.

He his here: http://www.magiclibrarities.net/forum/p ... le&u=13771

PLease make sure this account is being approved ;)


And, while I'm at posting, I've got a question: what's the point for bots to register useless users???

Thanks,
Eric.

Hi Eric
DONE

dragsamou,

I am an admin for a different forum, and have had bot issues as well. (One time I took a 1-week vacation and came back to 42,000 new, fake accounts. sigh.)

Anyway, here is what I have done. (You probably know most of these, but I will mention them just in case.)

1. Any account submission that has the following fields filled in is deleted:
- ICQ Number
- Location
- Occupation
- Interests

If these 4 are all filled in (along with name/email, etc), there is a high, high probability that it is a spam bot account. In reviewing ~60,000 accounts manually, I have never seen a valid account created with all these 4 field filled in.)

2. URLs in the Signature almost always mean a bot. I always check the URL if it looks vaguely real. If the site connected to the URL IS real, and is NOT a retail site, then I am fine with the account.

Anything going to a blog is usually bad - the text will be fake, etc. (Usually the links on the fake blog page are real - which is the whole point I suppose - get people to click those links.)

3. Bots tend to create accounts in groups. So if I see 2-3 fake accounts from the same domain, I put the domain on the banned list - stopping all accounts that try to use the banned domain from creating accounts.

To ban a whole URL, go to the "Ban Control" area in your admin page, then:
- Go to the section marked something like "Ban one or more email addresses"
- Enter an asterisk and then the URL. So if you wanted, for example, to ban all "GMail.com email addresses" from being usable to create a new account, then you enter "*@gmail.com".
- Click the submit button

4. Here is the most controversial step: I have banned most mainstream email addresses from being used, including:
- *@yahoo.com
- *@yahoo.co.uk
- *@hotmail.com
- *@gmail.com
- *@hotmail.net
- *@hotmail.org
- *@gmail.org
- *@*.cn (meaning every email address ending in .cn)
- *@yahoo.es
- *@yahoo.fr
- *@yahoo.it
- *@yahoo.ca
- *@gmx.com
- *@yahoo.com.au
- *@email.com
- *@email.org

I don't really want to lose people who use gmail.com, etc so I also mention, in a "sticky" announcement in 2-3 of the sections of the forums (in technical issues, announcements, and universal topics) that people should not enter an ICQ, and I give clear directions on how to contact me if they find their email address is a disallowed one. Usually I un-ban the domain for a day and then re-ban it. The person has that one day to re-apply for an account (which I make sure to activate).


On a different subject, never, ever put your email address into your forum. :-) I say something like this:

Email me at "XXemailXX", then the "AT symbol",
and then "XXmydomainXX.com".

A person should be smart enough to know that that translated into: XXemailXX@XXmydomainXX.com

Hope something in here helps a little.

Best regards,

Rainsford

No idea if it halped anyone but it sure was interesting. May be why my request to join MOTL has never been accepted.

Thanks for the info.

Gary

Blocking all the popular email addresses seems like a fairly bad idea unless you just don't want people to join the forum. I thought the simple methods were to just put in an antibot question or two, "what is 3+2?" and "are you a bot?" along w/ a CAPTCHA entry. Beyond that you just have a moderator staff that has the option to remove posts and ban members in case a bot slips through. Having one person solely in charge of accounts is a bad idea really because most people do have lives. Kinda the whole reason these forums are dying a slow death.

mystical_tutor wrote:No idea if it halped anyone but it sure was interesting. May be why my request to join MOTL has never been accepted.

Thanks for the info.

Gary

MOTL is automated as the admins are mostly MIA. If its being declined you might just check things out again or see if the approval email is going to your trash or something.

Hi All
Looking what phpBB offers as option, right now. Will let you know, as I never been into that part, and don't want to do something wrong, so will probably ask for help. In between , 5 more accounts has been approved by the method, I use so far.

Anti Bot Question MOD - Admin-Index

The Anti Bot Question MOD adds a question to the registration and/or guest post forms to prevent bots from spamming the board. The question must be answered correctly to complete the registration or post successfully. If you use this MOD, you must disable the standard visual confirmation.

This MOD is compatible with the Select Default Language MOD 1.3.4. If you use the Select Default Language MOD, special changes of the code are not necessary.
If you use one of the following MODs, you need an add-on to ensure compatibility with ABQ:
• Advanced Quick Reply MOD 1.1.1
• Quick Reply MOD 1.0.5
• Quick Reply MOD with Quote 1.1.3
• Quick Reply MOD with Quote and BBCode 1.1.3
• every other Quick Reply MOD (no further special Add-Ons available)
You can download the add-ons here.

General Configuration
» Configuration
» Advanced Configuration
» Font Administration
» Reset
Automatic Questions
» "Automatic Questions" Administration
Individual Questions
» "Individual Questions" type 1 Administration
» Image Administration
» "Individual Questions" type 2 Administration

Ok, this by far too much complex for me, and I don't want to mess up, so will took screen, put them here, and I hope that a Member familiar with phpBB, will give me the proper direction. Be right back, will edit that post with screens, etc...