Spambots, and a possible work around.

[nukecad]

Another spambot 'attack' last night, 3 bots posting hundreds of new threads each.

They are up to 1,500 spam posts between them as I write this, and no doubt his post will get burried so I'll keep a copy just in case.

KeganKet
Aldenrere
JerodEl

Luckily they were only posting in the 'News' forum so easier to ignore.

OK, it's difficult to stop an overnight attack like this unless you have 24/7 moderation.

Something needs doing with the filters.
Firstly on new registrations - I've just tried it and the checking is pretty weak, should we be using a Catchpa or similar? Yes I know they can be awkward, isn't that the point?
Of course that doesn't help if a human registers then sets his bot going.
Second maybe a limit on how many posts a 'newbie' can make each day? Nothing stupid, say a 20 post/day limit for the first 100 posts.

Anyway I have been using a work around,
It's a bit of a faff, so not for everyone, but it does mean you don't have to wade through thousands of spam posts to see the genuine ones.

1. Identify that it's a bot attack. Fairly easy - multiple spam posts in a short time.
2. Click the bot's username where it appears in blue, this takes you to their profile page where you 'Add to Ignore list'.
3. Go back to the forum and do the same for anymore bots.
4. Whilst this will not stop their posts appearing in the New Posts list, or on the basic forum itself, it will stop them appearing in the 'New Forum Posts' on the right of the forum main page. See the screenshot below, click it to make it bigger.
   This only shows you the last 4 posts so you need to keep an eye on it.
5. Alternatively you can show more than the last 4 by going 'Home' to the Yourable main page and then clicking 'FORUMS'.
   This brings you back to the 'Activity' stream which also does not show you posts by users you have ignored.
   Or-
   There doesn't seem to be a button here for the Activity Stream so here's a link if you want to bookmark it: https://www.youreable.com/forums/activity.php

Like I say a faff, but it does work during a large attack like this.

You can then wait until a mod/admin removes the spam.
(Or you could go to 'New Posts' on the menu bar and 'Mark Forum Read' - remembering that this will mark everything as being read not just the spam).

Clipboard01.jpg

[nukecad]

The 3 spambots started posting at 16:56 18 Feb
They appear to have now stopped, at 07:28, with 1,194 spam posts made between the 3 of them.

They are still logged in and have not been banned, they just seem to have stopped posting.

I have bumped up the few genuine threads/posts made after 04:56 yesterday.

EDIT- They have now logged off.