Bot plague!

[esoxlucius]

More bot activity today, they are becoming more and more obvious. The way they word their posts and, the real giveaway, the ludicrous links they send you to. They are becoming tedious and imo are beginning to take away some of the enjoyment factor from the forum.

Then it hit me, a way to eliminate them once and for all, maybe, I'm not sure how this stuff works, but there are people on here who do, so here goes....

Sometimes when you're on line, certain sites have "challenges" which can prove whether you're a bot or not. It is often just a very simple task. These tasks, apparently, are bot proof.

So, that said, and if this can apply to our site, can something not be incorporated into the MFK "signing up" procedure which every potential new member has go go through.

I'm afraid it is getting to the stage where simply ignoring these bots is no longer an option, they are everywhere, annoyingly so.

I don't know which admin member to tag regarding this, so I'll tag one of the mods, kno4te for now, as he's more familiar with the "structure" of the MFK hierarchy.

I'm damn sure I'm not the only one who agrees that something needs to be done? But the big question...can anything be done?

 

[jjohnwm]

I could not agree more! It started out as a curiosity...which soon became an irritating curiosity...but it's now a full-fledged PITA. Lots of sites seem to have very simple screening procedures in place; in many cases all that's required is to tick off a box saying "I am not a robot". Takes literally no time, and if works even a little it would be an improvement.

But someone who is better versed in the intricacies of computers than I am...which doesn't narrow it down much!...has already mentioned in one of these threads that all these digital doofuses are likely here with the express permission of MFK admins? If that's true...if the admins want the bots here...they're not likely to institute any functioning screening mechanism.

We've got bots that seem to say only "Yes" and "Thank you" even in situations where those responses make no sense whatsoever. We also seem to have some that simply post incomprehensible strings of unpunctuated gobbledygook complaining about their "landlords"...and the ones that just steal a post, re-word it slightly and reiterate it...and the ones who manage to pass for human by actually writing complete sentences that are relevant to the topic. Probably the worst ones are the necro-bots, who revive years-dead threads just to post some "helpful" additional info.

Personally, I am planning to beef up my defense system. Right now it consists of shaking my fist at the screen and mashing the buttons harder when I type; this seems fairly ineffective. So I am heading off to the electronics store with a credit card and my personal IT tech (i.e. my 10-year-old nephew, a budding geek). He should have a Bot Death Ray assembled and functional for me by suppertime.

Stand by, listen for sizzling noises from your computer, and do not stare directly into the red dot...

 

[kno4te]

I agree the bots are a pain! I’m not sure how some get through and others don’t. The flagged ones can easily be confused for a new member depending on response etc. The forum doesn’t have an active admins currently that deal with the site for now. I can tag neoprodigy and see if he has any input or atleast address it behind the scenes.

 

[esoxlucius]

I agree the bots are a pain! I’m not sure how some get through and others don’t. The flagged ones can easily be confused for a new member depending on response etc. The forum doesn’t have an active admins currently that deal with the site for now. I can tag neoprodigy and see if he has any input or atleast address it behind the scenes.

Thanks for your input Ron. It wouldn't be so bad if this problem was just one of those things that goes away on its own in time. We could just put up with it for a short while.

But unfortunately not only does it look like it's not going to go away, it's actually getting worse!! The novelty factor of having a laugh about it is definitely wearing thin.

 

[esoxlucius]

Below is a reply I just got from a guy on admin from another forum I'm on. I haven't been a member for that long, it seems they've had their fair share of "problems" in the past, but have swiftly dealt with them.


We have nothing specific in terms of software, other than the Xenforo software itself which does have tools built in to help us in our quest to keep bots/scammers/spammers at bay - indeed, it is pleasing to read that our efforts seem to be having the desired effect :

As @shiney rightly says, we do now have a manual approval process on every single application for a user account and this is our secondary defence - we did this following a marked rise in spammers with other attempts to exploit the forum via Tapatalk. To this day, we never actually worked out what their aim/game was, other than to simply spam the forum with links.. but it doesn't matter as we weren't having any of it. aladin: The primary defence is having the software set to instantly reject accounts on the basics of certain parameters that we feed it (so matching parts of an email address, or perhaps originating from an IP address range that we know to be suspect/problematic) - this is all available within Xenforo, but like all tools, it has to be actively used.

We are also extremely fortunate with our members here - on the odd occasion that something does slip through the net, our members report it to us really promptly and we can deal with it sharply. The forum software is geared not only to clean up the posts of any spammer, but also to simultaneously block the account and any account matching other parameters.

 

[jjohnwm]

Below is a reply I just got from a guy on admin from another forum I'm on. I haven't been a member for that long, it seems they've had their fair share of "problems" in the past, but have swiftly dealt with them.


We have nothing specific in terms of software, other than the Xenforo software itself which does have tools built in to help us in our quest to keep bots/scammers/spammers at bay - indeed, it is pleasing to read that our efforts seem to be having the desired effect :

As @shiney rightly says, we do now have a manual approval process on every single application for a user account and this is our secondary defence - we did this following a marked rise in spammers with other attempts to exploit the forum via Tapatalk. To this day, we never actually worked out what their aim/game was, other than to simply spam the forum with links.. but it doesn't matter as we weren't having any of it. aladin: The primary defence is having the software set to instantly reject accounts on the basics of certain parameters that we feed it (so matching parts of an email address, or perhaps originating from an IP address range that we know to be suspect/problematic) - this is all available within Xenforo, but like all tools, it has to be actively used.

We are also extremely fortunate with our members here - on the odd occasion that something does slip through the net, our members report it to us really promptly and we can deal with it sharply. The forum software is geared not only to clean up the posts of any spammer, but also to simultaneously block the account and any account matching other parameters.

So, does MFK use the same type of forum software as this other site? Meaning that the same measures could easily be put in place here without any kind of extensive "re-build"?

I hope so, but I'm moving forward with the BDR (Bot Death Ray) regardless.

I don't care if it can't be done; this is MFK and if I want it badly enough then it should magically become possible.

 

[esoxlucius]

The "xenofora" thingy? I've heard that before on here. Maybe we do already have it? But as that guy very importantly stated, "it has to be actively used". And we know our admin are not currently active, so therein lies the problem...maybe!

Look at us two old guffers actively taking an interest in something that both our brains combined haven't got a scooby doo about, lol.

 

[jjohnwm]

The "xenofora" thingy? I've heard that before on here. Maybe we do already have it? But as that guy very importantly stated, "it has to be actively used". And we know our admin are not currently active, so therein lies the problem...maybe!

Look at us two old guffers actively taking an interest in something that both our brains combined haven't got a scooby doo about, lol.

That's what makes it fun!

 

[Caperguy99]

It’s a tough problem to resolve - I think fundamentally, there will be some degree of bot/bad actor interest in any hobby forum that allows for the sale and trade of equipment or other items. The people that program these bots know it’s a numbers game - try to entice “buyers” into pre-paying for something or putting a deposit down before yanking the carpet out from under their feet. It’s a numbers game - do it enough times and somebody will fall victim.

Although it’s not exactly comparable, I’m also a member of a timepiece collectors forum that has to deal with this issue on a large scale, and has a huge vested interest in protecting traders and buyers. Sadly, the only way they seem to have gotten around the issue is by being super strict on who can become a verified user, who is allowed posting items for sale, and even scrutiny over who is trying to make purchases. Although this does cut down the bots, it also reduces the anonymity in ways that I’m not entirely comfortable with and creates sort of a “clique” within the forum.

Long way of saying it’s a real issue, but I don’t know the solution!