Wiki Spam

[Crendgrim]

So, during the last days the spamming on the Wesnoth Wiki increased again. I started eliminating it by emptying those pages, but there are coming so many new. Besides, emptying isn't that useful since it's still possible to access those sides via the MediaWiki version control...
Does anyone have a good idea how we could get rid of those spammers?


Crend

[ancestral]

I don't think our wiki employs a captcha to verify account creation. It may be worthwhile to update our MediaWiki software and/or download a captcha plug-in for it.

[Crendgrim]

It does.

[ancestral]

Well then, I stand corrected; good for us

Not sure what else can be done other than monitoring pages for vandalism and banning accounts. Perhaps someone with some wiki management experience may have more suggestions.

[Crendgrim]

I think the problem is that there isn't one Wiki Admin, but most of the Developers have rights to ban people / delete pages. So it's always a complicated question whom to tell about the most recent spam. Besides, since those Devs are doing other (hopefully better ) things than checking the Recent Changes page, spam isn't detected immediately.
A solution could be to call one of the Wiki Admins the person-to-ask. This person would have to take care of such spam.. I don't know if this is a foolish idea, but the only one which comes to my mind

Crend

[Gambit]

One could always attempt to apply for the position.

[monochromatic]

I would, but I'm not sure how that would be taken by the admins..

[Crendgrim]

I would like to do the job, too, but got the same problem as monochromatic


Crend

[ivanovic]

I would like to do the job, too

You got the job!

[Crendgrim]

Great Thanks a lot


Crend

[DEATH_is_undead]

Does our Wiki support IP banning? Although this could actually be a Trojan on someone's client (Depending on what the spam is), if it continues, it may be a good idea to look in to possibly banning the IP's causing the problems.

[Crendgrim]

Yes, it does. Yes, we're already banning IP's. No, it didn't help much in the past. No, it isn't caused by a Trojan. No, it isn't continuing right now, because Crab_ and zaroth have set up another prevention system.
So, thanks for your input, but we already solved the problem (at least for a while).


Crend

[DEATH_is_undead]

So, thanks for your input, but we already solved the problem (at least for a while).

Between refreshing at least 50 times, I only noticed 3 different questions. Until the host of the bots realizes the change, this will reduce the spam, as the Bots will be doing random letters/numbers. Correct?

[Crendgrim]

Not completely.
In the past, we used reCaptcha, a method which relies on a picture with letters and numbers in it. That was a quite good idea, but by now bots are able to solve it. That's why we got so much spam.
However, you're right about the thing of the bots' host. The only thing we can do then is creating other questions.
But keep the following in mind: If someone wants to spam anywhere, he will write bots who will solve reCaptchas and send them to all MediaWikis which use that method he can find. In that case, we're safe.
But if someone wants to spam on Wesnoth's Wiki, he won't be stoppable at all. Each and every method we'll use will be hacked someday.
So, for now we're assuming the former, because the latter is somewhat unlikely to happen - and because we can't do much then.

If you can think of a better method, please tell us. At least it will be considered, and, if it's better than our current attempt (meaning as well in preventing spam as in being easy to understand for humans who wants to register) it could be set up.


Crend

[HomerJ]

I don't know much about this stuff, but I think a neat way to do this bot-blocking is used by the game Duels. It shows 8 pictures of items and the human user must click the only weapon in it.
My thought would go into the direction show a few of the many portraits that we have and spot the only mage/archer/horseman/loyalist/orc/knalgan.

Maybe a thing to think about.

Greetz
HomerJ