Author Topic: The spam problem, and what to do about it?  (Read 11083 times)

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Offline Findecanor

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The spam problem, and what to do about it?
« on: Thu, 14 September 2023, 05:19:30 »
We have got a ridiculous amount of spam from spambots on the forum this past year.
I often report a bot-account every other day by now, and I'm sure that other members do too. The moderators must have got swamped with reports.

Most of these spam-posts have been reposts of posts harvested from various forums (most often Reddit, but also here). After a week or so, the bot has gone back and edited the post with an added link.

Many post have been possible to identify by them having a combination of one or more of:
 - first post being a new topic, or a comment in a zombie thread
 - the account having a generic username
 - references to the original forum it was posted on (e.g. calling the forum a "subreddit", or referring to a specific game or product that had been relevant to the subforum where the original post was)
 - not being on topic for a thread or subforum
 - or being terse and context-free, void of any usefulness, sometimes referring to previous posts as "content"
... apart from the payload — the link to their product.
Often, it has been possible to google for a phrase (in quotes) in the post to find the original post, and expose the spammer that way.
Once, I recognised the post as one that I had made myself a couple years earlier.

But I'm afraid that these spambots are getting smarter, with better language processing. There are many spam-comments that have actually been on topic for a thread, or posted in the right subforum.
Sometimes members that have been active here for a long time have not noticed that a post was spam, and have commented to it.
A post could be processed to have the same meaning but different words than the original, thus making it impossible to track on Google.

What should we do about it?
• One idea would be to require new members to introduce themselves by posting a thread in the "New members" subforum before being approved to post elsewhere.
- An introduction often has a certain format, so a repost would need to be of a previous introduction or it would often be obvious that it isn't valid.
- The spammer would be limited to one post, and they would be collected in that subforum instead of spread about on the forum.

What do you think?

What other measures do you think the forum could take to counter spambots?
« Last Edit: Thu, 14 September 2023, 05:22:46 by Findecanor »
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Offline Rhienfo

  • Posts: 764
  • Location: Melbourne, Australia
  • Why is everything I want here so expensive :(
Re: The spam problem, and what to do about it?
« Reply #1 on: Thu, 14 September 2023, 18:03:55 »
Yeah the spam bots are getting a bit much. Recently one of them took my question that I asked a while ago about the pingmaster and just reposted it lol.

Why even spam like this, I can understand like the essay spammers but some of them are so random and just do not amount to anything.

Maybe a system where a post gets scanned through geekhack and reddit before it's approved to post to see if they copied it, but not sure how that would be implemented and it wouldn't completely fix the problem, especially with AI prompts that some of these bots use. That new members idea would also be a good one I feel, at least a temporary solution to minimize it.

Hopefully this issue gets fixed, but I think the best thing atm is just to encourage more reporting, since the mods do handle the bots quick, but I agree that we do need to prevent the bots as much as possible and hopefully that happens.
keyboard collection - fjell
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cherry blacks - unlubed - filmed and springswapped with tx 55g mediums - alu Plate | pretty happy with this, the blacks were cherry picked so they weren't that scratchy to begin with, but currently breaking them in, may lube them with a dry lube like ro59 or ptfe powder.
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stock, needs a cleaning and probably replacement foam. Do plan to change layout so it has split bs and rs, as well as ansi enter.
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Built with new nixies on pc half plate. Love this board already, probably the best looking board I own, those brass accents are so mint. Really like it as is, but I do want to try an alu build (probably with nixies as well) just to experiment with that.

collection in pixel art
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Offline HoffmanMyster

  • HOFF, smol MAN OF MYSTERY
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Re: The spam problem, and what to do about it?
« Reply #2 on: Wed, 20 September 2023, 12:26:13 »
Y'all (the two of you here plus all the others doing the dirty work out there, you know who you are) are so appreciated for reporting these spammers and helping the mod team stay on top of it as best we can. Thank you so much for that.

I've made some small adjustments to the anti-spam system after this post was made, which might result in a minor improvement but I'm not holding my breath.

What I am optimistic about is some improved anti-spam mods that can be added to SMF. I need to work with the backend team to make sure that installing these doesn't break anything (complicated server infrastructure that is above my head). But if we can implement a more modern anti-spam system I think that will go a long way to helping. Fingers crossed we can do this in the very near future.

Offline Rhienfo

  • Posts: 764
  • Location: Melbourne, Australia
  • Why is everything I want here so expensive :(
Re: The spam problem, and what to do about it?
« Reply #3 on: Sun, 01 October 2023, 21:33:58 »
I think those small adjustments may have helped block some spammers, maybe It's because I don't remember them but I feel there are less spammers since the adjustments. Of course some get through the cracks but I feel the problem is better. Hopefully there is a more permanent solution down the road like those anti spam mods so geekhack is close to 100% bot free :)
keyboard collection - fjell
More
cherry blacks - unlubed - filmed and springswapped with tx 55g mediums - alu Plate | pretty happy with this, the blacks were cherry picked so they weren't that scratchy to begin with, but currently breaking them in, may lube them with a dry lube like ro59 or ptfe powder.
| hhkb bt
More
lubed with tribosys 3203 | like topre a lot, prefer it lubed but did make less tactile but that might have been a skill issue. probably will get more tactile over time as the domes age.
| m0115
More
bad orange alps lol | definitely needs a restoration. planning on wax boiling them and maybe a replacement pcb because the board has only 2 key rollover apparently.
| praxis
More
gateron yellows - lubed with 205g0 - 62g tx mediums - pc plate | probably my favourite keyboard already, feels super nice and sounds pretty good, it's got a great layout as well. probably gonna build this with mx browns, I feel like it would suit the board more.
| camo filco
More
stock with silent reds | Pretty cool looking board, the silent reds are actually good, they are smooth and I don't mind the mushiness (it's not even that mushy as well). the layout is pretty weird, but is useable. will probably mod this in the future. maybe a pcb and plate swap, change the keycaps to something dolch like, and also spring swap the springs in the silent reds.
| ibm model f at
More
stock, needs a cleaning and probably replacement foam. Do plan to change layout so it has split bs and rs, as well as ansi enter.
| baebae tkl
More
Built with new nixies on pc half plate. Love this board already, probably the best looking board I own, those brass accents are so mint. Really like it as is, but I do want to try an alu build (probably with nixies as well) just to experiment with that.

collection in pixel art
More

Offline Findecanor

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  • Posts: 5065
  • Location: Koriko
Re: The spam problem, and what to do about it?
« Reply #4 on: Sat, 23 November 2024, 06:43:57 »
I feel that spambots are still a big problem. Is there anything more we can do?

How about requiring new users to make their first post in the New Members subforum, but leave the other forums open.
If the first post happens elsewhere: then BAM: automatically banned and the posts get deleted.

Rationale: Real people can read and understand English. Spambots don't.
It is also unlikely that a spambot will copy a "new users" post (although it has happened).

Let the user receive an email about being banned, from which the user can appeal and get reinstated.

Edit: Never mind. I just read a new spampost in the New Members forum
« Last Edit: Sat, 23 November 2024, 14:44:43 by Findecanor »
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Offline kurplop

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Re: The spam problem, and what to do about it?
« Reply #5 on: Sat, 23 November 2024, 08:21:58 »
What is the motivation for spambots to exist on a forum like this. Are they collecting information for nefarious reasons or just cluttering up space?