It is so sad

When you have to close a forum full of free modules for BMAX because of targetted spam bots (yeah I know who you are!).

If someone (BRL) can be arsed (you again) then the community might gain something, for free - non gratis, then step up to the mark - please.

I don't want to keep these things hidden away, how many times do people ask to do this, and that, and this, and it's all here just some *** (yeah I know what company you work for) would like to mess it up.

So... if someone would like to implement a system where registered users can download modules then I will be happy to post mine.

Ta..

Ps. Some of you must have made a game? You want money? Then visit pjio.com and upload.

What's all this about?

Please pass the cooking oil.

Ah, is he talking about stuff that people have posted on his site?

what Seb said.

Well if he closed a forum of BMax stuff - must be stuff on his site.

So, we need to know who the rascals are. I think he is referring to spotting legitimate stuff from known users and stuff that isn't from a legit user - or something like that.

Yeah the modules.indiepath.com domain got targetted over a period by bots and it's still happening - odd thing is that the entity is always coming from the same IP. And I know that ip from my tracking records. And yeah the IP registers.

So anyway... modules.indiepath.com is gonna die unless we can get some pjio.com/dev/brl/modules/indiepath going :)

One beginning with 216.80?

If it isn't then hand it over and we shall lesson it.

So who is this IP then?

We will toy with it and destroy it.

Then eat some sweeties afterwards.

Welcome to the wonders of the interweb!!!!! :P

Tim, I can't pretend I know exactly what you're after but it's bad the forums are targetted as the modules are great. How many had you provided the source for?
There was the projmatrix, texturedpoly and RTT at least. Couldn't you put these in the Code Archives? The AnimImageFast and Timer code is somewhere on these forums (I think) or has it been changed/updated beyond that? If I read your license then the modules can only be used in Open Source projects.. Is that right and, if so, is this why you can't/won't put the source in the archives?

Ok, here's the deal.

I put the pages up, someone (anyone) please ask to be a moderator and help clear the crap as it comes.. Please :)

modules.indiepath.com

As far as I recall I released the source for everything - please "remind" me if I am wrong :)

I don't think so. Can't find any for AnimImagefast, bmaptext, deltatime, lights2d, poly or timers.
Anyway, as for the forum, I reckon you need to either sort the person/people out somehow or give it up as a bad thing.

Can't you just prevent users from registering unless you approve them to cut off the spamming? Or is this a DOS attack of some kind?

I dont mind moderating if you need help.

I'll also lend a hand to clear the junk out if you want :)

If they all come from the same IP why cant you block the IP?

what this IP phantom doing exactly anyway??

I've seen these things pop up on loads of forums, glimmer games got hit and a few others.

Devcrunch gets attacked all the time - I have to delete about 3 accounts a week; usually promoting sex webcam sites or pharmecuticals. Luckily DC is run by 6 people, so things get deleted quickly.

I'd strongly advise using a captcha, and plenty of moderators. The people that do this are scum.

That is fine for most cases where bots are trying to sign up, but does not stop a human signing up and inputting their details into a spam program. Also bots are becoming more clever at working out captcha images.

Spammers suck. They can all go to hell.

Being the administrator of a popular forum (2600+ members and over a million articles) that's been running for over 5 years now, these are the steps I would follow to sort this out:

1. Make sure your phpBB installation is up to date
2. Disable the ability for guests to post
3. Only allow account activation by administrator
4. Install the "Block Open Proxy Registrants" mod

If you want a hand sorting it, let me know.

Muttley

I'm scared... Something got resurrected and is lumbering around all zombie-like...

The easiest way to get rid of spambot infestations is to change the process around. Dive into the PHP code for signing up, and add another question to the signup process. "Are you human? Y/N" works pretty well.

can you not just ban the IP if its always the same?

I saw one of those extra questions the other day. Asked whats 4 + 1?

Hehe.

This post came up in a search I was doing, and it looks like the problem still persists from the contents of the forum currently.

Do what Ratboy says but instead call one of a random selection of anti-bot procedures.

Choices could be:

"What is [x] + [y] ?" where you have x and y as random numbers, randomly as "3" or "three".

"What colour is this box?" with a little random primary or tertiary colourd box.

"What is 'pustid' an anagram of?" (or any other random easy to guess anagram).

"What day was it yesterday?" (or what day is it in two days time etc etc).


You'd have to keep adding new ones and deleting ones defeated by spam bots, but at least it keeps you out of mischief ;)

No, Please no!

Bad idea, considering that apparently about 7% of males are color blind. (it's less common for women)



Bad idea also, considering that half of the world (geographically) is in a timezone that's either a day ahead or a day behind you at any given time.

Ok, I give.. what is it an anagram of?

"stupid"?

word-games probably make a horrible choice for these kind of things though, since many people are very bad at them, but computers very good. :-?

Indiepath

i installed captcha and spammers are now down to zero, worth the install.

http://www.matthewleverton.com/howto/phpBB2-captcha.html

aah.. I knew there had to be a reason... ;)

Just noticed that what I said had already been suggested above...

heh, what is it you are supposed to say when someone comes round from a bump on the head. "Who is the prime minister?" and if they say "Neville Chamberlin" then they are in trouble...