Recent site attacks

[Niner]

Recently we have been experiencing numerous site attacks involving spam posts including vulgar photos. We are working on finding better ways to prevent this from happening. One thing is a temporary added enhancement to the registration process that should stop the new spam posters before they get a chance to post by requiring administrator approval for new members.

I want every one to know this is something that we take very seriously.

[dromia]

This serious!

If we don't keep on top of this shite it will destroy the boards credibility in short order.

Every one be alert, MAH needs lerts. Delete and let us know 'till Robert gets better fix for this.

[Niner]

Something new is being tried, starting now, to protect the site from spam.

[A square 10]

sorry to hear this is happening - we dont need that , its hard enough keeping credibility with this topic

[Niner]

It was fixed as you see. Took a little expert work by my son who does programing for a living.

Now that doesn't mean something else will not happen in the future. That's just part of the price you pay for playing on the internet. Just waiting for whatever comes next.

[Aughnanure]

The St James Ethics forums in Australia were recently inundated with spam, mainly for electronic gizmos (phones etc) and the Administrator had to take the same approach of limiting new members access. It reached the stage where there was more spam than genuine posts.

[Niner]

What we had here were attacks generated by automatic computer spam programs aimed at any site it finds and they found us. Such evil bots produce endless login accounts to gain access. Fortunately, these programs, although they can produce false positive email recognition, can't reason like humans entirely. The first "capcha had become machine readable to a more sophisticated attack, so we added a second. This has been effective so far. You can read about what a "capcha" is here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAPTCHA

Many website hosts don't realize that it isn't just a matter of banning to control the real problem. The internet is still the modern day version of the wild west. There is no law and order unless you make it so with a smart programer to try to keep you ahead of the game.