What Not To Do With Spam Bots (do not respond to them plz)

[fibio]

3! 2! 1!

.......................

[Space Voyager]

WOOOOOHOOOOO, bot party!

At least they post in the NS forum...

[Pengu]

I find the irony of the bots posting in the spam bot thread to be quite amusing.

[DandyOne]

Ok... who boosted the AI research?

[ZedF]

I find the irony of the bots posting in the spam bot thread to be quite amusing.

Maybe so, but the overall spambot problem isn't, IMHO. The policy of not relpying to most threads that have spams in them (presumably other than this one) is necessary right now, but it does have a cost -- legitimate users are effectively locked out of spammed threads until the spams are removed. I expect removing the spam posts is not a free action for castewar either, especially in these volumes.

Of course, I may be misunderstanding castewar's previous statements about the problem -- he's said that it causes extra work for him if people respond to new threads created by spambots, but I'm not certain whether that also applies to previously-existing threads with new spams in them. I had assumed that it did.

Even if I'm mistaken, though, it's still a problem. Imagine what it would be like if the forums were to still have this vulnerability when SotS2 approaches release, when we can probably expect large numbers of new users, increased post volumes, and more attention paid to the boards from potential spammers. The forums are a primary marketing tool (in the word-of-mouth sense) for Kerberos games. I hope the devs will be able to do something to substantially improve anti-spam security before then.

[U.E.D.C.]

Ok just to set the record straight, if we stumble across spam, we should report it? Or would that create extra work? If we should not report the spam would the best course of action be? Sorry if some of this is a no brainer, but with the increasing number of bots I figured I should be prepared.

Also when I bought my zombie survivale guide in anticipation of FZ, I failed to buy What To Do Incase Of Spam

[Pianoman]

When I've run across them I've reported them. Half the time someone had beat me to it. I think the extra work is created by people who post a reply under the spambots message.

[Mecron]

well it would help if everytime we upped security it didn't cause a wave of people emailing they can't get in.

[silvaril]

Heya

The trade off is typically balancing the extra workload of manual validation for everyone applying for an account on the board vs the cleanup and support workload of having an automated acceptance system.

Either way involves work.

[zanzibar196]

well it would help if everytime we upped security it didn't cause a wave of people emailing they can't get in.

Irony is that it is most likely the owners of the bot accounts that are emailing you this complaint.

[Pengu]

Maybe so, but the overall spambot problem isn't, IMHO. The policy of not relpying to most threads that have spams in them (presumably other than this one) is necessary right now, but it does have a cost -- legitimate users are effectively locked out of spammed threads until the spams are removed. I expect removing the spam posts is not a free action for castewar either, especially in these volumes.

Don't get me wrong, I think the level of spam that was happening when I made that post was incredibly disruptive and annoying. I just found it funny they posted in this thread out of all of them. Was there a particular reason for this latest spam bot outbreak? I've never seen more than one or two bot threads at a time, but lately it looks like they've stepped it up a notch.

[Sevain]

Oh great Smiter of Spammers, can you please set Spam as the default cause in reported posts instead of Warez?

[Mecron]

we don't actually need them reported, all you are doing is adding fluff to the attack.

[Sevain]

Thanks. I will cease feeding the bots then.

[U.E.D.C.]

Ahem
Do Not Feed The Bears.......erm SpamBots