# The Spamming Bot(s)



## Ragshada (May 20, 2016)

This is getting annoying. It's not something we have all dealt with before on forums and video games, but the way the site handles with blocking bots/people is strange.  For example, when I go to the general discussion section of the website and have all the bots I have seen, blocked, it leaves the thread only showing four of the most recent posts from people who are not on my blocked list on the first page, but when I go to the next page it shows a decent number of post instead of the four I mentioned before. This is also happening to other discussion threads as well. Even the feed that everyone sees at the side is completely blank.


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## Dragoneer (May 20, 2016)

I'm cleaning them up. I'll be making some changes later today to see if we can put in some stricter requirements to help prevent them from being able to sign up.


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## Ragshada (May 20, 2016)

Scratch that, pages are coming up completely blank now. Four pages and counting....


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## Dragoneer (May 20, 2016)

Try refreshing?


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## Ragshada (May 20, 2016)

Dragoneer said:


> Try refreshing?


I have and so far they are still coming up blank because of how many accounts I have blocked that have been made by the bot(s).


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## Kragith Zedrok (May 20, 2016)

Uh oh, they know now. . .


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## Gem-Wolf (May 20, 2016)

How can you tell the bot(s) from real people?


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## Azrion/Zhalo (May 20, 2016)

Gem-Wolf said:


> How can you tell the bot(s) from real people?


By looking at latest posts and blocking the ones that actually go to those threads


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## Gem-Wolf (May 20, 2016)

Azrion/Zhalo said:


> By looking at latest posts and blocking the ones that actually go to those threads


Errr...


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## Azrion/Zhalo (May 20, 2016)

That's how I've went about identifying the bots so far


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## Gem-Wolf (May 20, 2016)

Azrion/Zhalo said:


> That's how I've went about identifying the bots so far


Yeah but I don't get it. Lots of people visit the latest posts etc


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## Wither (May 20, 2016)

Gem-Wolf said:


> How can you tell the bot(s) from real people?


The accounts that post the spam threads are bots.
I don't see the issue, explain?


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## Samandriel Morningstar (May 20, 2016)

Gem-Wolf said:


> Yeah but I don't get it. Lots of people visit the latest posts etc



Bots post a bunch of nonsense topics and usually they're in another language too.
It ranges from fake passports,to fake money or they'll comment on your profile telling you to go look at something for no reason.


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## Gem-Wolf (May 20, 2016)

Wither said:


> The accounts that post the spam threads are bots.
> I don't see the issue, explain?


I was just confused by what Azrion/Zhalo was saying. There is no issue I'm just unfamiliar with bots.



Samandriel Morningstar said:


> Bots post a bunch of nonsense topics and usually they're in another language too.
> It ranges from fake passports,to fake money or they'll comment on your profile telling you to go look at something for no reason.


Ahhhhhh ok now I understand  thanks


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## Samandriel Morningstar (May 20, 2016)

Gem-Wolf said:


> I was just confused by what Samandriel was saying. There is no issue I'm just unfamiliar with bots.
> 
> 
> Ahhhhhh ok now I understand  thanks




By what I was saying?
That was my first post on this topic xD;
But you're welcome.


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## Gem-Wolf (May 20, 2016)

Samandriel Morningstar said:


> By what I was saying?
> That was my first post on this topic xD;
> But you're welcome.


lol obviously I typed the wrong name by mistake I'll edit that. Sorry xxx


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## Samandriel Morningstar (May 20, 2016)

Gem-Wolf said:


> lol obviously I typed the wrong name by mistake I'll edit that. Sorry xxx



It's all good,I'm just messin'


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## darkkoon (May 20, 2016)

Umm... I realise you're probably busy dealing with the hack thing, but the spammers are filling up this forum.


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## Jeffron (May 20, 2016)

darkkoon said:


> Umm... I realise you're probably busy dealing with the hack thing, but the spammers are filling up this forum.


I noticed it to.


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## Wither (May 20, 2016)

The bots have been here for weeks. They get rid of them whenever they damn feel like it, which isn't ideal. However, you can simply block them (click their name and click block. Simple. Two clicks.)
You can do their job for them.


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## Ragshada (May 20, 2016)

Wither said:


> The bots have been here for weeks. They get rid of them whenever they damn feel like it, which isn't ideal. However, you can simply block them (click their name and click block. Simple. Two clicks.)
> You can do their job for them.


I don't mind blocking them whenever I see them, but the way the site handles with blocking there messages and having pages upon pages that are completely blank is what makes it annoying.


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## Wither (May 20, 2016)

Ragshada said:


> I don't mind blocking them whenever I see them, but the way the site handles with blocking there messages and having pages upon pages that are completely blank is what makes it annoying.


I... don't have your issue? When I block them, only their posts vanish, not other's. What exactly do you mean..?


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## Ragshada (May 20, 2016)

Take a look at the picture I have posted above.


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## Tobia-SIN (May 20, 2016)

The odd thing is, throughout my whole time on fA, I never came across a bot. My question is, how often do spambots appear, and do they hold harmful links?
I remember Deviantart had a "SpamBot attack" a month ago, and they held really harmful links that could hack into your account. That's what happened to a friend of mine.


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## Kragith Zedrok (May 20, 2016)

They are legion, was told yesterday that the issue was going to be mitigated, but I'm assuming since the finding of user info lost on the main site the forums aren't on the priority list right now.


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## Gem-Wolf (May 20, 2016)

I've gone from seeing none, to seeing loads in just a few hours. The Site Discussion section is just flooded with them now!


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## Gem-Wolf (May 20, 2016)

Ragshada said:


> I don't mind blocking them whenever I see them, but the way the site handles with blocking there messages and having pages upon pages that are completely blank is what makes it annoying.


I just blocked them and now all is blank too


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## Tobia-SIN (May 20, 2016)

Gem-Wolf said:


> I've gone from seeing none, to seeing loads in just a few hours. The Site Discussion section is just flooded with them now!


Hm, it seems like whoever is behind them has a bit too much free time on their hands I guess.


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## Kragith Zedrok (May 20, 2016)

Gem-Wolf said:


> I've gone from seeing none, to seeing loads in just a few hours. The Site Discussion section is just flooded with them now!


Yea, give the bots the attention and they will flood whatever. Their just algorithms looking for key words.


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## Wither (May 20, 2016)

Ragshada said:


> Take a look at the picture I have posted above.


Oh. I use Recent posts, and that doesn't have the issue. However, checking the individual sections yields the same results. It seems they still take up slots despite being hidden. Nothing i can help with, sorry. 
That is annoying :c


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## Kragith Zedrok (May 20, 2016)

Id offer my help, but would probably just clean it up and close registration.


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## Tobia-SIN (May 20, 2016)

Kragith Zedrok said:


> Yea, give the bots the attention and they will flood whatever. Their just algorithms looking for key words.


Is there a possibility that they run on code that tells them where most of the internet traffic is? Then commands them to post there?
I'm not sure if it's real or that's how they run, it's just a crazy thought.


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## Dragoneer (May 20, 2016)

I added the forums to Project Honey Pot, a system which tracks known bad IPs used by spammers to help block them from registration.


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## SSJ3Mewtwo (May 21, 2016)

The forums now have additional spam blocking functionality, so that should cut back the annoying spam posters.

However, regarding the block feature being used on bots, resulting in large swaths of blankness:  That's just a side-effect of how the Block feature on XF works.  Something you can keep in mind:  When spammers are reported staff act against them as quickly as we're able.  And that action usually just means clearing out all the spam posts.  You don't genuinely need to outright Block the spammers, resulting in blank forum screens, since their content will get cleared away once a staff member gets in-front of a comp and clicks a few buttons.


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## Wither (May 21, 2016)

SSJ3Mewtwo said:


> The forums now have additional spam blocking functionality, so that should cut back the annoying spam posters.
> 
> However, regarding the block feature being used on bots, resulting in large swaths of blankness:  That's just a side-effect of how the Block feature on XF works.  Something you can keep in mind:  When spammers are reported staff act against them as quickly as we're able.  And that action usually just means clearing out all the spam posts.  You don't genuinely need to outright Block the spammers, resulting in blank forum screens, since their content will get cleared away once a staff member gets in-front of a comp and clicks a few buttons.


See, the issue with this is that you lot come so infrequently. I'm sorry to say. 
We genuinely _do_ have to block them in order to make the site usable for us.


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## SSJ3Mewtwo (May 21, 2016)

Wither said:


> See, the issue with this is that you lot come so infrequently. I'm sorry to say.
> We genuinely _do_ have to block them in order to make the site usable for us.



We come as often as we are able, I assure you of that.  Some days when I'm not scheduled to work my regular job and am just home I will effectively keep a round-the-clock eye on things, and snipe problems like spammers the moment they occur.  But in the event there's a string of postings while I or other staff are asleep we correct the problem as quickly as we possibly can.


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## Ragshada (May 21, 2016)

SSJ3Mewtwo said:


> We come as often as we are able, I assure you of that.  Some days when I'm not scheduled to work my regular job and am just home I will effectively keep a round-the-clock eye on things, and snipe problems like spammers the moment they occur.  But in the event there's a string of postings while I or other staff are asleep we correct the problem as quickly as we possibly can.


You guys have lives to live and are not a amalgamation of computer parts and wires. *Smashes key board against desk* Otherwise known as human.


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## Wither (May 21, 2016)

SSJ3Mewtwo said:


> We come as often as we are able, I assure you of that.  Some days when I'm not scheduled to work my regular job and am just home I will effectively keep a round-the-clock eye on things, and snipe problems like spammers the moment they occur.  But in the event there's a string of postings while I or other staff are asleep we correct the problem as quickly as we possibly can.


That doesn't mean they don't remain a problem for hours, or even a full day. I understand you try your best and are here when you can be. I'm not asking you to throw your life at this forum, that's unreasonable. In fact, I'm not asking you to do anything more than you already are. Simply, I am saying that there are times, sometimes extended periods, where mods and admins are absent. Saying that we can rely on you guys to respond to bots in a timely matter _at all times_ is not a promise you can keep.

Basically, I don't see why you suggest we don't need to, or shouldn't, block the spam bots (as well as report). It's fine to admit you can't always be on top of something. Every mod and admin is only human and we all (should) understand that. 

I do, however, thank you for wanting to step up just a tiny bit more to keep an eye on things. It is very much appreciated, do not think otherwise.


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## Deleted member 82554 (May 21, 2016)

There is this wonderful thing called a block function. It actually works.


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## Ragshada (May 30, 2016)

Oh dear LORD! I can't go 50+ pages of spam/empty pages. This is not just getting out of control and is effectively have made certain threads almost impossible to find a topic not buried under all this stuff.


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## Somnium (May 30, 2016)

Just make me a mod and I'll happily ban those spammers.


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## modfox (May 30, 2016)

they seem to be mostly in korean


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## TidesofFate (May 30, 2016)

Hey @Ragshada about your blank page problem. Once you see that, go to another page, like the homepage. Then go back to the new posts. (but don't press back).


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## Sergei Nóhomo (May 30, 2016)

Dragoneer said:


> I'm cleaning them up. I'll be making some changes later today to see if we can put in some stricter requirements to help prevent them from being able to sign up.



As long as it's not as shit as F4L's system. Their reCAPTCHA is just "Type 'furry' into the box" and nothing more


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## AsheSkyler (May 30, 2016)

I suspect the spam bots are sent from the hackers just to torment FA a bit more since all the mods and admins have their hands full fixing that glorious disaster those creeps created first. -_-*


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## Willow (May 30, 2016)

AsheSkyler said:


> I suspect the spam bots are sent from the hackers just to torment FA a bit more since all the mods and admins have their hands full fixing that glorious disaster those creeps created first. -_-*


lmao probably not


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## speedactyl (May 30, 2016)

guess captcha the thread creation should slow em down


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## Wither (May 30, 2016)

AsheSkyler said:


> I suspect the spam bots are sent from the hackers just to torment FA a bit more since all the mods and admins have their hands full fixing that glorious disaster those creeps created first. -_-*


Are you... like... actually serious?


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## Willow (May 31, 2016)

Wither said:


> Are you... like... actually serious?


it's all you hear about these days, my dude. evil hackers trolling furry sites by deploying spam bots that try and sell you Gucci bags and Korean beer


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## Wither (May 31, 2016)

Willow said:


> it's all you hear about these days, my dude. evil hackers trolling furry sites by deploying spam bots that try and sell you Gucci bags and Korean beer


They are the super-villains of our world. Truly.


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## Samandriel Morningstar (May 31, 2016)

One of the bots has two ladies in bikinis posing in a 'sexy' manner for an avatar and another just has a full on chest shot avatar.
They're fucking on to you fuckers.
:V


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## Electro⚡Spectrified (May 31, 2016)

AsheSkyler said:


> I suspect the spam bots are sent from the hackers just to torment FA a bit more since all the mods and admins have their hands full fixing that glorious disaster those creeps created first. -_-*


Actually, the spambot problem on here started nearly a month before FA was hacked.


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## Strangeguy32000 (May 31, 2016)

Weird thing is, the spambots appear to only focus on the General Discussion thread.


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## speedactyl (May 31, 2016)

because its the default on almost all forums. acting like a honey pot changing the prefix on the SQL may be daunting but it said to help  fix the problem.


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## Ragshada (May 31, 2016)

It gets annoying because usually I'm on during the night. Which seems like when they are most active, and it makes it annoying that I might have skipped someones post they made in the many empty pages or bots I have yet to block.


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## PlusThirtyOne (May 31, 2016)

Strangeguy32000 said:


> Weird thing is, the spambots appear to only focus on the General Discussion thread.


Actually they've hit nearly every subforum. The other night they had General, Community, Fursuiters, Technology and i think they even had one or both Art forums plastered with discount Chinese Viagra ads or something. That was fun. LOL


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## Ragshada (May 31, 2016)

PlusThirtyOne said:


> Actually they've hit nearly every subforum. The other night they had General, Community, Fursuiters, Technology and i think they even had one or both Art forums plastered with discount Chinese Viagra ads or something. That was fun. LOL


Guess I missed it while I was at Furlandia.


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## Strangeguy32000 (May 31, 2016)

PlusThirtyOne said:


> Actually they've hit nearly every subforum. The other night they had General, Community, Fursuiters, Technology and i think they even had one or both Art forums plastered with discount Chinese Viagra ads or something. That was fun. LOL


I only saw them in Tech and GD.


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## DravenDonovan (May 31, 2016)

I didn't bother blocking them.  Just waited till the staff cleared them out. So I do t have the issue with black pages.


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## Simo (May 31, 2016)

These things seem to happen almost nightly, and tonight, they're thick as flies. Up to 25 pages on the general discussion thread.

Is there any way more mods can be appointed, to put a stop to these sooner?

Not to gripe, but they really do make the site hard to use, after a point.


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## DravenDonovan (Jun 1, 2016)

SSJ3Mewtwo said:


> The forums now have additional spam blocking functionality, so that should cut back the annoying spam posters.
> 
> However, regarding the block feature being used on bots, resulting in large swaths of blankness:  That's just a side-effect of how the Block feature on XF works.  Something you can keep in mind:  When spammers are reported staff act against them as quickly as we're able.  And that action usually just means clearing out all the spam posts.  You don't genuinely need to outright Block the spammers, resulting in blank forum screens, since their content will get cleared away once a staff member gets in-front of a comp and clicks a few buttons.


Welp, seems your alls methods failed.


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## DravenDonovan (Jun 1, 2016)

Dragoneer said:


> I'm cleaning them up. I'll be making some changes later today to see if we can put in some stricter requirements to help prevent them from being able to sign up.


Didn't work..


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## AsheSkyler (Jun 1, 2016)

Willow said:


> lmao probably not


Makes for a fun theory to entertain at any rate. 



Wither said:


> Are you... like... actually serious?


Gotta entertain myself somehow! 



Electro⚡Spectrified said:


> Actually, the spambot problem on here started nearly a month before FA was hacked.


No doubt. Spambots are about as close to herpes as a forum can get, outbreaks and all.


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## HTML (Jun 2, 2016)

I would imagine there's a plugin that does one of those fancy Javascript tests to determine if the person is a bot.


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## Samandriel Morningstar (Jun 3, 2016)

This whole bot problem is just so damn annoying now.


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## DravenDonovan (Jun 3, 2016)

I'm starting to seriously wonder if the culprit for these bots isn't a member of this group.


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## Ragshada (Jun 3, 2016)

Hopefully they are working on something because now it's just effectively shutting down some threads. For example general has a new thread being made by those bots........every.......single......minute.


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## Samandriel Morningstar (Jun 3, 2016)

I can't even keep up with blocking them anymore.


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## DravenDonovan (Jun 3, 2016)

Dragoneer said:


> I'm cleaning them up. I'll be making some changes later today to see if we can put in some stricter requirements to help prevent them from being able to sign up.


Why not just put in the same kind of sign in as you all now have on FA?  Where you have to prove you're not a bot.  Cause this is getting really freakin annoying :/


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## Strangeguy32000 (Jun 3, 2016)

Ironically, _this_ thread got buried by spam.

I love these spambots, though. Leaving witty comments on their pages before reporting them and blocking them is fun


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## Wither (Jun 3, 2016)

This only serves to prove how little they care about this forum now. Sad.


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## Strangeguy32000 (Jun 3, 2016)

Wither said:


> This only serves to prove how little they care about this forum now. Sad.


That or they just got better shit to do than keep a bunch of Furries in line 24/7


What I think is hilarious is some fucker had to go through the trouble of coding these spambots, and all they do is advertise shit that maybe one person on these boards can under-fucking-stand, while the rest of us could care less & just want the end result to go away.


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## modfox (Jun 3, 2016)

theyre annoying the shit out of me!
reporting more of them every second!
KOREA STOP SENDING US SPAM BOTS!


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## Wither (Jun 4, 2016)

Strangeguy32000 said:


> That or they just got better shit to do than keep a bunch of Furries in line 24/7


Which implies they don't care.


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## Simo (Jun 4, 2016)

Eventually, we might even start getting 'likes' and PMs from them, at this pace...it'd odd, I'm on another forum that uses this same XenForo software, and not a bot in sight. It's become pretty much a nightly occurrence here.

Not to piss and moan and beat a dead horse, but it does make many of the busiest threads pretty hard to use, even after blocking them.


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## Rainbowdragon (Jun 4, 2016)

The issue here is the spam bots are only two and they're flooding the general discussion area, this has to be stopped immediately or else the forums might crash.


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## TidesofFate (Jun 4, 2016)

Just pull an Independence Day. Get to guys inside the ship and upload the of roam that will deal with this.


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## Wither (Jun 4, 2016)

Rainbowdragon said:


> The issue here is the spam bots are only two and they're flooding the general discussion area, this has to be stopped immediately or else the forums might crash.


To be stopped immediately, we'd need mods to be around semi-regularly. 
That's not happening.


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## Rainbowdragon (Jun 4, 2016)

Seems like more spam bots entered the mix, why does this happen during late night hours?


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## modfox (Jun 4, 2016)

Rainbowdragon said:


> Seems like more spam bots entered the mix, why does this happen during late night hours?


time zones
i suspect an attack
though my knowledge on this is limited


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## Fallowfox (Jun 4, 2016)

50 pages of spam were posted this morning. :\

Has anybody considered automatically stopping any thread containing Korean characters from being posted? All the spam is Korean. Nobody would normally use Korean script.


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## modfox (Jun 4, 2016)

Fallowfox said:


> 50 pages of spam were posted this morning. :\
> 
> Has anybody considered automatically stopping any thread containing Korean characters from being posted? All the spam is Korean. Nobody would normally use Korean script.


that could be an idea. MODERATORS TAKE NOTE PLEASE.


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## Azrion/Zhalo (Jun 4, 2016)

Then they'd just use German shit. It would just make it a spam fest of Über proportions at that point


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## Kioskask (Jun 4, 2016)

Wither said:


> The bots have been here for weeks. They get rid of them whenever they damn feel like it, which isn't ideal. However, you can simply block them (click their name and click block. Simple. Two clicks.)
> You can do their job for them.


The problem is when you have to scroll through 50 empty pages to find the actual threads.


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## Fallowfox (Jun 4, 2016)

Given that few forums suffer this amount of attention, I suspect that the direction of the spam bots here may well be vindictive. :\
I sent a shout to dragoneer suggesting that threads with korean content could automatically be filtered, so we'll see what he thinks. (I don't know how easy such a measure would be to implement).

Does the forum have captcha and other safeguards in place for newly registering users?


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## Strangeguy32000 (Jun 4, 2016)

Fallowfox said:


> 50 pages of spam were posted this morning. :\
> 
> Has anybody considered automatically stopping any thread containing Korean characters from being posted? All the spam is Korean. Nobody would normally use Korean script.


At least one of the spambots last night was posting in Japanese characters, so that would only rectify the issue of spam coming out of Korea, not Japan

Believe me, I know the difference


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## Fallowfox (Jun 4, 2016)

Strangeguy32000 said:


> At least one of the spambots last night was posting in Japanese characters, so that would only rectify the issue of spam coming out of Korea, not Japan
> 
> Believe me, I know the difference



Then only permit threads posted in the Ascii english character set?


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## Azrion/Zhalo (Jun 4, 2016)

Have your species be a mandatory thing when making accounts?? I know the bots are stupid enough to always be human


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## Strangeguy32000 (Jun 4, 2016)

Azrion/Zhalo said:


> Have your species be a mandatory thing when making accounts?? I know the bots are stupid enough to always be human


Might work.... but then our resident trolls would claim specism and it would only work until the spammers figured out the trick


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## Fallowfox (Jun 4, 2016)

Strangeguy32000 said:


> Might work.... but then our resident trolls would claim specism and it would only work until the spammers figured out the trick



Plus plenty of normal people would put 'Human' too. Normal people don't type large posts consisting almost entirely of foreign text, though.


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## Wither (Jun 4, 2016)

Kioskask said:


> The problem is when you have to scroll through 50 empty pages to find the actual threads.


I mentioned that back when it wasn't so bad. 
Now it's out of hand and ruins the entire site.


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