Have you guys noticed that we're getting more bots than ever? Bots that post in Russian, spam links, etc..
I have moved a few of their topics, but where are they all coming from, and why so many right now?
Increasing number of bots
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Increasing number of bots
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Re: Increasing number of bots
I've been moving them too. Perhaps something wrong with the security questions?
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Re: Increasing number of bots
miniboes wrote:I've been moving them too. Perhaps something wrong with the security questions?
They may also be human "robots"... People in low income parts of the world paid to join a list of forums each day to copy/paste spam. I had an issue with it in a forum I ran. Limiting new members to just one post in the welcoming area, until a mod sees it and can lift that ban may help, if the forum software here can do that.
*Shrugs*
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Re: Increasing number of bots
Do they still get paid if we remove their posts?Sapphire Lightning wrote:miniboes wrote:I've been moving them too. Perhaps something wrong with the security questions?
They may also be human "robots"... People in low income parts of the world paid to join a list of forums each day to copy/paste spam. I had an issue with it in a forum I ran. Limiting new members to just one post in the welcoming area, until a mod sees it and can lift that ban may help, if the forum software here can do that.
*Shrugs*
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Re: Increasing number of bots
Remember they are technically not "removed", if you know what I mean.EquALLity wrote:Do they still get paid if we remove their posts?
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Re: Increasing number of bots
But they can't be found nonetheless, which means the employers have no way of making sure the employee actually did it.RedAppleGP wrote:Remember they are technically not "removed", if you know what I mean.EquALLity wrote:Do they still get paid if we remove their posts?
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Re: Increasing number of bots
Well what if the bots are one of us? Or the bossman takes the guy's word for it?miniboes wrote: But they can't be found nonetheless, which means the employers have no way of making sure the employee actually did it.
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Re: Increasing number of bots
I don't know how they would get paid, I would imagine it has something to do with just answering the security questions or Captchas for the bot to do the rest of the work. If it is a part of the bot, the employer could easily confirm that the bot was able to post the actual message.
Regardless, I think limiting new users to the Welcome forum and to one post per day until a mod can see that they introduced themselves properly will cut down on a lot of this junk.
Regardless, I think limiting new users to the Welcome forum and to one post per day until a mod can see that they introduced themselves properly will cut down on a lot of this junk.
Carnist: Kills animals and then takes from their bodies
Vegetarian: Takes from animals' bodies, and then kills them when they are no longer profitable
Vegan: Avoids unnecessary harm to animals as much as is possible and practicable
Vegetarian: Takes from animals' bodies, and then kills them when they are no longer profitable
Vegan: Avoids unnecessary harm to animals as much as is possible and practicable
- brimstoneSalad
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Re: Increasing number of bots
I think it's live humans answering the question and being paid for it. Or somebody might have published an accepted answer somewhere. It might be better to just remove the security question now.Sapphire Lightning wrote:I don't know how they would get paid, I would imagine it has something to do with just answering the security questions or Captchas for the bot to do the rest of the work. If it is a part of the bot, the employer could easily confirm that the bot was able to post the actual message.
Regardless, I think limiting new users to the Welcome forum and to one post per day until a mod can see that they introduced themselves properly will cut down on a lot of this junk.
It's pretty easy to remove the spam so far, and they can't post active links... so I don't think they're getting much use of spamming here. We catch them pretty quickly, since we have people in a bunch of time zones.
I'd hate to make it more difficult for legitimate members to post. And having to approve members would probably be as much work as moving bot posts. They mostly just post one or two times.
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Re: Increasing number of bots
I switched the plugin back to a simple image. We'll see if that helps or not. It probably won't help.