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Wiki spam

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11-16-2005, 12:33 by halr9000
Subject: Psi Groupchat (new address)
Join us at the Psi Groupchat (MUC)! Room name: psi@conference.psi-im.org
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halr9000 (Administrator) 03-26-2006, 12:12 #1
User title: I work here
Member since 11/2002 · 2253 posts · Location: Atlanta
Group memberships: Administrators, Members
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Subject: Wiki spam
All, I've had to temporarily lock down the wiki in order to stop the wiki vandals.  Once I resolve this I plan on re-enabling anonymous edits (which has been off for some time).

Any questions, let me know.

Oh, if you want to write something on the wiki in the near term, let me know and I can give you permission.
Hal Rottenberg
Webmaster, Evangelist, Co-conspirator to the Revolution
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michalj (Moderator) 03-26-2006, 12:20 #2
Member since 04/2004 · 2174 posts · Location: Legionowo, Poland
Group memberships: Global Moderators, Members
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Hal, as I can observe, most Psi Wiki vandalisms are made by "users" with randomly generated names which are not longer than 6 chars. Why not to create a set of constraints on the user names and block from edits ones with 6 or less char long names?
Michał Jazłowiecki (michalj)
Psi Forum & Wiki Moderator :: Psi-Daisy Author
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halr9000 (Administrator) 03-26-2006, 12:23 #3
User title: I work here
Member since 11/2002 · 2253 posts · Location: Atlanta
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Well I just disabled creation of new user accounts, and disallowed those in the 'user' group from editing at all.  Now I'm investigating various ways to prevent the spam and to clean the existing spam (check the all pages or all users special pages sometime--its awful).

You are right that the usernames are random, but I don't want to limit what users can choose.  For example, one of our friendly vandal cleaners' username is "asdf".  :)
Hal Rottenberg
Webmaster, Evangelist, Co-conspirator to the Revolution
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Kev (Administrator) 03-26-2006, 13:45 #4
User title: Project Lead
Member since 11/2002 · 2998 posts · Location: Exeter, UK
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Well, I think what michalj is suggesting is that we just disable new accounts which have a random name ;)
(No, I don't really)
Psi Project Leader.
Homepage, including development blog
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halr9000 (Administrator) 03-26-2006, 19:43 #5
User title: I work here
Member since 11/2002 · 2253 posts · Location: Atlanta
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Ok, I've changed the wiki back to the original out of the box settings:

  • You don't have to login to edit pages
  • Anyone can create an account
  • Anyone can edit unprotected pages

We'll see if the modification I made had any effect...
Hal Rottenberg
Webmaster, Evangelist, Co-conspirator to the Revolution
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halr9000 (Administrator) 03-26-2006, 19:43 #6
User title: I work here
Member since 11/2002 · 2253 posts · Location: Atlanta
Group memberships: Administrators, Members
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Let me know if you experience a false positive spam blockage.  It'll be quite obvious, I assure you.  Please provide me your IP address if you do get blocked so I can research.

thanks
Hal Rottenberg
Webmaster, Evangelist, Co-conspirator to the Revolution
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halr9000 (Administrator) 04-29-2006, 22:13 #7
User title: I work here
Member since 11/2002 · 2253 posts · Location: Atlanta
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Ok, the Wiki is open again.  Please test it.  Its even more open than before, you can edit anonymously.  If you get an error message when logging in, hit back and wait 5 seconds, then try again.  I'd like to know how often this happens, so if you get it, please tell me.
Hal Rottenberg
Webmaster, Evangelist, Co-conspirator to the Revolution
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