Spam Options

[dz]

Hey Gents,

I'm not that great with Wiki stuff. I can barely figure out how to message someone on there (it's the talk page, right?). Anyway, could you guys try and find out what anti-spam measures are available to us and I'll implement them? A captcha would be convenient if it's there. I'm looking into merging the accounts tables, but that might take a little bit.

Thanks,
Roy

[dz]

Oh ok cool. I tried to unblock you, but I have no idea what I'm doing there and I dont want to break anything. Maybe Meyer knows how to work it.

If you guys find anything that can help you manage the Wiki, let me know and I'll do my best to add them.

[tux]

Oh ok cool. I tried to unblock you, but I have no idea what I'm doing there and I dont want to break anything. Maybe Meyer knows how to work it.

If you guys find anything that can help you manage the Wiki, let me know and I'll do my best to add them.

No problem! I unblocked myself immediately and the log in works fine. The ip ban from creating new accounts runs out by 11 pm my time. About 5 hours before your time I believe. It is a miniscule inconvenience.

I've banned a fair number of bots so far. I don't see too many new ones appearing yet, and the unbanned (as yet) ones are on a break at the moment. I'll keep looking...

You never know I might actually get to do some proper editing soon. TitchyLinux is surely worth a page or two?

Three points of information:

1. I had another look at the registration process on the forum: the captcha system is there claiming to be in operation.
2. I downloaded some attachments and there was no problem with just clicking on it. I'll check an image soon.
3. Users can enable email on the Wiki. It's an option in preferences. It does a validation email when you save the preferences and you click on the link in the message you receive.

Cheers

[dz]

1. I had another look at the registration process on the forum: the captcha system is there claiming to be in operation.
2. I downloaded some attachments and there was no problem with just clicking on it. I'll check an image soon.
3. Users can enable email on the Wiki. It's an option in preferences. It does a validation email when you save the preferences and you click on the link in the message you receive.

Ya the forums I have down fine. It's the Wiki that I want a captcha for. I don't think there's on there, is there? Right now there's nothing stopping new bots from registering right?

[tux]

1. I had another look at the registration process on the forum: the captcha system is there claiming to be in operation.
2. I downloaded some attachments and there was no problem with just clicking on it. I'll check an image soon.
3. Users can enable email on the Wiki. It's an option in preferences. It does a validation email when you save the preferences and you click on the link in the message you receive.

Ya the forums I have down fine. It's the Wiki that I want a captcha for. I don't think there's one there, is there? Right now there's nothing stopping new bots from registering right?

Hi again,
I'll check the wiki registration process out tomorrow when the ip ban runs out!

Are you sure that it is a good idea to have editing by unregistered users turned on? I'll keep an eye out and let you know if it is a problem.

[dz]

1. I had another look at the registration process on the forum: the captcha system is there claiming to be in operation.
2. I downloaded some attachments and there was no problem with just clicking on it. I'll check an image soon.
3. Users can enable email on the Wiki. It's an option in preferences. It does a validation email when you save the preferences and you click on the link in the message you receive.

Ya the forums I have down fine. It's the Wiki that I want a captcha for. I don't think there's one there, is there? Right now there's nothing stopping new bots from registering right?

Hi again,
I'll check the wiki registration process out tomorrow when the ip ban runs out!

Are you sure that it is a good idea to have editing by unregistered users turned on? I'll keep an eye out and let you know if it is a problem.

No, I dont think it's a good idea. Can you change it or is it something I change via ftp?

[tux]

1. I had another look at the registration process on the forum: the captcha system is there claiming to be in operation.
2. I downloaded some attachments and there was no problem with just clicking on it. I'll check an image soon.
3. Users can enable email on the Wiki. It's an option in preferences. It does a validation email when you save the preferences and you click on the link in the message you receive.

Ya the forums I have down fine. It's the Wiki that I want a captcha for. I don't think there's one there, is there? Right now there's nothing stopping new bots from registering right?

Hi again,
I'll check the wiki registration process out tomorrow when the ip ban runs out!

Are you sure that it is a good idea to have editing by unregistered users turned on? I'll keep an eye out and let you know if it is a problem.

No, I dont think it's a good idea. Can you change it or is it something I change via ftp?

I suspect it is something that you deal with. But I did promise to RTFM, so would I find the documentation at one of those links you gave earlier when you were talking about upgrading the software, or somewhere else?

I'm just off for a walk in this damp, cold and dark British autumn. I'll be about an hour and will take a quick look before I go to bed. It is 10 pm my time!

[tux]

Hi DZ,

looking at the wiki for the software I found a section talking about Different Rights for anonymous users, signed in users etc.., it then explained what the various categories of signed in user were and what they could do.

Are you not the highest level i.e. Developer/Admin? If not I think you might need to be.

At the bottom of this list it said Other permission schemes (e.g. only signed in users can edit pages) can be configured.

So the possibility is there. I'll rummage in the user forums and see what they say about doing that and what level of user you need to be to do it. I also looked at Special Pages in the Wiki. There was one near the bottom about dealing with user rights. You can apparently deal with groups. There doesn't seem to be an anonymous / non-logged in group. I'm not sure that it would make a difference if there was. I think, at first sight, that these groups are just filters to make looking for users a bit easier.

Obviously I need to look harder. I suspect you need to be a developer to twiddle with these permission schemes. I did say I thought it might be something you do.

I will keep looking but not much more tonight, I've got to run a dance class tomorrow and I'm still in sleep deficit from starting out with TitchyLinux this time last week. I'm also going to have a bit of a social life tomorrow evening, so I won't be on until midnight my time!

I'm slightly puzzled by the fact that there is so little spam activity in the Recent Pages. Am I right in thinking that the link to the wiki is slightly different, in the same way as the forums? If so perhaps the spambots are confused! Perhaps all these bots were coming from a fairly small range of ips and the side effect of those bans I've put in have had an effect? We'll find out.

Cheers