WE'VE GOT A BIG, FUCKING BOT PROBLEM

[/dev/humancontroller]

RED ALERT !

it appears that the forums are being attacked by a bunch of bots !

i don't know what the bots' plans are, but:
- they're posting generic messages, such as "hi, i am <...>" and "i really like this site", among other bot-like cut-ups of websearch-yielded results, such as "Tremulous is a game that <...>".
- they're not interacting with anyone: they reply to random topics, but never reply to messages directed at them.
- they're replying to dead topics.
- they're exhibiting epic communication failures, which provoke corrections and controversy; unfortunately, this may appear to be the cause of retardedness, but i'll tell you: this can be attributed to "botism".
- it has surprized me that they still haven't edited their posts to contain advertisements (which would be a common sp4mbot practice).

the net result is that the forums become full of posts that are for the sake of being posted. sp4m like this reprehensible even if posted in the Off-topic section.

the 4 bots i see are: Mailosh, Juicklly, Eugener, and Stewarren. these accounts have common patterns:
- all have registered recently (in the last month).
- (as i already said) they have a common behavior.
- they have a common MSN address pattern: <first_name>.<last_name><random_number>@yahoo.com.
- two of the said bots, Juicklly and Mailosh have the same MSN address.

[CreatureofHell]

At least there's some forum activity...

[Ingar]

WE'VE GOT A BIG, FUCKING BOT PROBLEM

Yes, all caps topic subjects

[RAKninja-Decepticon]

At least there's some forum activity...

...and the bots in question are more entertaining than a great deal of the userbase.

[vcxzet]

Nothing unusual. It happens to the forums of dead games.

[Se7en]

surprized

WRONG

[Dracone]

Nothing unusual. It happens to the forums of dead games.

unusual.

unusual.

RED ALERT !

[/dev/humancontroller]

it has surprized me that they still haven't edited their posts to contain advertisements

surprized

WRONG

how the fuck do you know whether i am surprized or not? i know myself better than you.

[Se7en]

LOL RUN TO THE HILLS HEMAD

[JOURNEYMAN]

Implement captcha.  It would significantly reduce the spambots.

[/dev/humancontroller]

Implement captcha.  It would significantly reduce the spambots.

WRONG. what do you think is currently in use?

[Celestial_Rage]

A custom question might be more fruitful. "Name the alien builder class" or something of the like.

[vcxzet]

A custom question might be more fruitful. "Name the alien builder class" or something if the like.

Actually captcha the question, spambots probably will enter the question.
or
Use plain text for the question and place random captchas that are not the answers.
or
Distribute the question in randomly ordered captchas

[RAKninja-Decepticon]

Implement captcha.  It would significantly reduce the spambots.

WRONG. what do you think is currently in use?

fairy dust and good intentions?

[CorSair]

When new user posts, mods/admins must approve their first post(s) and topic(s). Crude, but very effective nonetheless. (Excluding the effectiveness of moderator/administrator.)

[jr2]

OK, how about an animated captcha that scrolls the question across the captcha window.  The entire question is not present in any one frame, so maybe that would help.

[Nux]

Clearly what we need is for each new user to single-handedly complete a unique ARG before they're allowed to register on our forums. Something like having a hidden hyperlink on the page that when clicked sends you to a blank page with Morse code playing in the background that transcribes into words from the PGP Word List which when decoded into hex gives a broken program that when fixed writes a second program that prints a hint to go to a location in Alaska where you will meet two men, one of whom cannot lie and...

[/dev/humancontroller]

A custom question might be more fruitful. "Name the alien builder class" or something of the like.

wtf? i came here to find out more about the game. wtf is a class?

SPRECKEN ZE DUOTCH?

Implement captcha.  It would significantly reduce the spambots.

WRONG. what do you think is currently in use?

fairy dust and good intentions?

WRONG. currently in use are: captchas.

When new user posts, mods/admins must approve their first post(s) and topic(s). Crude, but very effective nonetheless.

WRONG. in this particular case, i reported (on IRC) the existence of all 4 bots (to Ingar, a forum admin), mentioning the high probability of sp4m (future post editing), but after he read the posts of the bots, he strongly believed that the bots were real people and did not intend to sp4m. just as many other users on this forum believed (and not just any users, but regulars, who should be experienced in forum behavior).

[your face]

At least there's some forum activity...

...and the bots in question are more entertaining than a great deal of the userbase.

yes very true A+ for figuring out I award thee the crown of wowoowwowowow congratulations you are onto something here wow you are amazing

wait OH CRAP we don't HAVE a userbase!!!!!!!!!!

WOW!
SHOCKING NEWS.


(atleast the bots have nicer things to say than devhc/rakninja [has anyone checked their ips yet to make sure they aren't the same person?] anyways  . i mean if i was stuck in a room and i could pick between devhc/rakninja and a bot it would definitely be a bot. just sayin')

[Qrntz]

[RAKninja-Decepticon]

At least there's some forum activity...

...and the bots in question are more entertaining than a great deal of the userbase.

yes very true A+ for figuring out I award thee the crown of wowoowwowowow congratulations you are onto something here wow you are amazing

wait OH CRAP we don't HAVE a userbase!!!!!!!!!!

WOW!
SHOCKING NEWS.


(atleast the bots have nicer things to say than devhc/rakninja [has anyone checked their ips yet to make sure they aren't the same person?] anyways  . i mean if i was stuck in a room and i could pick between devhc/rakninja and a bot it would definitely be a bot. just sayin')

6c 

in addition, you are a mod, you should be able to see ips yourself.  if i didnt know better, i would say that you were harassing me.

[your face]

wow you must be sherlock

must be that super hardcore army training they put you through. 

[Nux]

(atleast the bots have nicer things to say than devhc/rakninja [has anyone checked their ips yet to make sure they aren't the same person?] anyways  . i mean if i was stuck in a room and i could pick between devhc/rakninja and a bot it would definitely be a bot. just sayin')

Considering the arguments those two get into, I'm going to presume it isn't one person with DID. Besides if I were going to accuse two users of being the same person I would go with devhc and vcxzet: Though I'm fairly sure they're separate people too, at least they seem to share viewpoints more often.

I'll also say that I still don't see much point in making the decline of these forums a talking point / excuse to drop what standards we had. It should really be a case of being civil with the few people who care to stick around and chat: Not for the sake of the survival of these forums but for the sake of civility itself.

[your face]

wait, these forums had standards at one point?

but ok ok, alright, I hereby resign my moderatorship.

[RAKninja-Decepticon]

wait, these forums had standards at one point?

but ok ok, alright, I hereby resign my moderatorship.

why do you have this raging hard-on for me anyway?

[Flux]

guise just give devhc moderator/admin privileges and he can take care of all this for us.

GRATE  $$$$$$$$$$

[/dev/humancontroller]

I hereby resign my moderatorship.

unfortunately for me, i have option but to accept the offer to take your moderatorship. :P

[CreatureofHell]

wait, these forums had standards at one point?

but ok ok, alright, I hereby resign my moderatorship.

why do you have this raging hard-on for me anyway?

Juggalo clowns are all he ever thinks about nowadays.

[vcxzet]

but ok ok, alright, I hereby resign my moderatorship.

Hah! I did that 3 months ago

[your face]

I hereby reinstate you as moderator!