It's very limited still. Three yesterday, two a couple of days before that, another one a week before that. It'll probably continue at that rate for a couple of weeks, so yes, keep an eye out for it. (I'm also blocking their ip addresses, so that might help stop things. Since it's humans operating here, I don't think they have a botnet with an infinite number of ip addresses.)

They seem to be back.

capricorn07 with userId 10846

Registration from these spambots has taken a huge step up during the last couple of months. Most don't bother posting anymore, as they seem to have learned that that results in swift deletion, but instead they just have their spam links in their profile. For the good of the internet, I think some harsher action needs to be taken against them.

No!!!  My Filipino brethren, why would you do this?  (And yeah, it's Filipino, not Philippinese --- trust me, I got slapped down online for daring to use "Philipino" with a "Ph".  Apparently it's no longer in usage.)  First you take up the mantle of telemarketing, and then this?  Have you no honor?  Have you no shame?  How would the great Jose Rizal see you if he were alive today?  For shame... for SHAME.

And gone.

There's actually about half a dozen underpaid human spammers a day registering at the moment. I've banned a few ip ranges from the Philippines, so now they're mostly coming from India. Most seem to have learned that posting is the swiftest way to get neutered, so they only register and hope for googlebot to visit their profile pages before I delete their links and ban the accounts. We'll see who tires of this first. For the sake of potential Tad fans from India, I hope it's them.

Last edited by Aan`allein (2010-05-19 13:52:01)

And dealt with as you posted that. :)
I've begun blocking small netblocks with the heaviest spam activity from parts of India as well at this point.

As far as I know, I can't ban spammers.

Almost certainly a spammer. But until he tries to link to somewhere, we'll pretend he's a real fan. Being from the Philippines isn't a crime yet. ;)

edit: urgh, but he included a "hidden" link in his post, and I didn't notice until sisterdew reported it (thanks for that!). That trick won't work a second time, though - I just wrote myself some custom user CSS to make any "hidden" link stand out much more clearly.

Last edited by Aan`allein (2010-06-12 09:13:40)

Aan`allein wrote:

Almost certainly a spammer. But until he tries to link to somewhere, we'll pretend he's a real fan. Being from the Philippines isn't a crime yet. ;)

edit: urgh, but he included a "hidden" link in his post, and I didn't notice until sisterdew reported it (thanks for that!). That trick won't work a second time, though - I just wrote myself some custom user CSS to make any "hidden" link stand out much more clearly.

you're welcome!
It was very hard to see-nearly blending in with the background.(I have the blue theme)

Aan`allein wrote:

.. . . I've been considering adding a pool of Tad-related questions to the registration page (e.g. "Tad Williams is a famous: 1) wrestler, 2) basketball player, 3) science fiction author, 4) romance author"), but suspect it wouldn't be enough of a barrier to be worth my time.

Oh! Oh! I know this one!  *jumping up-and-down*

The answer is 4!!!!!

Damn. I thought for sure Em was right.

Tad wrote a bodice-ripper?