Massive bot attack?

[ShockSlayer]

Okay for the past 5 minutes I was just reporting a bot that went through all the forums and posted it's for sale links. I thought we had prevention for this kind of thing? Well, at least it has been awhile since something like this has happened. My question is, when I click the report button, what exactly happens? Do the mods get a PM or something? I was just wondering about that.

SS

EDIT: For the record, the bot's profile: http://forums.benheck.com/memberlist.ph ... le&u=11180

[bicostp]

We know about the bot problem, but there's nothing we can do about it until server-side changes are made. (Either add the 'simple math problem' thing we made back or get a better captcha system.)

[ShockSlayer]

Yeah, really surprising that AI can't figure out 2+3.

SS

[bacteria]

These bots seem to defeat the repeat the letters in the box protection; I think that because I was getting annoyed by bots making accounts in my old forum, every day - and that used the letters in the box method. That used phpBB version 3 too. Pain in the butt.

[64M320N3]

Well, it got removed.
Uh, yay?
I hate bots. *Grumble Grumble*
Is it really a bot attack if there is only one of them?

[ShockSlayer]

by posting in all forums I'd call it an attack....OF SPAM!

SS

[64M320N3]

Ok.
It would just suck if there were more of them all posting at the same time.
AAUUGGHH! It would be a nightmare! (And lag the servers).

[DopestKidEva]

lol i wanted the 50% off

[Twilight Wolf]

A new CAPTCHA system would certainly help quite a bit; in my experience, upgrading to ReCAPTCHA caused the bot problem we were having at The Desert Colossus after our server update to disappear entirely. Bots used to be able to make accounts but not post; now they can't even make accounts.

[Kurt_]

I can never get captchas right. It always takes me like five tries. I hate them.

[Twilight Wolf]

Well, you're already a member, so you wouldn't have to worry about that, would you?

A CAPTCHA that takes five tries to get right is probably the best kind, anyways, since no bot would be able to get past it. Human beings that want to post and contribute, however... that's different.

Deleting the existing bots is also something to consider if such a change were to take place, and it should be much more do-able here than what we did (14,000+ bots!). Deleting the dead weight helped a ton in regards to forum speed.

[XCVG]

I hate the reCAPTCHA things that are everywhere. They are IMPOSSIBLE to read. It's really annoying when you have to request a new one 5 times before you can get one remotely readable.

[Twilight Wolf]

*Points to above post*

And with the newest bot that's placed ads in every board on the forums, don't you think having a ReCAPTCHA would be worth it if it meant such a thing never happened again?

[bicostp]

Actually I think the ReCaptcha system is easier to read than those "twisted letters over a grid" ones.

[Kurt_]

Isn't that what we're talking about?

*googles reCAPTCHA*

I could live with that.