Michaloid Posted April 18, 2022 Report Share Posted April 18, 2022 Then, as i stated on discord make a report button for profiles and more mods. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhyagelle Posted April 19, 2022 Report Share Posted April 19, 2022 Okay, the forum really needs to do the following: Prevent NON-buyers from posting in ANY place except Questions. This will help keep ALL spam within 1 section when it does slip by. Enable anti-spam methods for the forum. This includes CAPTCHA, but not only CAPTCHA. Find more for the forum board here. More moderators, preferably with different time-zones, to catch leaking spam through-out the day. Throw in link banning for new members + word limits for accounts under 2 weeks old OR that do not have the game bought 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yeetiee Posted April 20, 2022 Author Report Share Posted April 20, 2022 We have probably a new record today. 3 spammers accounts are active at the same time and are adding their garbage. I can't determine if there is new post on forum as spam can fill whole pages... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michaloid Posted April 20, 2022 Report Share Posted April 20, 2022 Things are getting worse now... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Landar Posted April 21, 2022 Report Share Posted April 21, 2022 Rather than straight-up restricting new accounts/non-buyers, I think a cooldown timer on posting would work just as well. Two ideas that come to mind are to prevent them from posting for a period of time after making a new forum account, or make it so they have to wait after posting to post again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DX65 Posted April 21, 2022 Report Share Posted April 21, 2022 15 hours ago, Michaloid said: Things are getting worse now... I saw in mod releases, "Black Magic Protection" and I almost click it thinking it was new mod:) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yeetiee Posted April 21, 2022 Author Report Share Posted April 21, 2022 3 hours ago, Landar said: Rather than straight-up restricting new accounts/non-buyers, I think a cooldown timer on posting would work just as well. Two ideas that come to mind are to prevent them from posting for a period of time after making a new forum account, or make it so they have to wait after posting to post again. As of now i don't really care if its overall ban on posting for nonbuyers or new accounts, captcha to add posts or your solution. I just want the luxury to check the forum for new posts and see normal content instead of this spam. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad Kleckler Posted April 21, 2022 Report Share Posted April 21, 2022 (edited) Lol, I initially had the same reaction to the black magic spam. A magic mod sounded quite interesting if maybe a little off-theme. I was sorely disappointed. I felt obliged to report the fifteen or so posts after that and also noticed the lack of a report user feature. I guess it could be abuseable but seems at least a way of possibly mitigating a known spammer or bot from continued spamming? I don't know what all of the options for regulating forums are but I have seen rules such as one post per 24hr period for accounts that are new be somewhat effective. Even an hour limit could be effective at detecting bots if you could also track and ban repeated attempts to violate the limit. You can still ask your question and view threads with a time limit but it makes for a bit of a buffer against the ill-intended. The forums for The Dark Mod are an example of some rather tight restrictions in-place initially that lessen considerably over time. Small community with minimal moderators but rather effective spam prevention. Not trying to compare or anything, just throwing some thoughts/suggestions out there. I personally only find the spamming a minor nuisance but I also don't have to clean it up:) Edit: After looking at the account of the recent spam bot the account was created two hours ago and has posted 30 times. They are also a higher rank than myself now even though I've been lurking around since 2019:) Jokes aside, the point stands that 30 posts in an hour on a two hour old account would definitely not happen with a time limit, that's for sure. Edited April 21, 2022 by Chad Kleckler Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michaloid Posted April 21, 2022 Report Share Posted April 21, 2022 6 hours ago, DX65 said: I saw in mod releases, "Black Magic Protection" and I almost click it thinking it was new mod:) Look out for those, some might be phishing links, and of cource the numbers are to suck your phone's money dry and/or get you in serious trouble. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davis Posted April 21, 2022 Report Share Posted April 21, 2022 I think we need to implement that if you don't have a game account, you can't make a forum account. You can view everything, but that's it. The only people contributing to this forum should be players of the game anyway. At least if the bots continue to buy the game, it's money in the Dev's pocket for production. I could live with it at that cost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michaloid Posted April 21, 2022 Report Share Posted April 21, 2022 14 minutes ago, Davis said: The only people contributing to this forum should be players of the game anyway. That's SO a wrong way to view newcomers, every person has the right to post questions and their thoughts on the game before they buy it! But we should make a captcha or a timer for each topic, it doesn't make sense to make a 100 topics in one hour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yeetiee Posted April 21, 2022 Author Report Share Posted April 21, 2022 1 hour ago, Michaloid said: That's SO a wrong way to view newcomers, every person has the right to post questions and their thoughts on the game before they buy it! But we should make a captcha or a timer for each topic, it doesn't make sense to make a 100 topics in one hour. So leave "questions" subforum for them. The rest should belong to players. I can live with ignoring one subforum but clicking constantly "mark... as read" on all subs to follow up is getting tedious... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
l33tmaan Posted April 21, 2022 Report Share Posted April 21, 2022 (edited) 1 hour ago, Davis said: I think we need to implement that if you don't have a game account, you can't make a forum account. You can view everything, but that's it. The only people contributing to this forum should be players of the game anyway. At least if the bots continue to buy the game, it's money in the Dev's pocket for production. I could live with it at that cost. No? What? What is wrong with you? Are you going to make it so you need a game account to talk on the Discord too? Edited April 21, 2022 by l33tmaan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davis Posted April 21, 2022 Report Share Posted April 21, 2022 1 hour ago, Michaloid said: That's SO a wrong way to view newcomers, every person has the right to post questions and their thoughts on the game before they buy it! But we should make a captcha or a timer for each topic, it doesn't make sense to make a 100 topics in one hour. Or you know, go on discord and join our discord to ask questions. I've been a moderator and forum user for over 15 years. There is absolutely no reason for a game like this to require players who have not even purchased the game to post on here. Trying to moderate bots without proper anti bot protection is difficult I've been through it. Tyron should reach out to Invision Community (the sell this forum software that we're using) and see what they suggest, this isn't an uncommon issue, every forum faces this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
l33tmaan Posted April 21, 2022 Report Share Posted April 21, 2022 Asking people to join discord to ask questions because they have to pay to use the forum is horrible. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davis Posted April 21, 2022 Report Share Posted April 21, 2022 Just now, l33tmaan said: Asking people to join discord to ask questions because they have to pay to use the forum is horrible. That puzzles me because creating a forum account is a lot more work then just jumping onto a server that is free to join on discord where we're all actively monitoring chat. I agree it's not a great solution and I'd prefer it stays open, but if they don't invest in deeper bot filtration and prevention, it's the quick fix for right now. The other way to complete this would be to install two factor authentication, but imo that's an even bigger pain in the ass for the rest of us. Most cheap bots have a hard time getting around it though. Otherwise assign more people to be a moderator and police the shit out of the forums. However, that isn't a solution just a constant clean-up job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhyagelle Posted April 21, 2022 Report Share Posted April 21, 2022 I agree restricting it entirely is absolutely terrible. There's absolutely no reason we can't allow non-buyers to post in one section. Punishing them for spam and lack of anti-spam measures on the forum is ridiculous. And having Discord as a different sort of forum is also terrible. Just because everyone is using it does not mean it should be used in this sense. Avoid it like the plague. There's little to no way to moderate it as well. What needs to happen is restricting new and non-buyer accounts to the questions section + a 5 post moderator approved timer (works on almost EVERY forum!), implement anti-spam measures and get more moderators. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
setne550 Posted April 22, 2022 Report Share Posted April 22, 2022 As someone who formerly manage/mod a forum site, spambots are like a usual thing. Being too restricted won't do, but then again the best way is just a regular moderation and some people reporting for any spam done by bots. Besides, that means the VS forum is getting some sort of attention... In not a good way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyron Posted April 22, 2022 Report Share Posted April 22, 2022 We did a few changes now: Spam defense set to a more sensitive level i.e. require moderator approval of posts if the user might be a spammer Automoderation: If any reports as post as Spam and said users is less than 7 days old the content will be hidden We'll be collecting Phrases the spammers post and require moderator approval if new posts contain these phrases 3 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yeetiee Posted April 22, 2022 Author Report Share Posted April 22, 2022 14 minutes ago, Tyron said: We did a few changes now: Spam defense set to a more sensitive level i.e. require moderator approval of posts if the user might be a spammer Automoderation: If any reports as post as Spam and said users is less than 7 days old the content will be hidden We'll be collecting Phrases the spammers post and require moderator approval if new posts contain these phrases Thank you About that phrases: try + symbol as most, if not all, spam contains phone number and its not that commonly used sign. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DX65 Posted April 23, 2022 Report Share Posted April 23, 2022 The first seven post in questions is all spam. I am nervous even about clicking them to report them. The spam is obvious though if any forum moderator wants to find them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yeetiee Posted April 27, 2022 Author Report Share Posted April 27, 2022 (edited) As the fight with spammers continues I propose adding the ability to ignore users. This feature would hide all posts added by ignored accounts and prevent the ignoring account from seeing any new post added by the ignored. Tbh it seems easier to block spammers than constantly click "mark as read". And the biggest question: Is it even possible? Edited April 27, 2022 by Yeetiee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Majn9n Posted April 27, 2022 Report Share Posted April 27, 2022 Just need to add a plugin to keep bots from making user accounts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yeetiee Posted April 27, 2022 Author Report Share Posted April 27, 2022 But it won't stop people from making this accounts and then adding spam using bots Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhyagelle Posted April 29, 2022 Report Share Posted April 29, 2022 It's still happening. Is there no way to limit new posts to moderator approval? I cannot imagine there isn't an option for this. It would GREATLY cut down on spam. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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