Evening folks - a spam update and what we are doing about it.
Since August, the amount of spam the site has been subjected to has steadily been increasing. 22 days into October, there have been more spam-posts than all of 2016 combined. Spammers attacking the site are sometimes using VPN software to mask their actual locations, making it harder to detect them again the future when they return. It's a giant, fairly annoying, game of whack-a-mole.
It's becoming a real problem. We want folks to visit this site and see that it's well looked after and not cluttered up with junk. To that end, here are some of the measures we have taken to get spam under control:
reCAPTCHA
We have modernized the CAPTCHA system used to register new accounts. Our original CAPTCHA asked users to identify words from images - something computers have done a better job of since we launched the site 9+ years ago. This new CAPTCHA asks users to identify symbols, patterns or objects in various images and analyzes not only the selections made, but the time between selections as well as mouse and keyboard movements to determine if the user is human. This should slow down or stop automated account registration.
IP Banning
After inspecting several hundred abusive accounts, we have identified the source IP addresses and IP blocks which are generating spam. Those IP addresses and blocks have been added to a permanent blacklist denying those users access to the site. The blacklist will prevent new account creation or use of previously registered "stealth" accounts.
Anti-Spam Service
We have subscribed to a paid anti-spam service. Every post will be inspected by that service which will accept or reject posts depending on the nature of the content. This real-time spam inspection should catch most of the obvious spam (eg. posts with nothing more than links in them).
Unfortunately, there will always be spammers and a level of abuse on the site, it's a question of how much is tolerable. Manual moderation will still be required and I do anticipate that despite these changes, spammers will still get through. Our moderators have been doing a great job, but expecting them to maintain the level of effort they've been putting in lately is not realistic. I'm prepared to put in the time and money to make sure the site wins these battles. We will learn. We will adapt.
We know there are a lot of ways you could be spending your time, both on and offline. We appreciate that so many of you choose to give our humble site a visit. Thank you again for being part of our online community and sticking with us as we get some of these growing pains under control.
Since August, the amount of spam the site has been subjected to has steadily been increasing. 22 days into October, there have been more spam-posts than all of 2016 combined. Spammers attacking the site are sometimes using VPN software to mask their actual locations, making it harder to detect them again the future when they return. It's a giant, fairly annoying, game of whack-a-mole.
It's becoming a real problem. We want folks to visit this site and see that it's well looked after and not cluttered up with junk. To that end, here are some of the measures we have taken to get spam under control:
reCAPTCHA
We have modernized the CAPTCHA system used to register new accounts. Our original CAPTCHA asked users to identify words from images - something computers have done a better job of since we launched the site 9+ years ago. This new CAPTCHA asks users to identify symbols, patterns or objects in various images and analyzes not only the selections made, but the time between selections as well as mouse and keyboard movements to determine if the user is human. This should slow down or stop automated account registration.
IP Banning
After inspecting several hundred abusive accounts, we have identified the source IP addresses and IP blocks which are generating spam. Those IP addresses and blocks have been added to a permanent blacklist denying those users access to the site. The blacklist will prevent new account creation or use of previously registered "stealth" accounts.
Anti-Spam Service
We have subscribed to a paid anti-spam service. Every post will be inspected by that service which will accept or reject posts depending on the nature of the content. This real-time spam inspection should catch most of the obvious spam (eg. posts with nothing more than links in them).
Unfortunately, there will always be spammers and a level of abuse on the site, it's a question of how much is tolerable. Manual moderation will still be required and I do anticipate that despite these changes, spammers will still get through. Our moderators have been doing a great job, but expecting them to maintain the level of effort they've been putting in lately is not realistic. I'm prepared to put in the time and money to make sure the site wins these battles. We will learn. We will adapt.
We know there are a lot of ways you could be spending your time, both on and offline. We appreciate that so many of you choose to give our humble site a visit. Thank you again for being part of our online community and sticking with us as we get some of these growing pains under control.
