spam attack

[Umbran]

That emails everyone.

Um, not quite. I'm not getting reported post e-mails. I suspect Rel isn't either, though you shoudl check with him to make sure.

 

[Piratecat]

Is that not resolved yet? We'll figure out why.

 

[Steverooo]

I saw a post like that, once,... right here, in Meta! I knew EN's Granny wouldn't approve, so I reported it... Next time I came in here, I looked around for it, but... it was nowhere to be found! Methinks somebody "fixed" it, in Spayeds!

 

[Starman]

Damn, you're cool.

Ah, Piratecat, you're making me blush.

I am going to sig that, though.

 

[Piratecat]

Mind you, I was also referring to Michael's anti-spam mastery! Two compliments for dramatically different purposes, one stone. I am the master of efficient post writing.

But - err - you may want to scrub your brain. Piratecat-porn is not something that anyone should dwell on.

 

[Knight Otu]

But - err - you may want to scrub your brain. Piratecat-porn is not something that anyone should dwell on.

Now he says that. Came a bit too late.

 

[Starman]

Mind you, I was also referring to Michael's anti-spam mastery! Two compliments for dramatically different purposes, one stone. I am the master of efficient post writing.

Can anyone deny that you are the master?

But - err - you may want to scrub your brain. Piratecat-porn is not something that anyone should dwell on.

I'm not, uh....dwelling on that. Not at all. Nope. No way. <runs>

 

[Darkness]

Is that not resolved yet? We'll figure out why.

Hm. Maybe add them to the moderator lists for the various forums?

 

[Dark Star]

I get this weird thing that happens everytime I post.

Warning: eregi() [function.eregi]: REG_EMPTY in /includes/functions_spamkill.php on line 26

And it lists it 6 to 7 times. The post still works, however.

Anyone have a clue what this is? is is some sort of new script that kills invisible spamming?

Dark Star

 

[William Ronald]

That's not the reason. This type of spam is known as comment spam. The primary motive of the spammer is to get a link reference to be followed from here to their site so that Google is tricked into ranking their pages very high. Unfortunately for them all the links created by the URL tag at ENWorld have the rel="nofollow" protocol, meaning the google spider knows to NOT follow the link - hence they are wasting their time. However since they've now defeated the human verify system they can program a bot to make the posts ad naseum until their banned.

You can see the spammer's motives in their own words here (warning - very crude language)

These bastards took away the USENET and Spammed it beyond usability in the late 90's. They're gonna try to do it again to forum software - but this time we have an edge. We control the medium of transfer. I can and I will write the software necessary to thwart these attacks using a combination of blacklists and Bayesian filtering and other techniques.

We have had some more spam attacks this afternoon, so I reported them. I would like to say first that the administrators and the moderators are doing a good job here at EN World. (I have not been around as much as I would have liked of late, but that will change.)

Perhaps some of our members who have the appropriate skills can volunteer to help Spoony Bard out.