WIGGLERS!

[NotASenator]

mod edit: Hi this is not a chat thread! There is an introduction thread for new users in the chat forum

Our moderating team has been fighting mercilessly and tirelessly to combat the huge influx of spam threads that have been hitting the forum.

The first step was the activation of heuristic anti-spam moderation, which places suspect threads or posts into a moderated state, making them invisible to everyone except the modmins until they are approved or deleted as spam.

The good news is that while spam activity has continued to increase, you guys don't have to see it. The moderators, however, spend an incredible amount of time going through a somewhat boring process to eliminate the threads and ban the offending accounts.



To alleviate that pressure on them and ensure a better running forum, I am going to be putting a new usergroup into effect for new users.

Any user with less than 12 posts will be part of the WIGGLERS usergroup. While in this group, that user will not be able to create new threads in any forum except The Cradle.

Once you have made 12 posts (and that means contributing useful posts - don't think we won't reduce your post count if you spam to get out of the group), you will be free to create threads in all other forums that users are normally allowed to.

As a side note - the promotion process that moves a Wiggler into the normal users group runs once per hour, at 25 past the hour. Once you hit 12 posts, you will be moved into the Registered Users group within an hour, automatically.

This will only affect users who register after the change is put into place today.

[Solaris]

Neat.

Hopefully Schazer and Slorange won't mind having all of the hidden spam bots to themselves.
They might even try to make an adventure out of them!


Any reason why there has been such an increase in spam?

show spoiler

hide spoiler

Did you use the forum E-mail?
We told you that the Nigerian Prince wasn't legit!

Also why specifically 12?

[NotASenator]

I think the increased traffic has been part of it, and I think once you are found, it gets passed around and compounds the issue.

[Phantos]

This will absolutely destroy my beloved spam-watch activities. I think I'm OK with that, though.

I think I'm ready to move on.

[Esrever]

Also why specifically 12?

DOES EVERYTHING NEED TO BE DIVISIBLE BY FIVE WITH YOU????

bet you wouldn't have asked that if it were 10 or 15

[Solaris]

I would have asked why 15.
I would have thought it was a wee bit too big

[NotASenator]

12 was the number we came to after three weeks of continual bargaining.

Drillgorg still owes me three sheep.

[Phantos]

The more I think about this brilliant plan, the more I am learning to enjoy it. This will let only the most cunning of spam-bots through, the ones who vie for 12 posts of context-insensitive copy-paste in a bid to earn our trust forever.

[NotASenator]

Ok, gonna upload the code. Let's see if this breaks everything.

[simon.clarkstone]

The more I think about this brilliant plan, the more I am learning to enjoy it. This will let only the most cunning of spam-bots through, the ones who vie for 12 posts of context-insensitive copy-paste in a bid to earn our trust forever.

The solution to those is to automatically do several searches every time a wiggler posts anything, to check it isn't copy-and-paste. This may have a wee performance hit though.

[WigglerTest]

Wiggle Wiggle

[Paul]

Did everything break?

[NotASenator]

Ok, well, that was less successful than I had hoped.

[NotASenator]

I may still be caching the old php file, I'm gonna give it a few and try it again. Nothing broke, but the new test users aren't getting into the right user group.

[WigglerTest2]

Sanity Check

[undulatingUltimatum]

WigglerTest1 is now a Wiggler but 2 isn't. Hmm.

[bobthepen]

Hopefully Schazer and Slorange won't mind having all of the hidden spam bots to themselves.
They might even try to make an adventure out of them!

This is the best idea.

[Lieutenant Fish]

WigglerTest2 needs to be culled.

[Kazerad]

WigglerTest/WigglerTest2 OTP

edit: wait nevermind that's pedo since only one's a wiggler

[Phantos]

WigglerTest/WigglerTest2 OTP

edit: wait nevermind that's pedo since only one's a wiggler

Eight forum posts, dude.

[NotASenator]

Ok, after talking to some people, I have to do this the long way. You will all be wigglers for a moment, but trust me, the effect will be temporary.

[NotASenator]

Ok, that should be right, I think.

Let me know if you run into any problems.

[AProcrastinatingWriter]

This should work.

I think this'll work.

This sounds cool.

[WigglerTest3]

Wiggle

[Lieutenant Fish]

Oh no, WigglerTest isn't a wiggler anymore!
He was my favorite one.