The New Sudoku Players' Forum

[Allan Barker]

i-War !

I did an internet search and found that large numbers of forums are currently being attacked by the same problem under random user names. It seems to be a world wide problem. So far though I have seen nothing on the news.

[StrmCkr]

might be the programers

found a way to get around tests that are implmented to identify none computer users.

through
brute force cracking it..

and others are user programed to do it.
all they have to do is visit the site manually look up what they are doign to prevent bots. then program that test into the bot..

most are user clicking things.

[StrmCkr]

shoprite12:

another spammer just started at it as well..

[PIsaacson]

To the Admins:

http://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=427852

In case you haven't read this, I highly recommend that someone with admin authority take the time to review what that phpbb developers have to say about preventing spam. Section 4 contains a link to the admin toolkit (only the mirror link appears intact) that provides some "safe" mass deletion capability. Lots of good recommendations here...

Cheers,
Paul (a human)

[Allan Barker]

I don't know if it's related but

Reports point to widespread Google outages
(CNET) -- Many people found Google's search site was extremely slow or inaccessible Thursday [today], and other reports pointed to troubles with other properties including YouTube, Gmail, Google Analytics, Google Maps, Google Docs, AdSense, and Blogger. Judging by a Twitter search for #googlefail, the problem was international in scope, though it wasn't immediately clear how universal the problems were.

Updated 12:40 a.m. ET: [Google says] outages have been reported to us all over the world, including California, Maryland, Massachusetts, Florida, New York, Washington, Illinois, Idaho, Indiana, Arizona, Oklahoma, New Jersey, North Carolina, Texas, the United Kingdom, Dominican Republic, and Malaysia.

[CNET says] Keynote's Internet Health report is showing some interesting data this morning as well. Two network routes involving NTT, a Japanese telecommunications giant, are showing significant packet loss on connections to Qwest and Verizon. We're trying to get more information and an explanation from Keynote representatives.

Pat, don't know what is going on but you might think about dis-allowing new users until the storm passes

[hobiwan]

I PMd NHernandez yesterday about user bober and he deleted the account (he didn't delete his posts as we all have noticed). I PMd him again about user OnlineOrder today, well see what will happen.

Since it worked rather I well I suggest, that anyone who detectes a spammer does the same immediately.

Plus I also think that the creation of new accounts should be disabled for some time.

[Luke]

I also offer my time and services in whatever capacity requested.

Dang, this *sucks*.

[Pat]

i can delete any Topic in its entirety --


1. click on the desired Topic
   
2. scroll down to reach the Moderator's toolbar (set of 4 buttons) --
   click the first button on left
   img src="templates/subSilver/images/topic_delete.gif" alt="Delete this topic" title="Delete this topic"
3. see an "Are you sure?" --
   click Yes
   input type="submit" name="confirm" value="Yes"

Pat
can you pm me the html source of the page that deletes a topic

gsf, i see that my earlier post was indeed inadequate -- i gave the HTML for the IMG forming the "Delete this topic" button, but the script really needs the relevant action

www.sudoku.com/boards/modcp.php?t=topic-id&mode=delete&sid=my session-id

my session-id = long hexadecimal number which i must find once,
remains constant until i log-off

for the "Are you sure?",
i've sent you the HTML via PM
-- you're right, that's really where the Topic gets deleted


also, i neglected to mention -- after clicking Yes, must await confirmation --

The selected topics have been successfully removed from the database

[Pat]

can you shut down future messages with one click?

a Moderator has great powers -- perhaps too great!! -- but no, what we need here is an Admin

my MOJO allows me to remove stuff --
but only retail, one at a time

there's no way i can even try removing hundreds

yeh, at 30 secs per thread, that would be 5+ hours of effort
give me temporary moderator privileges and I'll help

i can't imagine anyone manually removing hundreds
(what would you have said had it reached thousands?)

in any case, the only way i could give you Moderator powers would be to give you my own password

if we get Admin intervention,
this may be a good time to request the appointment of an additional Moderator

and what if Nhernandez has vanished?

Nhernandez was logged in yesterday shortly before someone nuked the spammer.

I PMd NHernandez yesterday about user bober and he deleted the account (he didn't delete his posts as we all have noticed).
I PMd him again about user OnlineOrder today, we'll see what will happen.

good to know that NHernandez has not vanished.
(if he's reading hobiwan's PMs,
who cares that he's not reading mine?)


OnlineOrder is a worse problem --
it is described as an inactive or non-existant user,
yet continues posting !!


i have had a response to my e-mail --

I understand that there are unwanted posts being displayed in Suduku Forums and you would like us to remove them.

I have forwarded this case to appropriate department and hope the issue will be resolved soon.

my assumption is that an Admin (of the forum) can disable specific users,
but for the bulk-delete of those posts he'd need the DBA (DataBase Admin)

bulk-delete should be very easy in SQL

[StrmCkr]

that sucks...

i still offer to help...

not that i can do much until we find admin...

any way onlineserver is acitve on the hosting computer itself?

and just updating the files directly?

with out having to be a regeistered user.

[ronk]

my MOJO allows me to remove stuff --
but only retail, one at a time

there's no way i can even try removing hundreds

yeh, at 30 secs per thread, that would be 5+ hours of effort
give me temporary moderator privileges and I'll help

i can't imagine anyone manually removing hundreds
(what would you have said had it reached thousands?)

One of these days I'll learn to say exactly what I mean. I'm offering a couple of hours of my time to expunge 200 or so of the spam topics. Whether there are 600+ or 2000+ such topics makes no difference to me, the offer stands.

But there's not much point in deporting a few aliens now when the border is apparently still wide open.

in any case, the only way i could give you Moderator powers would be to give you my own password

if we get Admin intervention,
this may be a good time to request the appointment of an additional Moderator

I meant temporary assignment as a moderator.

OnlineOrder is a worse problem --
it is described as an inactive or non-existant user,
yet continues posting !!

That is indeed much worse. I wonder if that's the result of spammer action ... or a corrupted attempt to ban the spammer.

[gsf]

One of these days I'll learn to say exactly what I mean. I'm offering a couple of hours of my time to expunge 200 or so of the spam topics. Whether there are 600+ or 2000+ such topics makes no difference to me, the offer stands.

But there's not much point in deporting a few aliens now when the border is apparently still wide open.

in any case, the only way i could give you Moderator powers would be to give you my own password

if we get Admin intervention,
this may be a good time to request the appointment of an additional Moderator

I meant temporary assignment as a moderator.

I scraped the forum overnight (~3hrs to replicate all pages)
bober has 647 topics
OnlineOrder has 452

I have requested tmp admin/moderator privilege
(the ability to delete topics and posts)
spammers can script -- so can we

I think an effective tightening would be to limit #messages per minute, hour and day

[ronk]

I think an effective tightening would be to limit #messages per minute, hour and day

I agree. With a 20 message per day limit, e.g., I doubt that any forum member would be inconvenienced.

I scraped the forum overnight (~3hrs to replicate all pages)
bober has 647 topics
OnlineOrder has 452

At one topic every 45 secs or so, it adds up fast. OnlineOrder now has over 1700 topics.

[gsf]

I think an effective tightening would be to limit #messages per minute, hour and day

I agree. With a 20 message per day limit, e.g., I doubt that any forum member would be inconvenienced.

I scraped the forum overnight (~3hrs to replicate all pages)
bober has 647 topics
OnlineOrder has 452

At one topic every 45 secs or so, it adds up fast. OnlineOrder now has over 1700 topics.

the bot's scripts can't run any faster than ours
anyone listening?
temporary topic/post delete privileges for gsf
please

[StrmCkr]

i think pat

said only admin can give that

he said somethign about that he could only do it by giving out his password.

...
1700 topic damn.