BABBLE OF THRONES
PLEASE VERIFY NEW MEMBERS TO HELP AVOID SPAMMERS
Mon, 2014-07-07 17:58
#52
Catchfire
Mon, 2014-07-07 17:59
#53
infracaninophile
Sigh. Kropotkin's spy icon makes me think of Boom Boom. I sure miss him.
Mon, 2014-07-07 18:12
#54
How did you get the spy as part of you post.? I like the eyes
I miss Boom Boom, very much. He was the gentlest soul in this room.
Mon, 2014-07-07 20:28
#55
Oh air them all you want.
Just don't be surprised if someone points and snickers over the fence at your undies hanging on the line.
Well, yeah. That's the other thing babble is for.
Mon, 2014-07-07 21:26
#56
Sigh. Kropotkin's spy icon makes me think of Boom Boom. I sure miss him.
I was thinking of him when I posted it.
Tue, 2014-07-08 07:50
#57
Good news!
We don't need to suspend new signups.
No one will sign up under these conditions.
Tue, 2014-07-08 07:53
#58
I think it's only fair that since babble has extended itself in the past as a go-to place for enmassegonians when technical difficulties arise, that in return, a similar offer of respite be extended at least until the current problems are resolved.
Tue, 2014-07-08 09:31
#59
I think it's only fair that since babble has extended itself in the past as a go-to place for enmassegonians when technical difficulties arise, that in return, a similar offer of respite be extended at least until the current problems are resolved.
Great idea, but shouldn't this suggestion be raised in enmasse?
[size=8]Oh, let's keep our voices down, or else the spammers will follow![/size]
Any one of us could you know, without the need to seek prior permission. Also, I'm not sure if the new member thing has been fixed over there, which would constitute a spam deterrent for sure. Anyway, I'm sure the mods here are doing their best under the circumstances.
Tue, 2014-07-08 11:19
#60
I think it's only fair that since babble has extended itself in the past as a go-to place for enmassegonians when technical difficulties arise, that in return, a similar offer of respite be extended at least until the current problems are resolved.
Great idea, but shouldn't this suggestion be raised in en masse?
[size=8]Oh, let's keep our voices down, or else the spammers will follow![/size]
Tue, 2014-07-08 15:35
#61
More spam this afternoon either about streaming soccer or iphones, 4 threads that I can count
Tue, 2014-07-08 15:50
#62
I'm picturing Catchfire and/or Rebecca sitting there with flyswatters... Thanks mods!
Tue, 2014-07-08 16:12
#63
Sigh. Kropotkin's spy icon makes me think of Boom Boom. I sure miss him.
I was thinking of him when I posted it.
I immediately thought of him when I saw it *sigh*
Tue, 2014-07-08 17:16
#64
Many, many more today
Tue, 2014-07-08 18:44
#65
dp
Tue, 2014-07-08 18:44
#66
Sorry, I don't believe these are real human beings signing up and posting every minute or two. Just doesn't meet the credibility bar.
Babble should just stop new registrations, then require CAPTCHA and email validation. Until it's tried and it fails - it's unacceptable to say it won't work. No other discussion board in the known universe has to put up with this bullshit.
I and others have been proposing this for years, yeah, years. If it requires some dollars to ask our techies to do this, please let us know HOW MUCH. I'll pony up what I can. I've invested too much in this very important political discussion vehicle to see it turned to shit by some bot software.
Thanks for listening.
[size=25]If you agree with me, please speak up.[/size]. We don't have to put up with this crap.
Tue, 2014-07-08 18:52
#67
I just had to enter a CAPTCHA to post.
[eta: but strangely, not for this post]
Tue, 2014-07-08 19:07
#68
I just had to enter a CAPTCHA to post.
[eta: but strangely, not for this post]
Yeah, someone is experimenting... All good!
ETA: Actually, instead of a CAPTCHA, maybe we should go with skill-testing questions, like:
Oh, never mind.
Tue, 2014-07-08 19:40
#69
Some of these names lurk for months after registration, according to Catchfire, so maybe after locking new registrations, it would be a good idea to go through the database and lock any account that hasn't posted even once since it was registered. Just a thought. (No idea how practical that would be.)
Tue, 2014-07-08 19:45
#70
Some of these names lurk for months after registration, according to Catchfire, so maybe after locking new registrations, it would be a good idea to go through the database and lock any account that hasn't posted even once since it was registered. Just a thought. (No idea how practical that would be.)
Not fair, cco. We know anecdotally there are folks who lurk for years before working up the nerve to post. Personally, I didn't have that problem...
Wed, 2014-07-09 05:38
#71
That's because you have more nerve than a toothache.
Wed, 2014-07-09 05:42
#72
Sorry, I don't believe these are real human beings signing up and posting every minute or two. Just doesn't meet the credibility bar.
If you've noticed, much of the current spam occurs only in new threads, and don't appear in the existing discussions, so it's as if a hack program is running on the servers that is designed to do this.
Wed, 2014-07-09 07:52
#73
This is rapidly becoming a shit show.
Wed, 2014-07-09 12:52
#74
Catchfire
Hello! Shit show report from our techies who have been working on the spam tickle. While we do get a lot of human spammers, obviously the volume of the recent attack is too insistent (and frankly, stupid) to be a human (maybe not the best test for humanness, but regardless...). Here is what our software buds have to say:
On any given day in the past year we might have about 1000+ attempts at
creating a new account. Only a very small percentage (1-3%) actually make it through.In the last month it is approaching 4000 attempts per day. While sometimes this is real people spamming us, it's clear we are being targeted by a botnet lately that programatically is able to beat the captcha's.
We've enabled spam protection on posts now as well.
All new posts will be sent through the anti-spam service.
If it's magical formulas think you may be a potential spammer, it might ask you to fill out a captcha.
Just one viewable part of the work we are doing to mitigate these spam attacks.We're continuing to monitor and adjust the system and find the line between usability and security.
As an article of interest, part of the spammers' strategy is to use spam Twitter accounts (dozens) and link to the babble threads they start. Amazingly, these accounts have thousands of followers and dozens of people are actually clicking the links (that now go to "Access Denied" pages), often more than people click our actual articles. While depressing, clearly there is a new guerrilla marketing strategy for progressive organizations somewhere in here.
Wed, 2014-07-09 14:51
#75
SOLVED ignore post. what happened was that i was trying to post a piece and also a pic. i was blocked. i the posted the piece and on edit added the pic to the piece. both accepted without captcha being offered.
..i'm being blocked from posting one particular post. not even being offered captcha. how can i resolve this? and txs for all the work to all those envolved.
Wed, 2014-07-09 16:00
#76
What ever smithbound is I do not believe it is a person. No one person could send that many messages in such a ahort time. As far as I can see most if not all the active topics have been spammed or group emailed to
Wed, 2014-07-09 16:08
#77
I think some of this new spam takes the last sentence of the
last real post and reposts it. Why would it do that?
Wed, 2014-07-09 16:27
#78
Of course, we could just shut down the Manitoba and Saskatchewan forum...
Wed, 2014-07-09 17:02
#79
Catchfire
Did I get them all? Good thing I decided to check in here at half-time. Sheesh.
Wed, 2014-07-09 17:32
#80
I assume that the spam that just repeats the last sentence of a post was created to annoy. Would these spam posters later try to sell something?
Can they infect anyone else? Why Manitoba?
Wed, 2014-07-09 20:50
#81
The spam repeats the last sentence of the last real post in order to look less like spam and more like a valid reply.
The other thing that might happen is a human might create the user account and then set up bots to make the posts.
Wed, 2014-07-09 20:55
#82
The last sentence spam does not try to sell anything. Is it likely the "bot"would be satisfied with one post or is it likely to do anything else?
Wed, 2014-07-09 20:55
#83
The last sentence spam does not try to sell anything. Is it likely the "bot"would be satisfied with one post or is it likely to do anything else?
Thu, 2014-07-10 13:13
#84
More last sentence spam from manitobe
Thu, 2014-07-10 13:29
#85
Maybe we should merge with EM. 
Thu, 2014-07-10 13:42
#86
Maybe we should merge with EM.
Like, we should move there en masse?
Thu, 2014-07-10 13:59
#87
Babble Strike 2.0
Thu, 2014-07-10 15:15
#88
Catchfire
Strike as in air strike more like it. A measured response from the spammers to our occasional rockets against neoliberal consumer culture.
Thu, 2014-07-10 15:24
#89
Strike as in air strike more like it. A measured response from the spammers to our occasional rockets against neoliberal consumer culture.
And I'm starting a flotilla to break the spammers' babble blockade!
Thu, 2014-07-10 18:02
#90
The spam blocker is stopping me from posting in the thread on Liberal Candidates but allowing me to post everywhere else.
Also, my computer stalls on rabble when I use a pop up blocker so I had to turn it off. I don't mind seeing a pop up when I visit the site but I am getting a pop up for every single page refresh, preview of post, post of post, switch to the index etc. I got the message already.
Thu, 2014-07-10 20:32
#91
Manitoba is at it again. Why is it repeatedly Manitoba?
Thu, 2014-07-10 21:31
#92
Manitoba is at it again. Why is it repeatedly Manitoba?
Because Manitoba is being flooded, so they're fighting back.
Fri, 2014-07-11 12:54
#93
Now its manitoba and canadian politics. Maybe we need more that a constant clean up
Fri, 2014-07-11 12:54
#94
Now its manitoba and canadian politics. Maybe we need more that a constant clean up
Fri, 2014-07-11 14:07
#95
am I still alive here? sign-in says no....
OK, back to life at Babble 
in old news, did Stockholm survive the tsunami?
Fri, 2014-07-11 23:04
#96
Considering the emobile post on this thread maybe the spam is a politically targeted
Fri, 2014-07-11 23:11
#97
alan smithee
This spammer is now taking the time to cut and paste previous comments and repeat them.
There's a 'lisabond' who has done the exact same thing in at least 10 other threads.
Sat, 2014-07-12 10:50
#98
Excuse me, but is this a spammer engaging with Babblers in anti-spam thread?
Have we made contact? Is this a Close Encounter of Some Uncertain Kind?
ETA: just to explain context, - a spammer (since deleted) had inserted a non-spam message here, presumably to provide some sort of cover or camouflage for their nefarious activities.
Sat, 2014-07-12 10:52
#99
OK, folks - at what point do we break out into solidarity tunes to rally Babbler spirits:
"We will not, we will not be spammed!
We will not, we will not be spammed!"....
Sat, 2014-07-12 11:02
#100
Although to be fair, there hasn't been this much traffic in the Manitoba thread since that unfortunate incident some years back involving Gary Filmon and a Suffolk ewe.
Sat, 2014-07-12 11:30
#101
Catchfire
Lulz sherpa.
Seriously, this is the worst spam I've ever seen. It makes you miss RED STATE REPUBLICAN it does.