Wiki is being carpet bombed

MozTS · 13th Jan 2005, 06:08 PM

If anyone who visits the wiki and knows how to revert pages, could you please help me out here, the slowness of beyondunreal.com is making it impossible to keep up with these hand full of spammers and they don't seem to be stopping.

MozTS · 13th Jan 2005, 06:42 PM

..and it just exploded. Which is good I guess...

larrystorch · 13th Jan 2005, 08:18 PM

We took it down for a bit till the spammer left and then I blocked that IP addy from accessing all BU sites.

MozTS · 13th Jan 2005, 09:44 PM

Sexcellent.

The mess is almost cleaned up now, but it was some of the worse spamming I have ever seen yet. It really was something fierce, if you hadn't blocked it that evil might have started respamming its old pages after it completely bombed the whole wiki. I don't know how many pages it messed with. but on my 1200 x 900 monitor it is many rolls of the scroll wheel on the recent changes page.

tarquin · 17th Jan 2005, 02:28 PM

Thanks larrystorch

Mychaeel has now implemented a system to automatically block people who post spammy external links.
It's caught one of the b****** already

Zur · 17th Jan 2005, 06:08 PM

Pff, hope the wanker that did this gets a sharp taste of Chongqing.

Mychaeel · 18th Jan 2005, 02:28 AM

That, and a (hopefully) sharp taste of getting a complaint filed with their ISP. (Though, sadly enough, there are quite spammer-friendly ISPs out there. But then at least we can ban their entire IP range with a clean conscience.)

Since tarquin wrote that, another spammer tripped the trap and got auto-blocked. As simple as it is, the filter seems to be quite effective so far.

*hal* · 18th Jan 2005, 06:53 AM

Nice work with the trap!

[UM]theswarm · 26th Jan 2005, 06:54 AM

I don't suppose that can be adapted for the forums in any way?

Mychaeel · 26th Jan 2005, 07:22 AM

Totally different problem.

Wiki spam is characterized by a lot of links (500+) being pasted on one or many wiki pages. The idea is to improve the spammed pages' Google PageRank that way. The wiki filter works by preventing the addition of that many links to wiki pages.

Forum spam is, well, unsolicited advertising in the forums. You'd need a full-fledged text pattern-based spam filter to even attempt to distinguish that from solicited postings.

We rarely get that or something similar on the wiki, and if we do, it's only a minor annoyance compared to the mess the huge spam attacks leave to be cleaned up.

Mychaeel · 26th Jan 2005, 02:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mychaeel

That, and a (hopefully) sharp taste of getting a complaint filed with their ISP.

I actually got a response to one of my complaints:

Quote:

Dear Sir/Madam,

We have already issued a warning to the user to ensure that such activity is not repeated in future. Hence we would request you to consider this case as closed. The Trouble Ticket Number for this complaint is '2973'.

Please do contact us if the incident repeats again.

Assuring you the best of our services.

Thanking you.

Yours Sincerely,

Antiabuse Support
E-mail : Antiabuse.Support@relianceinfo.com
Phone : 91-(022) -30388464

nick89 · 27th Jan 2005, 12:28 AM

The wiki is a such a good resource and the bible for n00b mappers and coders like me, it really sucks to see people do this sometimes.

JohnnySix · 29th Jan 2005, 09:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mychaeel

I actually got a response to one of my complaints:

Was the gist of that reply stating something along the lines of "don't bother us again 'cos there's jack we're going to do about it." ?

I guess, unless you threaten them with legal action, someone's monthly DSL subscription money is always going to win out.

Mychaeel · 29th Jan 2005, 09:18 AM

Well, I've got no idea whether they did anything at all, of course, but I like to think that they did. And you can bet I'll "contact [them] if the incident repeats again."

Here's another one:

Quote:

Hi,

we will take the necessary actions to stop this kind of illegal activity.

Ystävällisin terveisin
Best Regards
EUnet Finland
puh +358 9 4243 3205
fax +358 9 4243 0601
Linnoitustie 4 B (Alto)
02600 Espoo

Aegeri · 14th Mar 2005, 01:27 PM

I was most disgusted with the main wiki site when some German neo-nazis invaded the history section and altered a great deal of the holocaust areas. It was quite a shame.

Dark Pulse · 14th Mar 2005, 03:31 PM

And that is related to UnrealWiki... how?

tarquin · 14th Mar 2005, 03:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aegeri

the main wiki site

You mean Wikipedia?
Unreal Wiki is not connected to Wikipedia in any way.
'wiki' is just a way of running and organizing a site's content -- like 'forum' or 'blog'.

but yeah, it's not good when that sort of thing happens

13th Jan 2005, 06:08 PM	#1
MozTS Us And Them Join Date: Sep. 12th, 2004 Posts: 157	Wiki is being carpet bombed If anyone who visits the wiki and knows how to revert pages, could you please help me out here, the slowness of beyondunreal.com is making it impossible to keep up with these hand full of spammers and they don't seem to be stopping.

13th Jan 2005, 08:18 PM	#3
larrystorch Registered User Join Date: Jul. 16th, 2001 Location: The Right Coast Posts: 257	We took it down for a bit till the spammer left and then I blocked that IP addy from accessing all BU sites. __________________ "...and France surrendered!"

17th Jan 2005, 02:28 PM	#5
tarquin design is flawed Join Date: Oct. 11th, 2000 Location: UK Posts: 3,928	Thanks larrystorch Mychaeel has now implemented a system to automatically block people who post spammy external links. It's caught one of the b****** already __________________ There's a Jailbreak banner for every map. <tarquin> great work on the llama hud, Wormbo. I really felt like puking

17th Jan 2005, 06:08 PM	#6
Zur surrealistic mad cow Join Date: Jul. 8th, 2002 Posts: 11,327	Pff, hope the wanker that did this gets a sharp taste of Chongqing. __________________

18th Jan 2005, 02:28 AM	#7
Mychaeel Join Date: Oct. 3rd, 2001 Location: Frankfurt/Main, Germany Posts: 3,829	That, and a (hopefully) sharp taste of getting a complaint filed with their ISP. (Though, sadly enough, there are quite spammer-friendly ISPs out there. But then at least we can ban their entire IP range with a clean conscience.) Since tarquin wrote that, another spammer tripped the trap and got auto-blocked. As simple as it is, the filter seems to be quite effective so far. __________________ PlanetJailbreak Jailbreak Developer Network

13th Jan 2005, 06:42 PM	#2
MozTS Us And Them Join Date: Sep. 12th, 2004 Posts: 157	..and it just exploded. Which is good I guess...

13th Jan 2005, 09:44 PM	#4
MozTS Us And Them Join Date: Sep. 12th, 2004 Posts: 157	Sexcellent. The mess is almost cleaned up now, but it was some of the worse spamming I have ever seen yet. It really was something fierce, if you hadn't blocked it that evil might have started respamming its old pages after it completely bombed the whole wiki. I don't know how many pages it messed with. but on my 1200 x 900 monitor it is many rolls of the scroll wheel on the recent changes page.

18th Jan 2005, 06:53 AM	#8
hal Dictator Join Date: Nov. 24th, 1998 Location: -------> Posts: 21,340	Nice work with the trap! __________________

26th Jan 2005, 06:54 AM	#9
[UM]theswarm Spork of the Apocalypse! Join Date: Sep. 30th, 2001 Location: Everywhere Posts: 1,058	I don't suppose that can be adapted for the forums in any way?

26th Jan 2005, 07:22 AM	#10
Mychaeel Join Date: Oct. 3rd, 2001 Location: Frankfurt/Main, Germany Posts: 3,829	Totally different problem. Wiki spam is characterized by a lot of links (500+) being pasted on one or many wiki pages. The idea is to improve the spammed pages' Google PageRank that way. The wiki filter works by preventing the addition of that many links to wiki pages. Forum spam is, well, unsolicited advertising in the forums. You'd need a full-fledged text pattern-based spam filter to even attempt to distinguish that from solicited postings. We rarely get that or something similar on the wiki, and if we do, it's only a minor annoyance compared to the mess the huge spam attacks leave to be cleaned up. __________________ PlanetJailbreak Jailbreak Developer Network

27th Jan 2005, 12:28 AM	#12
nick89 Mr High Ping Join Date: Dec. 20th, 2004 Posts: 448	The wiki is a such a good resource and the bible for n00b mappers and coders like me, it really sucks to see people do this sometimes. __________________

14th Mar 2005, 01:27 PM	#15
Aegeri Mad Microbiologist, of ASSHATTERY Join Date: Mar. 15th, 2004 Location: New Zealand Posts: 515	I was most disgusted with the main wiki site when some German neo-nazis invaded the history section and altered a great deal of the holocaust areas. It was quite a shame. __________________ My blog

14th Mar 2005, 03:31 PM	#16
Dark Pulse Dolla, Dolla. Holla, Holla. Join Date: Sep. 12th, 2004 Location: Buffalo, NY, USA Posts: 6,181	And that is related to UnrealWiki... how? __________________

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