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Dan in Saint Louis
March 3rd, 2007, 08:59 PM
It's starting to look like putting new members on moderation until their intentions are known might be a good idea... ... ...

Judy G. Russell
March 3rd, 2007, 09:29 PM
It's starting to look like putting new members on moderation until their intentions are known might be a good idea... ... ...Yep. Gonna be done.

ktinkel
March 4th, 2007, 08:24 AM
Yep. Gonna be done.We have a plug-in on DTP Forum that throws all messages from new registrants that contain specified words into moderation. It works pretty well — we have had only two false positives.

The spammers are like cockroaches, scurrying all over; we ban half a dozen every day. But hackers are worse: I just heard that the WordPress download site was hacked, and version 2.1.1 altered to permit remote PHP execution. That will effect a lot of sites. Anyone who downloaded the 2.1.1 update within the past 3 to 4 days must download 2.1.2 (http://wordpress.org/development/2007/03/upgrade-212/) and take other precautions.

Sigh.

Dan in Saint Louis
March 4th, 2007, 10:27 AM
Yep. Gonna be done.Holler if you need a hand.

Judy G. Russell
March 4th, 2007, 09:12 PM
We have a plug-in on DTP Forum that throws all messages from new registrants that contain specified words into moderation. It works pretty well — we have had only two false positives.As soon as we get the software updated we'll have to chat about that. (I'm cringing a little -- Gary was going to help me do it... Damn. I hate losing good guys...)

The spammers are like cockroaches, scurrying all over; we ban half a dozen every day. But hackers are worse: I just heard that the WordPress download site was hacked, and version 2.1.1 altered to permit remote PHP execution. That will effect a lot of sites. Anyone who downloaded the 2.1.1 update within the past 3 to 4 days must download 2.1.2 (http://wordpress.org/development/2007/03/upgrade-212/) and take other precautions. Sigh.
Sigh is right. This is a real pain...

Judy G. Russell
March 4th, 2007, 09:13 PM
Holler if you need a hand.Thanks, Dan. The big thing is getting the software updated. That's going to be a bit delayed since we've lost our technical advisor in Gary. (Damn, I hate that. It hurts just thinking that Gary is gone.)

Dan in Saint Louis
March 4th, 2007, 09:17 PM
The big thing is getting the software updated.I have no idea how this software works. I know that some have a setting that can put new members on moderation until a listmom perceives that they mean no harm, at which point the moderation can be lifted.

That would be a manual process, of course, but if no more than one or two day get mischievous it's not hard to keep up.

Judy G. Russell
March 4th, 2007, 11:34 PM
I have no idea how this software works. I know that some have a setting that can put new members on moderation until a listmom perceives that they mean no harm, at which point the moderation can be lifted.

That would be a manual process, of course, but if no more than one or two day get mischievous it's not hard to keep up.Right now, we have it set so that new members have to get approval to post and new posts in this section (where the 'bots try to post) have to be moderated. It seems to have worked, but has delayed messages from folks like (sigh) you and Kathleen...

ktinkel
March 5th, 2007, 08:49 AM
I have no idea how this software works. I know that some have a setting that can put new members on moderation until a listmom perceives that they mean no harm, at which point the moderation can be lifted.

That would be a manual process, of course, but if no more than one or two day get mischievous it's not hard to keep up.There is another weapon, assuming you are receiving e-mail notification of new registrations. I check the registration form of all the likely looking suspects (their names or addresses often serve as a flag) and ban the ones I am sure are bad pre-emptively (and if possible, add their address to the user banning list in vB Setup).

If you want to know some of the signs that tip me off, let me know and I’ll give you the infallible ones. (I believe I get about 40% that way before they have a chance to post. Then the Prevent Spam plug-in throws almost all the others into moderation, so members do not have to see them, though the staff does. (Two have gotten past that, mainly because they were not selling anything, just ranting.)

Judy G. Russell
March 5th, 2007, 10:35 AM
There is another weapon, assuming you are receiving e-mail notification of new registrations. I check the registration form of all the likely looking suspects (their names or addresses often serve as a flag) and ban the ones I am sure are bad pre-emptively (and if possible, add their address to the user banning list in vB Setup).Oh GOOD idea. We don't get nearly as many new registrations as you do -- this isn't that kind of forum -- and it'd be easy to keep an eye on that!