What is going on???

[Juanita]

So did anyone else notice the random like 40 people who've registered in the past day or two but have never posted and have not gotten on since? Their names are all random letters and numbers. Is this some sort of test I didn't know about?
Because seriously.
I'm so confused right now.

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

Must be a 'bot net.
Or maybe the Borg.

[Juanita]

Must be a 'bot net.

I'm afraid I'm not familiar with that terminology.

Or maybe the Borg.

Well we're all dead.
It was nice knowing you all.

[Astro Forever]

I've just noticed it myself a few minutes ago.

Indeed, there are a lot of "bots" that crawled on forums and automatically register everywhere. To counter this "strategy", we have created questions new members have to reply to before they can register. But, eventually, a human will see them, will change the script so the bot can register, and they'll get through anyway. There have been a few dozens of these today and yesterday.

To counter this, I've just slightly altered the questions we currently have. I would think we should be okay for at least a few days (if not more), and we may come up with completely different questions if we have to.

Even if they do register however, Vergere has designed his own application and should these "users" post spam, the post normally should be deleted automatically relatively quickly. Otherwise, you can always report them through the button.

[Juanita]

Oh ok. I think I get it. So they're kinda like spam viruses where they're programmed to just register on sites and post spam? Are they like the "dislike bots" that were on YouTube? They were these spam bots programmed to automatically dislike any video that had a comment mentioning that there were no dislikes on the video. Is it along the same lines as that or am I getting it wrong?
(I'm sorry. I'm trying to understand ;-; )

[Astro Forever]

It's the first time I've heard of dislike bots (that's so stupid...), but yes, you understood the idea.

[Juanita]

People make stupid crap.
Ok I just wanted to make sure. I hope you guys can fix the problem soon. It's annoying me more than I think it should. :d oh:

[Novacain]

So did anyone else notice the random like 40 people who've registered in the past day or two but have never posted and have not gotten on since? Their names are all random letters and numbers. Is this some sort of test I didn't know about?
Because seriously.
I'm so confused right now.

dislike.gif (3.01 KiB) Viewed 1873 times

Must be a 'bot net.
Or maybe the Borg.

dislike.gif (3.01 KiB) Viewed 1873 times

Must be a 'bot net.

I'm afraid I'm not familiar with that terminology.

Or maybe the Borg.

Well we're all dead.
It was nice knowing you all.

dislike.gif (3.01 KiB) Viewed 1873 times

I've just noticed it myself a few minutes ago.

Indeed, there are a lot of "bots" that crawled on forums and automatically register everywhere. To counter this "strategy", we have created questions new members have to reply to before they can register. But, eventually, a human will see them, will change the script so the bot can register, and they'll get through anyway. There have been a few dozens of these today and yesterday.

To counter this, I've just slightly altered the questions we currently have. I would think we should be okay for at least a few days (if not more), and we may come up with completely different questions if we have to.

Even if they do register however, Vergere has designed his own application and should these "users" post spam, the post normally should be deleted automatically relatively quickly. Otherwise, you can always report them through the [img]http://www.astroboy-online.com/forums/images/buttons/report.gif[/img] button.

dislike.gif (3.01 KiB) Viewed 1873 times

Oh ok. I think I get it. So they're kinda like spam viruses where they're programmed to just register on sites and post spam? Are they like the "dislike bots" that were on YouTube? They were these spam bots programmed to automatically dislike any video that had a comment mentioning that there were no dislikes on the video. Is it along the same lines as that or am I getting it wrong?
(I'm sorry. I'm trying to understand ;-; )

dislike.gif (3.01 KiB) Viewed 1873 times

It's the first time I've heard of dislike bots (that's so stupid...), but yes, you understood the idea.

dislike.gif (3.01 KiB) Viewed 1873 times

People make stupid crap.
Ok I just wanted to make sure. I hope you guys can fix the problem soon. It's annoying me more than I think it should. :d oh:

dislike.gif (3.01 KiB) Viewed 1873 times

[Juanita]

Your signature went perfectly with that post
Just
Perfect

[AprilSeven]

Yeah - they are spammers that are getting through our normally solid protection - but we've been having the same problem in my office - normally we have about 1 million spams a day, but recently it's been about 4 million. It's overwhelming the protection.

They are kind of like gnats! When one of us mods/admins see where they've posted we pull them down (you won't see them anymore but we will)