Spam Bot Registration

[awndray]

Really digging the improvements.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]43441[/ATTACH]

C'mon, SFRC. C'mon Telos. Time to up the ante. Sure you know by now that Captcha doesn't work. It's been compromised and hacked. Most people who run boards know this. vBulletin knows this. They even offer mitigation measures for spam bot registration.

When will you start implementing something as simple as a new mandatory questions, or custom profile fields?

When will you listen to members? I see Chemist posting on CGN all the time. What about the folks over here? What's the strategy behind owning a forum but spending your time on the competing one?

[Telos]

When people stop complaining they hate change, we will change.

Every time we discuss upgrades or improvements that require some modicum of change for the community, people start whining.

Improvement means features change, some features go away. Change is pain. I am not the guy who decides if the pain threshold has been reached yet.

FYI I am NOT the one you need to convince. Im just the guy in the pit turning the wrenches.

[awndray]

But it's time for change! Real change™.

Seriously though, the change required to help cut back on the bot nonsense isn't drastic. It wouldn't even impact the existing members. I don't know who's complaining about change (nor do I care) but registration and spam bots prevention seems like a silly thing to complain about.

And understood about being the wrench puller. I know I used your name, but it wasn't meant to place any blame on you. I'm genuinely curious however why the board owner is still silent to this day since taking over.

[SIR VEYOR]

It’s easier for the owner to let the volunteer mods deal with the bots…

[Aniest]

I used to copy the SFRC post on CGN over here because they were not posting it here.

I was told to stop. Each banner they put out tracks where the banner was clicked on (SFRC site, CGN, SFRC newsletter, etc) and that they were doing some tracking to see where their best customer response to the sales were.

I was not told why they don’t post here, as GOC was not mentioned. Take that as you will…

[Gaidheal]

I don't tend to click on links.

If anything I will right-click and copy, paste it somewhere else to inspect, and go there if I decide to in my own special way.

It's not that I'm not tracked at all... it's that I'm reasonably careful and deliberate in what I do and how so that tracking is useless or at least confused.

The lazy and ignorant get tracked. Ads, too I hear. lol

[awndray]

My Pihole blocks trackers, ads, and stupid stuff that I don't want. It even blocks the banners on GOC.

For those who don't use or care for a DNS blackhole, there are other tools available, like this one.

[LB303]

My Pihole blocks trackers, ads, and stupid stuff that I don't want. It even blocks the banners on GOC.

For those who don't use or care for a DNS blackhole, there are other tools available, like this one.

Geez, the permissions are as scary as the tracking. I think I'll just manage where I go on the wild & woolly web for myself.

[Gaidheal]

Mine too. I also run my own recursive & caching DNS server (Unbound) on the same Pi Zero that I run my PiHole and in-house VPN on

I also run PiHole on some of my external VPNs around the globe with different levels of blocking: if something doesn't work here at home because the blocking is too aggressive, I switch to a VPN somewhere else in the world and try again.

Linode is awesome for this And my own cloud storage, and... and...

[awndray]

Mine too. I also run my own recursive & caching DNS server (Unbound) on the same Pi Zero that I run my PiHole and in-house VPN on

Ditto. There's nothing quite like having control of one's data. And on that note...

I also run PiHole on some of my external VPNs around the globe with different levels of blocking: if something doesn't work here at home because the blocking is too aggressive, I switch to a VPN somewhere else in the world and try again.

Linode is awesome for this And my own cloud storage, and... and...

I really need to look into Linode again. I host NextCloud at home, but I'd like an offsite backup. I considered one at my brother's place but he moves a lot and I don't want to deal with reconfiguring every time he decides he wants a change of scenery.

[awndray]

[blacksmithden]

You haven't noticed the 2 theads where I said I was sending out verification questions. The issue is still small enough that I can do it manually.

[awndray]

Yes, I have. I even 'liked' your posts.

I'm not criticizing your and other mods' work. My commentary is targeted at the absentee owner.

[Camo tung]

You haven't noticed the 2 theads where I said I was sending out verification questions. The issue is still small enough that I can do it manually.

GOC's lonely hearts club moderator!

[blacksmithden]

GOC's lonely hearts club moderator!

I only send them "spicy" pm's right before I ban them.