Spambots

[Leirin]

I notice that lately spambots keep attacking the Pixar Feature Films section of the board, each with their own accounts making long, irrelevant posts. I'm getting tired of seeing them and think it's important we find some way to block them out.

[ellie-jessie-eve]

Yeah, I know what you mean. They're severely distracting. I don't know if there's any way to prevent them. I guess we just need to ignore them until a Mod locks them up.

[IncredigirlVirginia]

I was going to express my true feelings, but then I would be slapped, banned, and just as bad as them. I dislike them and they need to get lives, jobs, and maybe girlfriends. That's all I'll say here.

[Leirin]

I don't know that they're real people, though. Sometimes forums with a lot of traffic get attacked by Google search bots that insert random, non-relevant information.

[IncredigirlVirginia]

Oh, really? I thought those were people. Wow, I feel really bad now.

[thedriveintheatre]

Thank you for your concerns everyone. I have contacted Phileas about this issue and he has assured me that he is attempting to resolve this problem. Without going into too much details, he will keep the existing CAPCHA system and have an additional custom question-and-answer system that will "easily fool automated spam-bots yet is still much easier than our old system." He will also be on holidays in the next fortnight, so he'll "be launching that when (he) also be continuing creating the themes of the forums." But, please bear in mind that Phileas is busy, and that his RL-commitments and duties must take priority. I will still periodically remind him, though.

Right now, we ask for your patience and understanding. Most of the old Admins hardly log on anymore, and as most of you would notice, it's basically three Mods policing the entire boards. We also have RL-commitments, and we are doing this voluntarily without pay or profit, so our time can't be dedicated to patrolling the forum 24/7.

For the moment, we'll just have to ignore the spam posts. I've been deleting any threads I've seen set up by the spambots, but I'm afraid that I can't check individual posts unless it's a 'new post'. The other Mods are also working just as hard too.

Also, I've asked Phileas for reinforcements to the Mod team, and I'll be contacting a few of you shortly.

[ellie-jessie-eve]

Thanks for contacting Phileas, tdit!

And I hope we didn't sound impatient or ungrateful or anything. We defintely appriciate all the time the mods have put into to making Pixar Planet the environment it is.

[IncredigirlVirginia]

We appreciate all of the moderators, and their hard work. Like Kenzie said, sorry if we sounded rude. Thanks for bringing it to Phileas, TDIT.

[The Star Swordsman]

Thanks guys. Let's remember that if you come across a spambot post, it is best for you to ignore it and report it to us so we can remove it from the site.

[Phileas]

Hey guys! Sorry for my lack of activity around the boards - I've been insanely busy as a lot of you know, but don't worry - I'm still here behind in the background!

Thanks, Lerin, and everyone else, for addressing concern. I hate spambots as much as the next guy, and, trust me, as a staff member, I hate having to clean up after them. Unfortunately, as a forum as big as this, we are always hit with automated spambots and, until they insanely hard signup system was taken down, we never got to see the full wrath of it.

But, not to worry! It should be much, much harder for automated spambots to sign up in batches. Starting from now, new users will need to click on a link to reveal a code that changes without notice. The user will then be required to type in the code in the corresponding box to proceed with registration. It's simple enough, AND it does defeat the spambots because we have an extra vertification system that is unique to other forums.

Unfortunately, this will not solve the problem of human spammers, but this will get rid of about 85% of the spam we're currently getting. As TDIT said, we're getting some new moderators so stay tuned!

[Rac_Rules]

Ah, spambots. The bane of an internet geek's existence. You'd think, with a registration code as annoying as ours (Is it still like that? I remember when I sign up three years ago--frick its been a long time--I had to make about 5000 tries to get in) we'd be able to keep them out.

Thanks for your hard work mods, we love you.

[IncredigirlVirginia]

Thank you, Phileas. Half of us owe you our souls now.

Hey, Rac! Haven't seen you in a while.

[Rac_Rules]

Incredigirl: Yeah, its been busy. I've been quite ADD. But how can I, as a dedicated internet geek, resist a thread hating on one of the darkest demons of the web?

[IncredigirlVirginia]

Exactly. Well, I missed you. That was the point of my silly comment.

Anyway, yeah. Thanks Phileas, you're a true super hero.

[pixarfan9099]

I've noticed something funny about all the spambots: They all have the same favorite movie. All of the ones whose profiles I've visited to foe them have A Bug's Life listed as their favorite film. It's odd.