6 replies to this topic

[Nuno Brito]

Hi.

I thought it would be a good time to post a topic to mention the stats from last month and our overall site behavior.

Since last month

- It seems that the removal of mkportal from the forum has proven to be a good decision as it allowed more visitors to come without disrupting the available server resources.

- Here is a screenshot showcasing how last month was the most active in terms of visitors and page loads since the beginning of this forum




At the moment

We've also seem to become a target for spam members to post their unfortunate posts which are nevertheless quickly spotted and erased as quickly as possible.

The admin from another forum - 911CD - is also facing a similar situation where hundreds of members manage to register successfully and bypass the security with intention to spam the board.

Temporarily - Jaclaz is either allowing or denying new registrations on the forum to avoid things to get worse.

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To the future

- Planned to remove mkportal from the frontpage of the site (http://boot-land.net) with a non-mysql version.
- Planned to convert my own site (http://nunobrito.eu) to static html and save on mysql resources
- http://winbuilder.net is not so easy to convert because of the links from external pages to the download section which should be preserved.
- Need to add more road blocks for future spammers.


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Please post your ideas or opinion regarding what needs to be done.

Thank you!

[pscEx]

At the moment

We've also seem to become a target for spam members to post their unfortunate posts which are nevertheless quickly spotted and erased as quickly as possible.

The admin from another forum - 911CD - is also facing a similar situation where hundreds of members manage to register successfully and bypass the security with intention to spam the board.

Temporarily - Jaclaz is either allowing or denying new registrations on the forum to avoid things to get worse.

I also did some considerations about this issue.

Result: Unfortunatelly no usable procedure, but some brain storming which perhaps could be converted to something usable.

• prohibit new members (maybe below 10 posts) to attach pictures
  
• prohibit new members (maybe below 10 posts) to insert URLs
  
• new members (maybe below 10 posts) can upload .zip files (logs) into an URL which only is accessable for 'elected' members like .script developers, admins, enhanced members.

These rules are shown during registration. And maybe this causes a reaL SPAMMER to abort.

Peter

[paraglider]

Maybe only allowing new members one post per day for the first week would make spammers less likely to join.

[Arvy]

Actually, the logging methodology used on this site is one of its heaviest burdens. Just for the forums dB alone, a single logging table (spider_logs) uses nearly 25 percent (42 of 174 Megabytes) of the total MySQL database resources.

Most hosting services can make raw server logs available upon request. They could easily yield the same data, without imposing that kind of severe resource load level on the client site, when analysed with a tool like AWStats .

[was_jaclaz]

Maybe only allowing new members one post per day for the first week would make spammers less likely to join.

I fail to see the logic in this.

I mean, a "good" user normally posts here in search for help.

Regularly, he fails to provide the needed info, and the first reply is almost always of the type:
"please post some info"

Then the new user has to wait one week before he can do so.

On the other hand PORN spammers usually just make one single (PORN filled) post.

So as I see it such a setting would change NOTHING for spammers and provoke serious inconveniences both to new members and to expert members willing to help.

jaclaz

[paraglider]

Where did I say he would have to wait a week for a response. I said one post per day. That is seven posts in the first week. I would also only allow the posts to be in one forum.

[was_jaclaz]

Where did I say he would have to wait a week for a response. I said one post per day. That is seven posts in the first week. I would also only allow the posts to be in one forum.

My bad.

I expressed myself improperly.

What I meant was that most probably it would take the whole week (at a single post per day rate ) to solve the problem.

jaclaz