[Haskell] Spam on the Haskell wiki

[Ashley Yakeley]

I have verified that a verified email address is required to edit (by
creating an account).

-- Ashley

On Sat, 2012-07-14 at 20:52 -0700, Mark Lentczner wrote:

> We probably need more than just recaptcha (don't use anything else -
> they are breakable) - there are real-time forum spammer lists one
> needs to consult, and other measures. It may seem draconian, but for
> other communities I run on the web, we've given up and have to resort
> to manual review of every account request.
> 
> 
> 
> - Mark
> 
> 
> 
> On Sat, Jul 14, 2012 at 6:05 PM, Don Stewart <dons00 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>         More admins on the wiki is good, esp. those with experience to
>         implement anti-spam measures.
>         
>         
>         
>         Ashley is around , but as usual, we need more help.
>         
>         
>         
>         On Saturday, July 14, 2012, Gwern Branwen wrote:
>         
>                 I recently moved, and when I returned to the Internet
>                 a few days
>                 later, I was greeted with several hundred spam pages
>                 in Recent
>                 Changes. The torrent of spam has not let up, and I
>                 estimate that I
>                 have blocked 3-500 accounts and deleted as many pages.
>                 (I blocked
>                 another 5 or so while composing this email.) Certainly
>                 the deletion
>                 and block logs are long enough:
>                 
>                 -
>                 http://www.haskell.org/haskellwiki/index.php?title=Special%3ALog&type=delete&user=&page=
>                 -
>                 http://www.haskell.org/haskellwiki/index.php?title=Special:Ipblocklist&limit=500
>                 
>                 I have asked Ashley Yakeley to turn on additional
>                 anti-spam measures,
>                 but he has not been active on the wiki since January
>                 (http://www.haskell.org/haskellwiki/Special:Contributions/Ashley_Y
>                 http://www.haskell.org/haskellwiki/index.php?title=Special:Log&user=Ashley_Y),
>                 and has not replied to my talk messages or
>                 accompanying emails.
>                 
>                 I had to do this single-handedly as there are no other
>                 administrators.
>                 This took up a good chunk of today and yesterday, and
>                 the spam is
>                 continuing. I cannot handle it much longer: it's
>                 incredibly tedious
>                 and using up far more time than I have to give it.
>                 Measures need to be
>                 taken:
>                 
>                 1. Email confirmation needs to be checked that Ashley
>                 did in fact
>                 enable it. I suspect he did not, since I also
>                 administrate the
>                 LessWrong wiki - which I know for certain has email
>                 confirmation is
>                 enabled - is being attacked by the same spammers
>                 (similar or identical
>                 templates & spam) but at a much reduced scale.
>                 2. Additional administrators must be created. I
>                 suggest:
>                 
>                 - dons
>                 - Magnus Therning
>                 - Neil Mitchell
>                 - byorgey
>                 - Henk-Jan van Tuyl
>                 
>                 I am sure there are others who can be trusted.
>                 3. Additional bureaucrats should be created. I suggest
>                 myself.
>                 4. ReCAPTCHA enabled for 'edits adding new,
>                 unrecognized external
>                 links' - which is all of the spam. Further reading:
>                 http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Combating_spam &
>                 http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Anti-spam_features
>                 5. if Ashley is inactive, his account may be a
>                 security risk. The
>                 English Wikipedia now removes administrator bits after
>                 a year of
>                 inactivity; we should consider a similar policy.
>                 
>                 None of these can be taken by myself, as I am neither
>                 a sysadmin on
>                 Haskell.org nor a bureaucrat on the wiki.
>                 
>                 If none of these steps are taken and spam continues to
>                 remain a
>                 problem in 2 months (15 September 2012), I will cease
>                 patrolling
>                 Recent Changes. I no longer have the time or patience.
>                 
>                 --
>                 gwern
>                 http://www.gwern.net
>                 
>                 
>                 
>                 _______________________________________________
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>                 http://www.haskell.org/mailman/listinfo/haskell
> 
> 
> 

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