[pmwiki-users] An possible anti-spam measure

David Spitzley dspitzle at wash.k12.mi.us
Wed Jun 7 13:56:11 CDT 2006


>>> "Patrick R. Michaud" <pmichaud at pobox.com> 06/07/06 12:31 PM >>>
> On a different front, does anybody have a quick way to block 
> based on an Author Name, rather than on the post content?  I've 
> got a bot by the name of Nick that drops by every few weeks 
> with a new set of addresses that bypass my filter; his 
> IP address is variable, of course...

    include_once('scripts/author.php');
    if ($Author == 'Nick') $EnablePost = 0;
-------------------------------------

Ah, spiffy.  Actually, I should confess that the idea for the anti-spam suggestion originated from what I've realized is a probable error in my understanding of how spambots would work.  Ultimately it came down to the idea that they have to be identifying the target components of the form somehow, and that requires some sort of heuristic for identifying important fields, one that could probably be screwed with.  Maybe just a config.php value for $EditFieldName, so that every site uses a different name for the data entry field that the spam goes in?  For that matter, if the field names were just encrypted with a site-specific key, spambots couldn't identify what goes in which field.


David





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