[pmwiki-users] Spam help needed

[Neil Herber]

At 2006-03-28  01:37 PM -0500, David Spitzley is rumored to have said:
>Over the last week or so my website has become a target of a 
>spammer, and I'm not sure what to do about it.  I just checked one 
>of the source files, and he's using dozens of different IP 
>addresses, so I don't really have a lot to go on in blocking 
>him.  I'm currently using the mtblacklist recipe, but it ccurrently 
>isn't blocking him.  Any suggestions?
>
>Here's one of the affected pages:
>
>http://www.davidaspitzley.org/gpmiwiki/index.php?n=Main.HomePage

David

The same spammer has been hammering my wiki for the last 2 weeks. I 
have managed to defeat him so far. My advice:

1) Drop MTblacklist -  you don't get to control the entries
2) Install Blocklist2 - email me privately for a short list of 
keywords to get rid of this guy
2a) Use the mail notification feature to see how well it works!
3) Consider a simple edit password - on my site, the password on the 
Guest pages is "please" and the password prompt even tells you that, 
but the spammer is too stupid/lazy/impatient  (choose one) to enter it

Blocking by IP for this guy is pointless - I have seen dozens of 
different IPs, so I suspect it is a drove of zombies.

Blocking by key word or partial URL (there are not that many) is very 
effective.

I would also suggest installing the Mailposts script so that you are 
notified when someone is adding content to your site.


Neil

Neil Herber
Corporate info at http://www.eton.ca/
Eton Systems, 15 Pinepoint Drive, Nepean, ON, Canada K2H 6B1
Tel: (613) 829-4668