Snypiuer Posted January 10, 2011 Report Share Posted January 10, 2011 A beaten, bloody and battered Snypiuer slowly enters, looks around and says, "I think I won. It's been a couple days. . . and no attacks. I think I won!" then passes out. O.K., for those of you unaware of it, we've been having a LOT of bots registering. SO, to be fair, I went through each and every one and found other forums they had joined and read their posts to confirm they were spammers and checked every spam list I could find to see if they were listed. Once I KNEW they were up to no good, I: Banned them. Flagged them as spammers (which reported them to IP Boards). Black listed their: Name, E-mail address and IP address. Then deleted them. I also added a question to the registration window (a simple one, easy to answer, BUT a human has to read it to answer). In the end, 150 - took a while. Most of the ones that were validated, never posted here (but did, either post spam in other forums or turned up on spam lists - multiple times). I'm thinking of going through and checking to see if any other members who have never posted turn out to be bots - 640+ is going to be a while! ANYWAYS, that's what I've been up to and my next project is a Valentine Day skin. BUT, first there is the matter of our boards current version. We are 3.0.5 (I believe) and 3.1.4 is the newest, with 3.2 set to come out later in the year. Our problem is IP Board will STOP support for all 3.0.x versions in a few months. MY thought is to upgrade to 3.1.4 and use that 'till 3.2 gets the bugs worked out. If there is no objections, I'll see what's needed to upgrade and do that in a few days (have a basic idea what to do, just want to make sure I do it right!). NOW, for members, go to the Muse and Quill Café in the Banquet Room http://www.patrickdurham.net/themightypen/index.php?showforum=4 like Appy did and join in the Poetry Challenge. There are a couple other challenges there you can also try. I have an idea for a new challenge, so keep an eye on the Assembly Room http://www.patrickdurham.net/themightypen/index.php?showforum=3 and I'll post when I have it worked out. FINALLY, time is running out to post for a chance to win a FREE MIGHTY PEN T-SHIRT! ANY post with the theme of 'NEW' qualifies. Write about a 'NEW': Creature. Love. World. Discovery. Invention. Beginning. ANYTHING 'NEW' and YOU could receive a FREE MIGHTY PEN T-SHIRT! That's it for now and start posting! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Appy Posted January 10, 2011 Report Share Posted January 10, 2011 I say AYE for the upgrade, but won't that confuddle the skin we have now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snypiuer Posted January 10, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2011 As Snypiuer comes to and gathers himself, a shadow detaches itself from the ceiling and falls upon him! It is none other than the Legendary. . . NAY! the no-less-then MYTHICAL, Turtle of Realization (who has been stalking Snypiuer for weeks)! As Snypiuer makes a pathetic and futile attempt to defend himself from the turtle's giant bat, a memory flashes through his now swelling brain, "I COMPLETELY forgot about Peredhil's 'Players' http://www.patrickdurham.net/themightypen/index.php?showtopic=17030 !" Satisfied, the turtle puts away his bat and melts back into the shadows, leaving Snypiuer in a twitching, drooling heap on the floor, with brief coherent thoughts of, "Maybe I forgot because it freaked me out so much!" and "Why can't I come up with something that good?" randomly forming in his rapidly liquefying brain. Trust me, it IS that good - READ IT, LIVE IT! Wait. . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snypiuer Posted January 10, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2011 I say AYE for the upgrade, but won't that confuddle the skin we have now? I'm thinking. . . probably? That's why I'm kind of holding back on the Valentine skin. There is a skin generator for 3.1.4 though at IP Board (simple color changes - thought I could use it for our version, but couldn't get it to work!), so we should be good to go if we have IP Board do the upgrade (which is the direction I believe we should go) instead of doing it ourselves - believe it's part of what is paid for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hjolnai Posted January 10, 2011 Report Share Posted January 10, 2011 Congratulations on defeating the endless waves of bots (150 sounds like it must have been extremely time consuming and very painful. That's a lot of work to put in...). I just hope that the blacklisting of IPs doesn't come back to bite you, since IP addresses can be faked or shared. Shouldn't be a problem, though. Thanks for all the hard work you continue to put into the Pen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snypiuer Posted January 11, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2011 Thanks, I thought about the IP thing, none of the IPs I blacklisted were used by any current members, so I'm HOPING we're covered on that part at least. They were mostly Eastern European with Malaysia, China and Russia about even. Only a couple from USA, Europe and Africa. Some of them led back to a separate server IP, but I could not find an option to ban THAT IP. But, I am confident ALL the IPs I blacklisted WERE compromised. Well, back to it then! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Appy Posted January 12, 2011 Report Share Posted January 12, 2011 Yes thank you for reminding me Hjolnai (what fun name to spell btw)! Snypiuer (another fun spelling) you're doing a terrific job for sure! You have my respect and for me,whatever you're doing, it worked because I keep comming back to see what you did this time ** Took me long enough to figure out that I could actually participate here again http://www.themightypen.net/public/style_emoticons/default/ohmy.gif Anyways... have a and keep up the good work *huggles* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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