The spambot report thread

Post by **MrFlibble** » Thu Sep 17, 2015 3:46 pm

I've just moved a suspicious topic (possible warez links) to Trash Heap for evaluation by the administrators. I can't access archive org now (browser keeps warning me of "untrusted connections"), and knowing the tendency of random people to upload warez to that site (sadly) I decided to err on the side of caution. You can restore that post if you feel the move was unjustified.

tienkhoanguyen · Post by **tienkhoanguyen** » Thu Sep 17, 2015 6:56 pm

Jesus Christ!hehe

In all fairness I just saw 3 or such possible nudity games like Strip Poker, Uncover It, and possibly many more. I remember as a kid I did play those games however I wish I never had. I should have waited until I got married instead of messing around and having "sweet" dreams all the time. So that is my personal reason for saying "No." However I also had a great time with the other games like Pac-Man, Pitfall, and such. If it were my kid it would be a tough choice. I don't want my kids exposed to stuffs like that before they are ready with enough money, house, car, and such so they are ready for a family. Even then I think just getting to know each other the natural way is more than enough excitement in my humble opinion. Besides I can't be the ones to spoil it for the kids the joy of being with someone special.

Bless God for my two real parents! They always taught me to stay away from PlayBoy and such at an early age. I didn't understand why until I was older that those things make you too excited at an early age. However God saved me before it was too late and just put this sense of vibe in me that tells me it just wasn't good.

Honour to my real dad Nguyen Binh Thuy (for me anyways).
Honour to my real mom Huong Thi Vu (for me anyways).

Bless my real mom Huong Thi Vu for still being here. She has to watch my sister who is in her 30's have her first kid. It must be hard and scary to be a mom for the first time. You probably want to give all your love to your kid and want to protect them with all you've got!!!!!!!!!!!!

MrFlibble wrote:I've just moved a suspicious topic (possible warez links) to Trash Heap for evaluation by the administrators. I can't access archive org now (browser keeps warning me of "untrusted connections"), and knowing the tendency of random people to upload warez to that site (sadly) I decided to err on the side of caution. You can restore that post if you feel the move was unjustified.

Post by **Wally** » Thu Sep 17, 2015 10:10 pm

MrFlibble wrote:I've just moved a suspicious topic (possible warez links) to Trash Heap for evaluation by the administrators. I can't access archive org now (browser keeps warning me of "untrusted connections"), and knowing the tendency of random people to upload warez to that site (sadly) I decided to err on the side of caution. You can restore that post if you feel the move was unjustified.

You were right to do so, deleted other posts. If person keeps posting we'll ban.

@Tien, I'd appreciate it if you keep your 'spam' out of this thread.. Thanks

Post by **MrFlibble** » Thu Sep 24, 2015 12:37 pm

Another bot:
http://www.dosgames.com/forum/profile.p ... le&u=13322

Three posts Trash Heap'd.

Post by **MrFlibble** » Sat Sep 26, 2015 9:34 am

Individual post needs to be moved or deleted:
http://www.dosgames.com/forum/viewtopic ... 066#127066

Not spam but inappropriate advertising.

Post by **MrFlibble** » Thu Oct 08, 2015 8:23 am

Spambot/spammer:
http://www.dosgames.com/forum/profile.p ... le&u=12121

Posted a something vaguely relevant (post now deleted), later edited the signature to insert links to unrelated websites.

Post by **MrFlibble** » Fri Oct 16, 2015 3:28 am

This seems to have become a rather frequent poster/bot in the forums I know lately:
http://www.dosgames.com/forum/profile.p ... le&u=13335

Post Trash Heap'd.

Post by **MrFlibble** » Sat Oct 17, 2015 6:57 pm

Multiple spam threads moved to Trash Heap.

Post by **MrFlibble** » Sun Oct 18, 2015 6:55 am

The same bot made more posts, which seem to be in Korean. It's a guest poster, but I guess at least the username can be banned.

Post by **MrFlibble** » Mon Oct 19, 2015 1:06 pm

The bot's back under a different name.

Post by **MrFlibble** » Tue Oct 20, 2015 2:15 pm

I've just moved several dozens of new Korean (?) spam stuff to the Trash Heap. Maybe you could block their IPs or something?

BTW, is it possible to change the type of spam countermeasure both for registrations and guest posts? It seems like the new 'bots (or human spammers?) have a way of bypassing captcha. What about a custom question related to the site or DOS games?

Quadko · Post by **Quadko** » Wed Oct 21, 2015 9:47 am

Or perhaps gate posts - only allow a few posts in a short period of time from "guests and members with less than 20 posts" or something? Then the bot can't drop 20 posts in three minutes.

Rwolf · Post by **Rwolf** » Wed Oct 21, 2015 5:45 pm

That could be a generic limit for all IMO - *nobody* (sane) should post 20 (or even less) postings in such short time, especially not so identical ones.

I thought I saw some half-disguised weblink in the spam, ending in circled .com letters; maybe such a string can be used in a simple filter too.

Post by **MrFlibble** » Thu Oct 22, 2015 10:31 am

Guest posters cannot edit their posts. If a user requests a game and then remembers some more details, they have no choice but to make a second post in the same thread (some make a new thread about the same subject, although thankfully it's pretty rare). Introducing a forced pause between posts will make this even less convenient.

Actually, I'd vote for abandoning the practice of guest posts altogether. Registering doesn't take up much time, and the user will enjoy all the benefits of the full account in such case.

Post by **MrFlibble** » Sat Oct 24, 2015 7:00 am

Another spammer:
http://www.dosgames.com/forum/profile.p ... le&u=13317

Posts moved to Heap, as usual.

Rwolf · Post by **Rwolf** » Wed Nov 04, 2015 5:25 am

Two spammers; one 'randalldall' is on-topic, but really just selling a pay-to-win game:
http://www.dosgames.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=21216

The other spammer 'gtrevg' is a normal clueless type, posting 6 ads:
http://www.dosgames.com/forum/search.ph ... hor=gtrevg

Post by **MrFlibble** » Wed Nov 04, 2015 6:38 am

Both Trash Heap'd, waiting for admins to clean up the accounts. Thanks.

[Edit] In addition here's a copy-paste spambot:
http://www.dosgames.com/forum/search.ph ... r=HyuhjbGF

Posts deleted. On a side note, it edited the copied parts from other users' posts a bit. Not sure if this is automatic or not.

Cmaza · Post by **Cmaza** » Fri Nov 06, 2015 9:49 am

MrFlibble wrote:On a side note, it edited the copied parts from other users' posts a bit. Not sure if this is automatic or not.

This is normal behaviour for spambots; Almost always automatic. Useful as a potential indicator. :-)

Post by **MrFlibble** » Sat Nov 07, 2015 6:09 am

I mean that usually a copy-paste bot copies a part of another user's post straight away. But this time there were small modifications. For example, it took the sentence "I've need gotten any games with my whiskey" and changed it to "I've got any games with my whiskey" (IIRC). This is what made me wonder if this was a fully automatic bot or a person.

I encountered a copy-paste bot once that would seemingly run copied text through recursive translation to make an appearance of vaguely on-topic posts made by a non-native speaker. It actually nearly managed to deceive me with this, or at least I had some reasonable doubts if it was a bot or not. However, there was a user in that forum who would put her signature right into the post text, and the bot copied her posts too. The signature of course was not altered by the recursive translation, which gave away the fact that it was a copy-paste bot.

Rwolf · Post by **Rwolf** » Fri Nov 13, 2015 4:48 am

Another bot called 'Fionaly'. This time spamming in German.

http://www.dosgames.com/forum/profile.p ... le&u=13325

edit: the posts were removed, but one have now resurfaced:
http://www.dosgames.com/forum/search.ph ... or=fionaly

It might be the bot is monitored?

For some reason, the listed number of posts are one more than the actual.

DOS Games Discussion

The spambot report thread

God, Jesus Christ, is number one!hehe