Are the spammers changing tactics here? (read thread for details)

[shaneturner12]

Moderators - if you feel this should not be here, you can remove or move it if needed.

Hi Trainzers,

I'm not sure if anyone else has noticed, but it appears that the spammers have changed methods for some reason. Instead of spamming the forumss/blogs, they've now started spamming the Wiki.

Unfortunately, the Wiki does not have a report spam feature, and even if the page is edited there's a good chance they will change it back.

Has anyone else noticed this? If you want an example, look under the Recent Changes page for a UserTalk entry made today - this is an example of what I mean.

At the moment, I've only seen one incident of this type, but I've a feeling there could be more on the way.

Shane

EDIT: Slight correction - the offending usertalk page was done yesterday. I'm surprised N3V or Farbartus didn't pick up on it though.

 

[clam1952]

Can we not edit it and delete the rubbish about shoes?

 

[shaneturner12]

We can do, but it is of concern that they've started spamming the Wiki as well.

Shane

 

[clam1952]

Looks like it's too easy to register, perhaps a requirement for a registered copy of Trainz is needed if that's possible?

 

[nicky9499]

Perhaps we need some form of authentication to verify the user making the edits? If this is already being done, then stricter filters or tighter control need to be enforced on the wiki users with suspicious email addresses such as cheepguccibags4u@yandex.ru, for example.

 

[shaneturner12]

I think you may be right there, however I'm not sure if N3V would go down that line. However, tighter controls may be needed on the Wiki though, including looking into semi-protection or even full page protection on important pages that may get spammed.

Shane

 

[shaneturner12]

That would make sense, especially as the CoC does state that an incorrect email address can result in action being taken against a user. I'm interested to see what N3V (or the moderators at least) say about this.

Shane

 

[clam1952]

A wiki moderator needed perhaps?

 

[shaneturner12]

That's a possibility. Perhaps one of the forum moderators may know if that's possible to do.

Shane

 

[jjanmarine3]

Should a spammer be registered is it possible currently ( as things stand now ) to trace such a spammer ?

 

[shaneturner12]

It depends. N3V have ways of tracing them, although it may be a legitimate user who has been infected by a virus.

Shane

 

[jjanmarine3]

Would it then alleviate the spamming problem if registering is made a requirement - as already suggested ?

 

[shaneturner12]

It may do, but I'm not sure if N3V are likely to implement that due to the implications involved, including users who haven't bought Trainz yet not being able to ask about the product.

Shane

 

[JCitron]

It may do, but I'm not sure if N3V are likely to implement that due to the implications involved, including users who haven't bought Trainz yet not being able to ask about the product.

Shane

That is easily done by restricting their login to a sand-box account with access to only a specific forum. Posting anywhere else will require a registered product and a Planet Auran login. This is sort of implemented already but not fully implemented for some reason.

John

 

[shaneturner12]

Thank you for your response John. Perhaps N3V will hopefully look into it now in light of the new spammer attack.

Shane

 

[Cratey]

Hi Everyone,

We're looking into the options we have to put a stop to this. But if you have suggestions, keep bringing them up.

 

[PerRock]

Hi Everyone,

We're looking into the options we have to put a stop to this. But if you have suggestions, keep bringing them up.

Make me a moderator for the wiki?

But probably just linking the registration system into PA would be best, basically unless you have a registered version of TRS, you can't edit the wiki.

peter

 

[pcas1986]

Make me a moderator for the wiki?

...

If you have a user id then anyone can change the WiKi, hence the concern. N3V do monitor the WiKi though.

The WiKi does have a facility to list changed pages so it is fairly easy to find inappropriate pages and remove or correct them. But this takes up time and I would rather N3V concentrate on improving Trainz. So we, the users, can also remove inappropriate stuff if we see it.

I agree that obtaining a user id is way too easy and should be more difficult. I'd also like to see the sand box implemented as suggested by John.

 

[shaneturner12]

I'm glad to see that N3V are taking this seriously. In terms of suggestions, as others have said above, the best method I can see is to only allow users with registered Trainz versions to edit the Wiki, as the vast majority of spammers (if not all) do not have any registered Trainz versions next to their name. I think this would probably help reduce the blog spam issue that crops up from time to time as well if a similar approach is adopted. In terms of the forums themselves, sandboxing is probably the best way to go for reducing the effects it has as the moderators would only then have to deal with spam in one forum.

By the looks of things though it's a good thing I did create this thread as it's brought some good suggestions together as well as getting N3V's attention.

Shane