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From: Jeff Garland (jeff_at_[hidden])
Date: 2004-12-06 08:59:16


On Mon, 6 Dec 2004 08:19:41 -0500, Caleb Epstein wrote
> On Mon, 6 Dec 2004 06:02:15 -0700, Jeff Garland
> <jeff_at_[hidden]> wrote:
>
> > Since I didn't write the Wiki software, no. But that's an interesting idea,
> > although I'm going to guess that it runs counter to the usual 'Wiki
culture'....
>
> A very simple and effective spam-combat tool I have seen employed by
> beleagured wikis is to password-protect the Edit pages, and to make
> the password simple and topic-relevant (e.g. "boost") but not in a
> machine-readable way.
>
> See for example the Smarty wiki at: http://tinyurl.com/6f4c9

Interesting. Seems like a randomly generated password challenge would be a
nice way to foil any 'bots' that are spamming the wiki. That said, from the
spam I've seen I think it is mostly being done by hand by humans so a well
known password isn't going to stop that.

> Another suggestion somenoe made was to only allow registered users to
> edit pages.
>
> I think either of these is a fine, marginally intrusive change
>
> (assuming it can be done easily with the Wiki software) that would
> not stand in the way of legitimate users adding content and will go
> a long way to stop the spam.

Well, the issue is what does it take to get a registration? If it is
non-automated it becomes a significant barrier because a person has to
approve, might not be available for hours, etc. If it is automated (eg: via
email or just the current 'preferences') then you go and get a free bogus
email, register, and spam all you like until we detect it (note that at least
a few spammers have actually registered on the wiki in the past). So again,
I'm skeptical that this will help much.

BTW, I've researched and we are already using the best-practices recommended
by other folks running other UseMod Wiki's. There may be better Wiki engines
out there now, but changing over would be a much bigger project...

Jeff


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