Strange Wiki users

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Ted C
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Strange Wiki users

Post by Ted C »

ImperialWiki has had nine new users register in the past three days. None of them have the sorts of user names that I would normally expect to see from Star Wars and/or Star Trek enthusiasts, and none of them have posted any edits.

Anyone know if there's a pattern of bot signups on wikis that matches what I'm seeing? I'm wondering if I should go ahead and block those accounts.
"This is supposed to be a happy occasion... Let's not bicker and argue about who killed who."
-- The King of Swamp Castle, Monty Python and the Holy Grail

"Nothing of consequence happened today. " -- Diary of King George III, July 4, 1776

"This is not bad; this is a conspiracy to remove happiness from existence. It seeks to wrap its hedgehog hand around the still beating heart of the personification of good and squeeze until it is stilled."
-- Chuck Sonnenburg on Voyager's "Elogium"
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Thanas
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Re: Strange Wiki users

Post by Thanas »

We had a recent rash of spambots as well, so IMO you are well within the limits of caution if you just delete those accounts.
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A decision must be made in the life of every nation at the very moment when the grasp of the enemy is at its throat. Then, it seems that the only way to survive is to use the means of the enemy, to rest survival upon what is expedient, to look the other way. Well, the answer to that is 'survival as what'? A country isn't a rock. It's not an extension of one's self. It's what it stands for. It's what it stands for when standing for something is the most difficult! - Chief Judge Haywood
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Dominus Atheos
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Re: Strange Wiki users

Post by Dominus Atheos »

Can you check the IP addresses or user agent strings they registered from? If they're all from the same IP or even area, you can probably block them; and bot's usually identify themselves as bots in the UA string (for example Google's bots all have "Googlebot/2.1 (+http://www.googlebot.com/bot.html)" as the UA).
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Ted C
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Re: Strange Wiki users

Post by Ted C »

Dominus Atheos wrote:Can you check the IP addresses or user agent strings they registered from?
My administrative privileges don't extend to seeing IP addresses, or I would look.
"This is supposed to be a happy occasion... Let's not bicker and argue about who killed who."
-- The King of Swamp Castle, Monty Python and the Holy Grail

"Nothing of consequence happened today. " -- Diary of King George III, July 4, 1776

"This is not bad; this is a conspiracy to remove happiness from existence. It seeks to wrap its hedgehog hand around the still beating heart of the personification of good and squeeze until it is stilled."
-- Chuck Sonnenburg on Voyager's "Elogium"
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Ted C
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Posts: 4486
Joined: 2002-07-07 11:00am
Location: Nashville, TN
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Re: Strange Wiki users

Post by Ted C »

Went ahead and blocked them.
"This is supposed to be a happy occasion... Let's not bicker and argue about who killed who."
-- The King of Swamp Castle, Monty Python and the Holy Grail

"Nothing of consequence happened today. " -- Diary of King George III, July 4, 1776

"This is not bad; this is a conspiracy to remove happiness from existence. It seeks to wrap its hedgehog hand around the still beating heart of the personification of good and squeeze until it is stilled."
-- Chuck Sonnenburg on Voyager's "Elogium"
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Archaic`
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Re: Strange Wiki users

Post by Archaic` »

Probably the right decision. All the NIWA wiki's (Bulbapedia, etc) have been noticing a massive upswing in registrations from spambots recently. I expect you've just been hit by the same wave as they're being hit by.
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