Re: Wiki spamming is going to get worse if something isn't done soon...
I am happy for the help, Clayton has already giving me lot of information, instead of me having to dig it out. It is also securing to have a helping hand in the background who know our wiki very well. Is there a gentle way, to make Infra do the last bit, so I can get access, as far as I can see it is 2 simple things: - Copy my ssh public key to the wiki server - Provide the mysql root password I am a bit afraid of this long US weekend, and hope we do not have to wait until next week. Jan. On 23 November 2012 09:00, C smau...@gmail.com wrote: On Fri, Nov 23, 2012 at 1:16 AM, Andrea Pescetti pesce...@apache.org wrote: Thanks Clayton, you probably know the inner details of our Mediawiki configuration better than most people here, so it is great that you are going to coordinate with Jan to neutralize this attack. Jan will be leading the defense. I'll be hanging around more in the background trying to explain why things are wonky with historical configuration :-) The Spam problem can definitely be delt with... just takes a bit of time to sort things out, do a few upgrades and a few configuration tweaks. Meanwhile anyone with current Wiki Admin rights is welcome to scan the Recent changes on the Wiki once in a while and: - Delete Spam pages (created 1 page every 2 minutes on average) - Block the spam accounts (I would suggest that you do not block IP address, a check box on the block page, because you risk blocking legit users on dynamic IPs) Clayton
Re: Wiki spamming is going to get worse if something isn't done soon...
On 11/23/2012 04:20, jan iversen wrote: I am happy for the help, Clayton has already giving me lot of information, instead of me having to dig it out. It is also securing to have a helping hand in the background who know our wiki very well. Is there a gentle way, to make Infra do the last bit, so I can get access, as far as I can see it is 2 simple things: - Copy my ssh public key to the wiki server - Provide the mysql root password I am a bit afraid of this long US weekend, and hope we do not have to wait until next week. Jan. Report from the trenches: the spam is getting no worse, but no better either. The wonderful crew of volunteers (I play only a small part) is getting it all. Max spam page lifetime is about an hour; typical is only a few minutes. We may be humans fighting bots, but we're winning — or at least not losing. (John Henry said to the captain ...) I also fear the long weekend. The urgent items I see, first = most important: 1) invitation only fix to LocalSettings.php. This turns off the faucet. 2) SQL delete of all unused accounts (no contributions in any space). This eliminates the spammers' backlog of new accounts, so we sysops don't have to block them one at a time. This will hit a lot of old accounts, too. Good; that's overdue. It is possible that a few legitimate accounts could be hit, but contributors normally go right in and fix something, and/or create their user pages, so those accounts should be exempt. Other items can be dealt with at leisure: 3) Deleting all blocked accounts, the blocks themselves, and any associated deleted pages. This is a trash clean-up. It removes any backscatter left over from the anti-spam effort, and recovers a minor amount of space. 4) Upgrades, extensions, better spam prevention, c. /tj/ On 23 November 2012 09:00, C smau...@gmail.com wrote: On Fri, Nov 23, 2012 at 1:16 AM, Andrea Pescetti pesce...@apache.org wrote: Thanks Clayton, you probably know the inner details of our Mediawiki configuration better than most people here, so it is great that you are going to coordinate with Jan to neutralize this attack. Jan will be leading the defense. I'll be hanging around more in the background trying to explain why things are wonky with historical configuration :-) The Spam problem can definitely be delt with... just takes a bit of time to sort things out, do a few upgrades and a few configuration tweaks. Meanwhile anyone with current Wiki Admin rights is welcome to scan the Recent changes on the Wiki once in a while and: - Delete Spam pages (created 1 page every 2 minutes on average) - Block the spam accounts (I would suggest that you do not block IP address, a check box on the block page, because you risk blocking legit users on dynamic IPs) Clayton
Re: Wiki spamming is going to get worse if something isn't done soon...
A big thank to those fighting in the trenches !!! I am still waiting for infra, but now I am available, so the minute I get the mail I will be on to it, and change to invite only. The point list of tj will be my work order. But I hope that someone could give infra a polite hint, that we really need this closed, infra must install my ssh public key, and give the mysql root password. I will open a new thread later, with wiki maintenance, so you all can follow what is planned to happen (and when it happens). Clayton pointed me to the maintenance page which contains loads of valuable information. jan On 23 November 2012 11:47, Rory O'Farrell ofarr...@iol.ie wrote: On Fri, 23 Nov 2012 05:22:29 -0500 TJ Frazier tjfraz...@cfl.rr.com wrote: On 11/23/2012 04:20, jan iversen wrote: I am happy for the help, Clayton has already giving me lot of information, instead of me having to dig it out. It is also securing to have a helping hand in the background who know our wiki very well. Is there a gentle way, to make Infra do the last bit, so I can get access, as far as I can see it is 2 simple things: - Copy my ssh public key to the wiki server - Provide the mysql root password I am a bit afraid of this long US weekend, and hope we do not have to wait until next week. Jan. Report from the trenches: the spam is getting no worse, but no better either. The wonderful crew of volunteers (I play only a small part) is getting it all. Max spam page lifetime is about an hour; typical is only a few minutes. We may be humans fighting bots, but we're winning — or at least not losing. (John Henry said to the captain ...) I also fear the long weekend. The urgent items I see, first = most important: 1) invitation only fix to LocalSettings.php. This turns off the faucet. 2) SQL delete of all unused accounts (no contributions in any space). This eliminates the spammers' backlog of new accounts, so we sysops don't have to block them one at a time. This will hit a lot of old accounts, too. Good; that's overdue. It is possible that a few legitimate accounts could be hit, but contributors normally go right in and fix something, and/or create their user pages, so those accounts should be exempt. Other items can be dealt with at leisure: 3) Deleting all blocked accounts, the blocks themselves, and any associated deleted pages. This is a trash clean-up. It removes any backscatter left over from the anti-spam effort, and recovers a minor amount of space. 4) Upgrades, extensions, better spam prevention, c. /tj/ On 23 November 2012 09:00, C smau...@gmail.com wrote: On Fri, Nov 23, 2012 at 1:16 AM, Andrea Pescetti pesce...@apache.org wrote: Thanks Clayton, you probably know the inner details of our Mediawiki configuration better than most people here, so it is great that you are going to coordinate with Jan to neutralize this attack. Jan will be leading the defense. I'll be hanging around more in the background trying to explain why things are wonky with historical configuration :-) The Spam problem can definitely be delt with... just takes a bit of time to sort things out, do a few upgrades and a few configuration tweaks. Meanwhile anyone with current Wiki Admin rights is welcome to scan the Recent changes on the Wiki once in a while and: - Delete Spam pages (created 1 page every 2 minutes on average) - Block the spam accounts (I would suggest that you do not block IP address, a check box on the block page, because you risk blocking legit users on dynamic IPs) Clayton I suggest locking the page for maintenance for the long w/e. -- Rory O'Farrell ofarr...@iol.ie
Re: Wiki spamming is going to get worse if something isn't done soon...
Hi, On 23.11.2012 13:47, jan iversen wrote: A big thank to those fighting in the trenches !!! I am still waiting for infra, but now I am available, so the minute I get the mail I will be on to it, and change to invite only. The point list of tj will be my work order. But I hope that someone could give infra a polite hint, that we really need this closed, infra must install my ssh public key, and give the mysql root password. You can reach ASF infra on irc://freenode/asfinfra I am on this chat - may be I can pass your requests to them. command infrabot: beer helps a lot in this chat with ASF infra ;-) Best regards, Oliver. I will open a new thread later, with wiki maintenance, so you all can follow what is planned to happen (and when it happens). Clayton pointed me to the maintenance page which contains loads of valuable information. jan On 23 November 2012 11:47, Rory O'Farrell ofarr...@iol.ie wrote: On Fri, 23 Nov 2012 05:22:29 -0500 TJ Frazier tjfraz...@cfl.rr.com wrote: On 11/23/2012 04:20, jan iversen wrote: I am happy for the help, Clayton has already giving me lot of information, instead of me having to dig it out. It is also securing to have a helping hand in the background who know our wiki very well. Is there a gentle way, to make Infra do the last bit, so I can get access, as far as I can see it is 2 simple things: - Copy my ssh public key to the wiki server - Provide the mysql root password I am a bit afraid of this long US weekend, and hope we do not have to wait until next week. Jan. Report from the trenches: the spam is getting no worse, but no better either. The wonderful crew of volunteers (I play only a small part) is getting it all. Max spam page lifetime is about an hour; typical is only a few minutes. We may be humans fighting bots, but we're winning — or at least not losing. (John Henry said to the captain ...) I also fear the long weekend. The urgent items I see, first = most important: 1) invitation only fix to LocalSettings.php. This turns off the faucet. 2) SQL delete of all unused accounts (no contributions in any space). This eliminates the spammers' backlog of new accounts, so we sysops don't have to block them one at a time. This will hit a lot of old accounts, too. Good; that's overdue. It is possible that a few legitimate accounts could be hit, but contributors normally go right in and fix something, and/or create their user pages, so those accounts should be exempt. Other items can be dealt with at leisure: 3) Deleting all blocked accounts, the blocks themselves, and any associated deleted pages. This is a trash clean-up. It removes any backscatter left over from the anti-spam effort, and recovers a minor amount of space. 4) Upgrades, extensions, better spam prevention, c. /tj/ On 23 November 2012 09:00, C smau...@gmail.com wrote: On Fri, Nov 23, 2012 at 1:16 AM, Andrea Pescetti pesce...@apache.org wrote: Thanks Clayton, you probably know the inner details of our Mediawiki configuration better than most people here, so it is great that you are going to coordinate with Jan to neutralize this attack. Jan will be leading the defense. I'll be hanging around more in the background trying to explain why things are wonky with historical configuration :-) The Spam problem can definitely be delt with... just takes a bit of time to sort things out, do a few upgrades and a few configuration tweaks. Meanwhile anyone with current Wiki Admin rights is welcome to scan the Recent changes on the Wiki once in a while and: - Delete Spam pages (created 1 page every 2 minutes on average) - Block the spam accounts (I would suggest that you do not block IP address, a check box on the block page, because you risk blocking legit users on dynamic IPs) Clayton I suggest locking the page for maintenance for the long w/e. -- Rory O'Farrell ofarr...@iol.ie
Re: Wiki spamming is going to get worse if something isn't done soon...
THANKSwould it not have been nice, if it was noted in the ticket... I am already looking at opie...so now I only need the mysql root password. Jan On 23 November 2012 14:05, Oliver-Rainer Wittmann orwittm...@googlemail.com wrote: Hi, On 23.11.2012 14:01, Oliver-Rainer Wittmann wrote: Hi, On 23.11.2012 13:47, jan iversen wrote: A big thank to those fighting in the trenches !!! I am still waiting for infra, but now I am available, so the minute I get the mail I will be on to it, and change to invite only. The point list of tj will be my work order. But I hope that someone could give infra a polite hint, that we really need this closed, infra must install my ssh public key, and give the mysql root password. You can reach ASF infra on irc://freenode/asfinfra I am on this chat - may be I can pass your requests to them. command infrabot: beer helps a lot in this chat with ASF infra ;-) infra people just told me on irc the following: orw: if you see jani tell him he has access and can he please set up opie as per. orw: Go and have a look at http://s.apache.org/opie to learn how to setup OPIE Best regards, Oliver. Best regards, Oliver. I will open a new thread later, with wiki maintenance, so you all can follow what is planned to happen (and when it happens). Clayton pointed me to the maintenance page which contains loads of valuable information. jan On 23 November 2012 11:47, Rory O'Farrell ofarr...@iol.ie wrote: On Fri, 23 Nov 2012 05:22:29 -0500 TJ Frazier tjfraz...@cfl.rr.com wrote: On 11/23/2012 04:20, jan iversen wrote: I am happy for the help, Clayton has already giving me lot of information, instead of me having to dig it out. It is also securing to have a helping hand in the background who know our wiki very well. Is there a gentle way, to make Infra do the last bit, so I can get access, as far as I can see it is 2 simple things: - Copy my ssh public key to the wiki server - Provide the mysql root password I am a bit afraid of this long US weekend, and hope we do not have to wait until next week. Jan. Report from the trenches: the spam is getting no worse, but no better either. The wonderful crew of volunteers (I play only a small part) is getting it all. Max spam page lifetime is about an hour; typical is only a few minutes. We may be humans fighting bots, but we're winning — or at least not losing. (John Henry said to the captain ...) I also fear the long weekend. The urgent items I see, first = most important: 1) invitation only fix to LocalSettings.php. This turns off the faucet. 2) SQL delete of all unused accounts (no contributions in any space). This eliminates the spammers' backlog of new accounts, so we sysops don't have to block them one at a time. This will hit a lot of old accounts, too. Good; that's overdue. It is possible that a few legitimate accounts could be hit, but contributors normally go right in and fix something, and/or create their user pages, so those accounts should be exempt. Other items can be dealt with at leisure: 3) Deleting all blocked accounts, the blocks themselves, and any associated deleted pages. This is a trash clean-up. It removes any backscatter left over from the anti-spam effort, and recovers a minor amount of space. 4) Upgrades, extensions, better spam prevention, c. /tj/ On 23 November 2012 09:00, C smau...@gmail.com wrote: On Fri, Nov 23, 2012 at 1:16 AM, Andrea Pescetti pesce...@apache.org wrote: Thanks Clayton, you probably know the inner details of our Mediawiki configuration better than most people here, so it is great that you are going to coordinate with Jan to neutralize this attack. Jan will be leading the defense. I'll be hanging around more in the background trying to explain why things are wonky with historical configuration :-) The Spam problem can definitely be delt with... just takes a bit of time to sort things out, do a few upgrades and a few configuration tweaks. Meanwhile anyone with current Wiki Admin rights is welcome to scan the Recent changes on the Wiki once in a while and: - Delete Spam pages (created 1 page every 2 minutes on average) - Block the spam accounts (I would suggest that you do not block IP address, a check box on the block page, because you risk blocking legit users on dynamic IPs) Clayton
Re: Wiki spamming is going to get worse if something isn't done soon...
Hi, On 23.11.2012 14:08, jan iversen wrote: THANKSwould it not have been nice, if it was noted in the ticket... I am already looking at opie...so now I only need the mysql root password. infra people told me on irc that it is needed that you setup opie and that you should talk directly to them (http://webchat.freenode.net) Best regards, Oliver. Jan On 23 November 2012 14:05, Oliver-Rainer Wittmann orwittm...@googlemail.com wrote: Hi, On 23.11.2012 14:01, Oliver-Rainer Wittmann wrote: Hi, On 23.11.2012 13:47, jan iversen wrote: A big thank to those fighting in the trenches !!! I am still waiting for infra, but now I am available, so the minute I get the mail I will be on to it, and change to invite only. The point list of tj will be my work order. But I hope that someone could give infra a polite hint, that we really need this closed, infra must install my ssh public key, and give the mysql root password. You can reach ASF infra on irc://freenode/asfinfra I am on this chat - may be I can pass your requests to them. command infrabot: beer helps a lot in this chat with ASF infra ;-) infra people just told me on irc the following: orw: if you see jani tell him he has access and can he please set up opie as per. orw: Go and have a look at http://s.apache.org/opie to learn how to setup OPIE Best regards, Oliver. Best regards, Oliver. I will open a new thread later, with wiki maintenance, so you all can follow what is planned to happen (and when it happens). Clayton pointed me to the maintenance page which contains loads of valuable information. jan On 23 November 2012 11:47, Rory O'Farrell ofarr...@iol.ie wrote: On Fri, 23 Nov 2012 05:22:29 -0500 TJ Frazier tjfraz...@cfl.rr.com wrote: On 11/23/2012 04:20, jan iversen wrote: I am happy for the help, Clayton has already giving me lot of information, instead of me having to dig it out. It is also securing to have a helping hand in the background who know our wiki very well. Is there a gentle way, to make Infra do the last bit, so I can get access, as far as I can see it is 2 simple things: - Copy my ssh public key to the wiki server - Provide the mysql root password I am a bit afraid of this long US weekend, and hope we do not have to wait until next week. Jan. Report from the trenches: the spam is getting no worse, but no better either. The wonderful crew of volunteers (I play only a small part) is getting it all. Max spam page lifetime is about an hour; typical is only a few minutes. We may be humans fighting bots, but we're winning — or at least not losing. (John Henry said to the captain ...) I also fear the long weekend. The urgent items I see, first = most important: 1) invitation only fix to LocalSettings.php. This turns off the faucet. 2) SQL delete of all unused accounts (no contributions in any space). This eliminates the spammers' backlog of new accounts, so we sysops don't have to block them one at a time. This will hit a lot of old accounts, too. Good; that's overdue. It is possible that a few legitimate accounts could be hit, but contributors normally go right in and fix something, and/or create their user pages, so those accounts should be exempt. Other items can be dealt with at leisure: 3) Deleting all blocked accounts, the blocks themselves, and any associated deleted pages. This is a trash clean-up. It removes any backscatter left over from the anti-spam effort, and recovers a minor amount of space. 4) Upgrades, extensions, better spam prevention, c. /tj/ On 23 November 2012 09:00, C smau...@gmail.com wrote: On Fri, Nov 23, 2012 at 1:16 AM, Andrea Pescetti pesce...@apache.org wrote: Thanks Clayton, you probably know the inner details of our Mediawiki configuration better than most people here, so it is great that you are going to coordinate with Jan to neutralize this attack. Jan will be leading the defense. I'll be hanging around more in the background trying to explain why things are wonky with historical configuration :-) The Spam problem can definitely be delt with... just takes a bit of time to sort things out, do a few upgrades and a few configuration tweaks. Meanwhile anyone with current Wiki Admin rights is welcome to scan the Recent changes on the Wiki once in a while and: - Delete Spam pages (created 1 page every 2 minutes on average) - Block the spam accounts (I would suggest that you do not block IP address, a check box on the block page, because you risk blocking legit users on dynamic IPs) Clayton
Re: Wiki spamming is going to get worse if something isn't done soon...
I am trying, sadly enough I missed orwI still think my problem is accessing the wiki orw, is just a user like the rest of us and not infra, but his idea was good Oliver: thanks for trying to help. jan On 23 November 2012 14:26, Oliver-Rainer Wittmann orwittm...@googlemail.com wrote: Hi, On 23.11.2012 14:08, jan iversen wrote: THANKSwould it not have been nice, if it was noted in the ticket... I am already looking at opie...so now I only need the mysql root password. infra people told me on irc that it is needed that you setup opie and that you should talk directly to them (http://webchat.freenode.net) Best regards, Oliver. Jan On 23 November 2012 14:05, Oliver-Rainer Wittmann orwittm...@googlemail.com wrote: Hi, On 23.11.2012 14:01, Oliver-Rainer Wittmann wrote: Hi, On 23.11.2012 13:47, jan iversen wrote: A big thank to those fighting in the trenches !!! I am still waiting for infra, but now I am available, so the minute I get the mail I will be on to it, and change to invite only. The point list of tj will be my work order. But I hope that someone could give infra a polite hint, that we really need this closed, infra must install my ssh public key, and give the mysql root password. You can reach ASF infra on irc://freenode/asfinfra I am on this chat - may be I can pass your requests to them. command infrabot: beer helps a lot in this chat with ASF infra ;-) infra people just told me on irc the following: orw: if you see jani tell him he has access and can he please set up opie as per. orw: Go and have a look at http://s.apache.org/opie to learn how to setup OPIE Best regards, Oliver. Best regards, Oliver. I will open a new thread later, with wiki maintenance, so you all can follow what is planned to happen (and when it happens). Clayton pointed me to the maintenance page which contains loads of valuable information. jan On 23 November 2012 11:47, Rory O'Farrell ofarr...@iol.ie wrote: On Fri, 23 Nov 2012 05:22:29 -0500 TJ Frazier tjfraz...@cfl.rr.com wrote: On 11/23/2012 04:20, jan iversen wrote: I am happy for the help, Clayton has already giving me lot of information, instead of me having to dig it out. It is also securing to have a helping hand in the background who know our wiki very well. Is there a gentle way, to make Infra do the last bit, so I can get access, as far as I can see it is 2 simple things: - Copy my ssh public key to the wiki server - Provide the mysql root password I am a bit afraid of this long US weekend, and hope we do not have to wait until next week. Jan. Report from the trenches: the spam is getting no worse, but no better either. The wonderful crew of volunteers (I play only a small part) is getting it all. Max spam page lifetime is about an hour; typical is only a few minutes. We may be humans fighting bots, but we're winning — or at least not losing. (John Henry said to the captain ...) I also fear the long weekend. The urgent items I see, first = most important: 1) invitation only fix to LocalSettings.php. This turns off the faucet. 2) SQL delete of all unused accounts (no contributions in any space). This eliminates the spammers' backlog of new accounts, so we sysops don't have to block them one at a time. This will hit a lot of old accounts, too. Good; that's overdue. It is possible that a few legitimate accounts could be hit, but contributors normally go right in and fix something, and/or create their user pages, so those accounts should be exempt. Other items can be dealt with at leisure: 3) Deleting all blocked accounts, the blocks themselves, and any associated deleted pages. This is a trash clean-up. It removes any backscatter left over from the anti-spam effort, and recovers a minor amount of space. 4) Upgrades, extensions, better spam prevention, c. /tj/ On 23 November 2012 09:00, C smau...@gmail.com wrote: On Fri, Nov 23, 2012 at 1:16 AM, Andrea Pescetti pesce...@apache.org wrote: Thanks Clayton, you probably know the inner details of our Mediawiki configuration better than most people here, so it is great that you are going to coordinate with Jan to neutralize this attack. Jan will be leading the defense. I'll be hanging around more in the background trying to explain why things are wonky with historical configuration :-) The Spam problem can definitely be delt with... just takes a bit of time to sort things out, do a few upgrades and a few configuration tweaks. Meanwhile anyone with current Wiki Admin rights is welcome to scan the Recent changes on the Wiki once in a while and: - Delete Spam pages (created 1 page every 2 minutes on average) - Block the spam accounts (I would suggest that you do not block IP address, a check box on the block page, because you risk blocking legit users on dynamic IPs) Clayton
Re: Wiki spamming is going to get worse if something isn't done soon...
GREAT NEWS...15 minutes without any attacks.. Imacat just got online, and helped to change the settings...so now we just need to change the front page, so legal user know what is happening. Jan. On 23 November 2012 16:13, imacat ima...@mail.imacat.idv.tw wrote: Thank you both for volunteering. I do need help at the current moment. Are you on the IRC #dev.openoffice.org? We may discuss the details. The current MediaWiki seems to be of version 1.15.5. An update is required, but due to many reason it is not done yet. On 2012/11/23 22:13, jan iversen said: I am trying, sadly enough I missed orwI still think my problem is accessing the wiki orw, is just a user like the rest of us and not infra, but his idea was good Oliver: thanks for trying to help. jan On 23 November 2012 14:26, Oliver-Rainer Wittmann orwittm...@googlemail.com wrote: Hi, On 23.11.2012 14:08, jan iversen wrote: THANKSwould it not have been nice, if it was noted in the ticket... I am already looking at opie...so now I only need the mysql root password. infra people told me on irc that it is needed that you setup opie and that you should talk directly to them (http://webchat.freenode.net) Best regards, Oliver. Jan On 23 November 2012 14:05, Oliver-Rainer Wittmann orwittm...@googlemail.com wrote: Hi, On 23.11.2012 14:01, Oliver-Rainer Wittmann wrote: Hi, On 23.11.2012 13:47, jan iversen wrote: A big thank to those fighting in the trenches !!! I am still waiting for infra, but now I am available, so the minute I get the mail I will be on to it, and change to invite only. The point list of tj will be my work order. But I hope that someone could give infra a polite hint, that we really need this closed, infra must install my ssh public key, and give the mysql root password. You can reach ASF infra on irc://freenode/asfinfra I am on this chat - may be I can pass your requests to them. command infrabot: beer helps a lot in this chat with ASF infra ;-) infra people just told me on irc the following: orw: if you see jani tell him he has access and can he please set up opie as per. orw: Go and have a look at http://s.apache.org/opie to learn how to setup OPIE Best regards, Oliver. Best regards, Oliver. I will open a new thread later, with wiki maintenance, so you all can follow what is planned to happen (and when it happens). Clayton pointed me to the maintenance page which contains loads of valuable information. jan On 23 November 2012 11:47, Rory O'Farrell ofarr...@iol.ie wrote: On Fri, 23 Nov 2012 05:22:29 -0500 TJ Frazier tjfraz...@cfl.rr.com wrote: On 11/23/2012 04:20, jan iversen wrote: I am happy for the help, Clayton has already giving me lot of information, instead of me having to dig it out. It is also securing to have a helping hand in the background who know our wiki very well. Is there a gentle way, to make Infra do the last bit, so I can get access, as far as I can see it is 2 simple things: - Copy my ssh public key to the wiki server - Provide the mysql root password I am a bit afraid of this long US weekend, and hope we do not have to wait until next week. Jan. Report from the trenches: the spam is getting no worse, but no better either. The wonderful crew of volunteers (I play only a small part) is getting it all. Max spam page lifetime is about an hour; typical is only a few minutes. We may be humans fighting bots, but we're winning — or at least not losing. (John Henry said to the captain ...) I also fear the long weekend. The urgent items I see, first = most important: 1) invitation only fix to LocalSettings.php. This turns off the faucet. 2) SQL delete of all unused accounts (no contributions in any space). This eliminates the spammers' backlog of new accounts, so we sysops don't have to block them one at a time. This will hit a lot of old accounts, too. Good; that's overdue. It is possible that a few legitimate accounts could be hit, but contributors normally go right in and fix something, and/or create their user pages, so those accounts should be exempt. Other items can be dealt with at leisure: 3) Deleting all blocked accounts, the blocks themselves, and any associated deleted pages. This is a trash clean-up. It removes any backscatter left over from the anti-spam effort, and recovers a minor amount of space. 4) Upgrades, extensions, better spam prevention, c. /tj/ On 23 November 2012 09:00, C smau...@gmail.com wrote: On Fri, Nov 23, 2012 at 1:16 AM, Andrea Pescetti pesce...@apache.org wrote: Thanks Clayton, you probably know the inner details of our Mediawiki configuration better than most people
Re: Wiki spamming is going to get worse if something isn't done soon...
On Thu, Nov 22, 2012 at 8:29 PM, Rory O'Farrell wrote: Thank, Clayton. I was wondering if there might be a malicious anti-AOO intent behind the spam, but from what you say it does not seem likely. It's definitely not anti-OOo vandalism. Just the usual blog/SEO spam. Clayton
Re: Wiki spamming is going to get worse if something isn't done soon...
On 22/11/2012 C wrote: TJ pointed me at the Wiki Spam problem. I can try to lend a hand. Thanks Clayton, you probably know the inner details of our Mediawiki configuration better than most people here, so it is great that you are going to coordinate with Jan to neutralize this attack. Regards, Andrea.
