On Sun, Aug 15, 2010 at 1:21 PM, <[email protected]> wrote: > What is the Teaching Open Source policy concerning Unsolicited > Commercial Email, also known as SPAM? What are we doing to attempt to > control it? > > I've found some apparent Search Engine Optimization (SEO) attempts in > the wiki User: files. For example, > http://teachingopensource.org/index.php/User:Aarenpcaseym > > There are so many apparently automatically generated files like > User:Aarenpcaseym that only about one in three User: files actually > refers to a human being. On 10 August 2010, I emptied > User:Declanlstewarth. On 14 August 2010, it was back with slightly > different contents. I emptied it again and it has not been refreshed. > I think it is evident from this we may have a difficult task, but to > do nothing means a consumption of data space.
At rtems.org, I try to check the recent changes every few days for this stuff. We have email confirmation on. Then I delete it, ban user and email permanently, ban IP for an arbitrary but finite period, etc. This is with Mediawiki and we have turned on all the standard anti-spam stuff. We haven't stooped to using a captcha to write yet. I also host/maintain an Elvis Costello fan site. Primarily a Mediawiki and PhPBB board. There are so many spam account registrations that I have had to stoop to banning entire countries. That is extreme and only appropriate when the material isn't as general as a FOSS project or TOS material. But it is possible to block entire ISPs which prove sources of trouble. The key issue is that you have to track down hot spots and smack them. That's work also. :( Technical solutions are just that -- technical. They work for a while until the bad guy gets around them. And they can irritate and block legitimate users. It is a balancing act and continuous struggle. If anyone has better solutions I am all ears. :) --joel sherrill RTEMS > _______________________________________________ > tos mailing list > [email protected] > http://teachingopensource.org/mailman/listinfo/tos > _______________________________________________ tos mailing list [email protected] http://teachingopensource.org/mailman/listinfo/tos
