On Sun, Aug 15, 2010 at 2:56 PM, Joel Sherrill <[email protected]>wrote:

> 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


See this thread:
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/mediawiki-l/2010-July/034683.html

       --Fred
<http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/mediawiki-l/2010-July/034683.html>
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