former spam todo with binding - spambot intelligence?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Mar 11, 2009 11:47 am

this was spam aparently

Jonathan · Post by **Jonathan** » Wed Mar 11, 2009 12:38 pm

Uh, spam?

sinewav · Post by **sinewav** » Wed Mar 11, 2009 5:39 pm

I think you're right. And it's quite a bizarre post too...

Website · Post by **Z-Man** » Wed Mar 11, 2009 6:10 pm

It's copied from somewhere else (google a full quote, and you'll find it). It's the latest trend in spambottery I'm aware of: take some random text off the net, do some keyword comparison with some forum topic, and if it matches, a reply is made with the copied text. The idea apparently is to make the bot look like either a moron or someone with a weird sense of humor. Also, the usual spam link is missing. That would be edited in later (or added to the profile).

I predict that the next trend will be to identify n00b questions on forums and have spambots just ask them again. That's going to be fun. And in about two years, spambots will become sentient and take over.

Jonathan · Post by **Jonathan** » Wed Mar 11, 2009 6:52 pm

Before they become sentient, I wonder just how smart they are. Like, what if you change the IDs of the fields of the registration form? Would they figure it out, or would they be utterly confused because all they recognize is known stuff like standard phpBB, perhaps with certain CAPTCHAs?

When they do become sentient, let's hope they'll clear their minds.

Website · Post by **Z-Man** » Wed Mar 11, 2009 9:42 pm

Jonathan wrote:Before they become sentient, I wonder just how smart they are. Like, what if you change the IDs of the fields of the registration form?

I think we already do that. And add hidden fields. That doesn't fool them, at least not all of them.

Post by **Tank Program** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 9:02 am

It's because you can parse HTML and get around most stuff with enough trial and error.

wrtlprnft · Post by **wrtlprnft** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 9:15 am

Maybe just ask an armagetronad specific question on the registration form. Like “what does the 'ad' in 'armagetronAD' stand for?”.

That might also cause people who've never visited the main site or the wiki to RTFM instead of posting really redundand questions

Jonathan · Post by **Jonathan** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 2:23 pm

It should mainly be non-standard and non-trivial, but still reasonably easy to solve by humans. Also try not tossing people who don't know advanced English. AD would seem okay for another month or so.

And I should look at the registration form before asking. Still haven't.