MediaWiki talk:Spam Blacklist

Report a spammer here


 * The spam blacklist extension is now working on all Wikicities. You can request new URLs be added to the filter by listing them here. Please state the IP (or username) used to spam and the wiki it happened on.

See also Help:Spam.

81.214.101.220 spam
FYI, 81.214.101.220 spammed the Calgary: wiki as well as the pc: wiki. -- JamesTeterenko 23:58, 24 May 2005 (UTC)
 * Looking at a few random wikis, I also found it at Stargate:. Is there an easy way to check the changes at all wikicities?  -- JamesTeterenko 00:07, 25 May 2005 (UTC)


 * There's a combined recent changes at Bloglines, but it doesn't pick everything up and limits how many changes are actually shown. Angela (talk) 03:21, 25 May 2005 (UTC)


 * I used that, and that is how I picked up the ones that I did fix. Since you have to click on every Wikicity to see the result, I only looked at some of them.  -- JamesTeterenko 04:40, 25 May 2005 (UTC)


 * If you click on Wikicities's Feeds at the top of the left hand frame, you don't need to click on each one separately since it will expand and show you some results from each one. It takes a while to load though. Angela (talk) 05:17, 25 May 2005 (UTC)


 * That is good to know. I'll use that next time.  -- JamesTeterenko 15:10, 25 May 2005 (UTC)

When to Add to the Blacklist?
Should we add URLs after one instance of a spam attack, or wait for more? Also, I'm not sure how much of the URL is best? Advice please? As a specific example, should I add the two URLs just posted (and already removed) to the Central Wikicity's home page? I don't want to slow the loading of every saved page, but I'd rather not have to clean-up the same URLs again. --CocoaZen 17:50, 2 Jun 2005 (UTC)


 * It depends what they are and whether they are definitely spam. Something like this is an obvious spam attack, but someone adding one innapropriate URL to a page is often not. If you're unsure, you can also add it temporarily. It might be worth checking Google for other wikis with the spam URL. If +wiki Google: SpamURL.com +wiki has hits, then it should be blacklisted. If an edit adds dozens of different URLs, adding just one of those to the blacklist will normally prevent future attacks since the edits are being made by bots who won't know to just remove the blacklisted URL from their edit. Angela (talk) 00:00, 8 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Checking contribs across wikis
I now have a somewhat buggy script that will check edits across multiple wikis. It doesn't work perfectly, but can be used for finding cases of the same user spamming multiple Wikicities, so please report the username or IP of spammers here as well as links to the diffs where they spammed. Angela (talk) 02:49, 21 Jul 2005 (UTC)

Protection
Perhaps the Spam Blacklist should be protected? 17:41, 17 Aug 2005 (UTC)


 * It is protected now. Angela (talk) 17:18, 22 Aug 2005 (UTC)

Any chance of an alphanumeric list?
Maybe a one-off extraction as a first port of call? Maybe no value?? (Some of us are a bit ignorant about these things) Robin Patterson 01:40, 1 Sep 2005 (UTC)
 * Please clarify. An alphanumeric list of what?  Are you suggesting that the blacklist be ordered?
 * That might be a good idea.
 * If that is what you meant, I'd like to understand the potential benefit.  We only add sites when they become problems.  After they've been put on the list, they shouldn't be able to be a problem.  Is that what you mean?  What value do you think it would have?  I wouldn't have any problem with it, but don't really want to go to the work of organizing what we have without a reason.
 * Another potential problem with alphabetizing is that it depends on how much of the url is used. Sometimes we have to make a choice about whether to post xyz.objectionable-site.tla or the more generic objectionable-site.tla that would also cover abc.objectionable-site.com.  As you can see, each choice would appear in a different place in an alphabetized list.
 * Again, it's not that I'm disagreeing with your suggestion, it's just that I don't understand it. Maybe someone else will have a better response.  --CocoaZen 02:09, 1 Sep 2005 (UTC)


 * I don't mind, but I often update the page from the version on Meta, so I don't promise to keep it alphanumeric, but someone else can if they find it useful. Angela (talk) 15:25, 2 Sep 2005 (UTC)