wiki spam

Let us know when something isn't working correctly, or if you find a typo. Do not post complaints or suggestions here.
Post Reply
User avatar
Lunkhead
You're No Good
Posts: 8107
Joined: Sat Sep 25, 2004 12:14 pm
Instruments: many
Recording Method: cubase/mac/tascam4x4
Submitting as: Berkeley Social Scene, Merisan, Tiny Robots
Pronouns: he/him
Location: Berkeley, CA
Contact:

wiki spam

Post by Lunkhead »

http://www.songfight.net/wiki/index.php ... entchanges

It seems like perhaps there is either a larger Chinese SongFight! contingent than I was aware of, or some Chinese spambots are cluttering up our wiki.
User avatar
jb
Hot for Teacher
Posts: 4159
Joined: Sat Sep 25, 2004 10:12 am
Instruments: Guitar, Cello, Keys, Uke, Vox, Perc
Recording Method: Logic X
Submitting as: The John Benjamin Band
Pronouns: he/him
Location: WASHINGTON, DC
Contact:

Post by jb »

It's true. However, you're on the sysop list so please feel free to delete spam or do anything else you wish, as you please. :)

JB
blippity blop ya don’t stop heyyyyyyyyy
User avatar
Lunkhead
You're No Good
Posts: 8107
Joined: Sat Sep 25, 2004 12:14 pm
Instruments: many
Recording Method: cubase/mac/tascam4x4
Submitting as: Berkeley Social Scene, Merisan, Tiny Robots
Pronouns: he/him
Location: Berkeley, CA
Contact:

Post by Lunkhead »

I tried to use my power for good, however, it looked like the vast majority of the pages on the wiki were spam. I can't seem to figure out how to delete pages in bulk, or how to block users in bulk. Also, it seems like the barrier to entry to creating pages on the wiki is very low (no captcha to defeat, etc.). So it seems like the wiki is likely going to continue to be mostly spam, unless we can dedicate an army of sysops to going through the two click processes of deleting pages and blocking users. Or is there a more efficient way to try to clean it up? I'm not super familiar with how to use MediaWiki, so hopefully I'm just not seeing the options in the UI.
User avatar
Spud
Hot for Teacher
Posts: 4770
Joined: Fri Sep 24, 2004 10:25 am
Instruments: Bass, Keyboards, eHorn
Submitting as: Octothorpe
Location: Seattle
Contact:

Post by Spud »

I tried to use my powers to see what you were talking about, but unfortunately, I seem to have no powers when it comes to wikii. I don't see any any content other than what JB has linked on the front page. How do you find this spam content if it isn't linked anywhere? I want the asian porn!
"I only listen to good music. And Octothorpe." - Marcus Kellis
Song Fight! The Rockening
User avatar
Lunkhead
You're No Good
Posts: 8107
Joined: Sat Sep 25, 2004 12:14 pm
Instruments: many
Recording Method: cubase/mac/tascam4x4
Submitting as: Berkeley Social Scene, Merisan, Tiny Robots
Pronouns: he/him
Location: Berkeley, CA
Contact:

Post by Lunkhead »

Try clicking the "Random Page" link in the box of links under "navigation" on the left hand side of the screen. Or, in the box of links under "toolbox" on the left hand side (under the search form) you can click the "Special Pages" link and then click the "All Pages" link at the top of the list on the subsequent page.
User avatar
Spud
Hot for Teacher
Posts: 4770
Joined: Fri Sep 24, 2004 10:25 am
Instruments: Bass, Keyboards, eHorn
Submitting as: Octothorpe
Location: Seattle
Contact:

Post by Spud »

Wow. No wonder I couldn't figure it out. It actually doesn't make sense. I thought it was just me.
"I only listen to good music. And Octothorpe." - Marcus Kellis
Song Fight! The Rockening
User avatar
Lunkhead
You're No Good
Posts: 8107
Joined: Sat Sep 25, 2004 12:14 pm
Instruments: many
Recording Method: cubase/mac/tascam4x4
Submitting as: Berkeley Social Scene, Merisan, Tiny Robots
Pronouns: he/him
Location: Berkeley, CA
Contact:

Post by Lunkhead »

Or you can look at the "Recent Changes" page.

I know it's not a huge deal, since the spam pages aren't being linked to from real content pages. Still, the "Recent Changes" page is a nice way to see what's been going on with the wiki, but it's not that useful when >90% of the last 500 changes have been spam. Also, the "Random Page" link is a nice way to browse the wiki when you're not sure what you're looking for, or you just want to see what's on there, but again, it's not useful if >95% of the pages are spam.

I wonder if the $wgEmailConfirmToEdit config is set to 'true'? It defaults to 'false', but when it's 'true' users have to confirm their e-mail addresses before being able to make edits. That seems like it would be enough to stop most of the spammers.

http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:%2 ... firmToEdit

I found that on this a page about recommended config changes for trying to protect public MediaWikis from spam:

http://carma.astro.umd.edu/wiki/index.p ... protection
User avatar
jb
Hot for Teacher
Posts: 4159
Joined: Sat Sep 25, 2004 10:12 am
Instruments: Guitar, Cello, Keys, Uke, Vox, Perc
Recording Method: Logic X
Submitting as: The John Benjamin Band
Pronouns: he/him
Location: WASHINGTON, DC
Contact:

Post by jb »

I dunno quite how at the moment, but I will give you whatever powers you'd like to have on the wiki, to the extent that the dreamhost system allows. I'll figure it out shortly*.






*shortly to be defined as sometime between now and this time in 2008
blippity blop ya don’t stop heyyyyyyyyy
User avatar
Lunkhead
You're No Good
Posts: 8107
Joined: Sat Sep 25, 2004 12:14 pm
Instruments: many
Recording Method: cubase/mac/tascam4x4
Submitting as: Berkeley Social Scene, Merisan, Tiny Robots
Pronouns: he/him
Location: Berkeley, CA
Contact:

Post by Lunkhead »

Cool. I deleted all the existing spam pages.
Post Reply