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Re^4: Stopping spam AHHHHH!!!!! (time window)

by tye (Sage)
on Jun 10, 2015 at 18:15 UTC ( [id://1129909]=note: print w/replies, xml ) Need Help??


in reply to Re^3: Stopping spam AHHHHH!!!!!
in thread Stopping spam AHHHHH!!!!!

You can indeed look at it as the spam hasn't changed format because they haven't banned that specific format.

But as was correctly pointed out, banning that specific format will block the spam for perhaps a single day, probably less. So, the admin could spend a bit of time banning that specific format and enjoy a slight break in the spam, only to have a new format appear. That might seem like a worthwhile trade-off if you consider the value proposition over the span of a day or two.

But a week later, nobody will remember that the spam stopped for a few hours a week ago, but your code base will remember this chunk of code for dealing with this one specific format of spam that happened once. Then you'll either continue with a long series of such steps and have a long series of short breaks in spam and a growing and unwieldy pile of code that you have to keep maintaining and the cost starts to clearly outweigh the tiny benefits. Or you just do it a few times and feel stupid for having wasted those small bits of time for no lasting benefit.

So, yes, if you don't look past step 2 in the (fairly obvious) progression, then you can get frustrated about step 1 not happening. But I'm sure the site admin is frustrated with all of the people who are frustrated because s/he knows that they aren't bothering to even look past step 2.

Dealing with spam effectively requires looking way beyond step 2 and doing things much, much different than banning specific formats.

- tye        

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re^5: Stopping spam AHHHHH!!!!! (time window)
by james28909 (Deacon) on Jun 10, 2015 at 18:38 UTC
    Well i know once they figure out the telephone numbers are no longer a no-go if your new member with post count less than 10, they will seek other means. But as with any other type of spam, it is a work in progress trying to stop it, and will always need up keep anyway. For me to incorporate this will only add to what is already in place, which works great other than letting telephone numbers through.

    dont get me wrong i am not trying to argue with anyone, i just like to debate, mainly because i am learning :P
      Here is another approach that will count the numbers of digits in a given string.
      use strict; use warnings; my @count; my $i = 0; while ( my $string = (<DATA>) ) { $string =~ s/(\D+)//g; push @count, split( //, $string ); } for (@count) { ++$i; if ( $i >= 7 ) { print "\n7 or more so send to stop_spam() routine\n"; exit; } } __DATA__ Title: !! back!! 7073347120 FREE VaShiKaRaN SpeCiaLisT IN Allahabad Post: 707334712070733471207073347120707334712070733471207073347120

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