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12-08-2023, 06:31 AM | #1 |
Wight
Join Date: Jun 2023
Location: Treading the Narrow Way
Posts: 184
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I Do Believe We've Been Invaded
It seems there is an attack of bots.
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For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16 |
12-08-2023, 08:42 AM | #2 |
Blossom of Dwimordene
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: The realm of forgotten words
Posts: 10,346
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Ah, I remember these feoul creatures. They would come in my youth, and raid our forum where the defenses were weak...
ETA: holy cow, they made over a page of spam threads on N&N and Mirth? That's prolific. That's bot talent...
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You passed from under darkened dome, you enter now the secret land. - Take me to Finrod's fabled home!... ~ Finrod: The Rock Opera Last edited by Galadriel55; 12-08-2023 at 08:45 AM. |
12-08-2023, 03:56 PM | #3 |
Wight
Join Date: Jun 2023
Location: Treading the Narrow Way
Posts: 184
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It seems they've returned in force, and with newfound vigour.
😂
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For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16 |
12-08-2023, 04:16 PM | #4 |
Blossom of Dwimordene
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: The realm of forgotten words
Posts: 10,346
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Thankfully it looks like the mighty Mithadan and fellow admins prevailed, and the forum has been scoured of this spam-filth. All hail the great defenders of the Downs!
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You passed from under darkened dome, you enter now the secret land. - Take me to Finrod's fabled home!... ~ Finrod: The Rock Opera |
12-09-2023, 06:08 AM | #5 |
Wight
Join Date: Jun 2023
Location: Treading the Narrow Way
Posts: 184
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Indeed. The devious foes have been vanquished by the valour of our guardians!
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For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16 |
12-09-2023, 09:21 AM | #6 |
Spirit of Mist
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: Tol Eressea
Posts: 3,343
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Much credit belongs to Estelyn and others, who did most of the pruning. Thanks to all.
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Beleriand, Beleriand, the borders of the Elven-land. |
12-09-2023, 10:04 AM | #7 |
Cryptic Aura
Join Date: May 2002
Posts: 5,989
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I would rep you for your speedy and heroic efforts, Mithadan, but I am told that I have to spread the rep around to others before I can do so.
I was able to rep Estelyn and mormegil.
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Ill sing his roots off. Ill sing a wind up and blow leaf and branch away. Last edited by Bźthberry; 12-09-2023 at 10:08 AM. |
12-16-2023, 04:58 PM | #8 |
Emperor of the South Pole
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: The Western Shore of Lake Evendim
Posts: 614
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It's nice to be a part of a legacy Middle Earth forum that hasn't been abandoned to the AI spambots Well done killing them off.
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03-07-2024, 03:12 AM | #9 |
Newly Deceased
Join Date: Mar 2024
Posts: 1
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I value that you wrote this great post for us. I promise that this will be good for most people mapquest driving directions
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03-07-2024, 05:09 AM | #10 | |
Blossom of Dwimordene
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: The realm of forgotten words
Posts: 10,346
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Quote:
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You passed from under darkened dome, you enter now the secret land. - Take me to Finrod's fabled home!... ~ Finrod: The Rock Opera |
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03-07-2024, 06:35 AM | #11 |
Wight
Join Date: Jun 2023
Location: Treading the Narrow Way
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Quite so.
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For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16 |
03-07-2024, 11:52 AM | #12 |
Curmudgeonly Wordwraith
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Ensconced in curmudgeonly pursuits
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That lefthand turn direction into the Dead Marshes was regrettable.
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And your little sister's immaculate virginity wings away on the bony shoulders of a young horse named George who stole surreptitiously into her geography revision. |
05-15-2024, 02:58 AM | #13 |
Overshadowed Eagle
Join Date: Nov 2017
Location: The north-west of the Old World, east of the Sea
Posts: 3,838
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The parade of Socratic bots continues; WCH has attracted two in a row to say "Oh yes, [Insert User Here], you are so wise." My assumption is that they're powered by current-generation 'AI' chatbots.
I've mostly been ignoring the ones that don't drop links, but is it worth reporting them on sight? They seem to mostly make one or two posts, but it's occurred to me they might be waiting to reach a critical mass and then spam the forum massively. (The other option is that they try to spam right away, but the one-post-per-minute block catches them.) hS
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Have you burned the ships that could bear you back again? ~Finrod: The Rock Opera |
05-20-2024, 01:18 PM | #14 | |
Blossom of Dwimordene
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: The realm of forgotten words
Posts: 10,346
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Quote:
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You passed from under darkened dome, you enter now the secret land. - Take me to Finrod's fabled home!... ~ Finrod: The Rock Opera |
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05-20-2024, 08:58 PM | #15 |
Spirit of Mist
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: Tol Eressea
Posts: 3,343
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We are aware of them. Those posts that have links embedded get deleted. I find the mindless (no pun intended) posts wearisome but harmless. It is the sheer number of scrapers that bothers me. I used to be amused at the number of guests but now recognize that they affect the websites resources (familiar word)?
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Beleriand, Beleriand, the borders of the Elven-land. |
05-22-2024, 08:17 AM | #16 |
Blossom of Dwimordene
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: The realm of forgotten words
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Ahhh, so that's the reason.
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You passed from under darkened dome, you enter now the secret land. - Take me to Finrod's fabled home!... ~ Finrod: The Rock Opera |
07-10-2024, 02:54 PM | #17 |
Animated Skeleton
Join Date: Aug 2023
Location: New Jersey
Posts: 39
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There are currently 3959 visitors on the forum: me and 3958 guests. Those must be bots. I believe there's a way to ban these IPs. It makes it incredibly difficult to use the forum because every other time I click a link I get "Resource Limit Reached".
Edit: In fact, I got a "Resource Limit Reached" message while I was trying to post this! |
07-10-2024, 03:45 PM | #18 |
Spirit of Mist
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: Tol Eressea
Posts: 3,343
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They are bots or AI scrapers. The culprit appears to be the Movies forum for some reason. 80% or more of the "visitors" are congregating there. As I understand it, the 508 error, also known as "Resource Limit Reached", results from excessive traffic. The obvious solution would be to take down the Movies forum, but this would be an undesirable option, and there is no guarantee that it would cure the problem.
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Beleriand, Beleriand, the borders of the Elven-land. |
07-11-2024, 01:41 PM | #19 | |
Animated Skeleton
Join Date: Aug 2023
Location: New Jersey
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Quote:
There's something very strange going on there that's attracting the bots like moths to a flame. The admins really need to do something about this, it's making the board harder and harder to use. |
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07-11-2024, 03:52 PM | #20 | |
Overshadowed Eagle
Join Date: Nov 2017
Location: The north-west of the Old World, east of the Sea
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Quote:
I'm worried now that I've gone and linked that thread specifically somewhere that's drawing the locusts... I'll try and take a look round, because that's annoying if so. hS
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Have you burned the ships that could bear you back again? ~Finrod: The Rock Opera |
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07-11-2024, 09:14 PM | #21 |
Spirit of Mist
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: Tol Eressea
Posts: 3,343
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I did not notice that. Huinesoron, check on your end, and I will make some inquiries as well.
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Beleriand, Beleriand, the borders of the Elven-land. |
07-11-2024, 10:35 PM | #22 |
Blossom of Dwimordene
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: The realm of forgotten words
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I did share a link to that thread specifically with a few people, but I haven't posted it anywhere. I'll ask if any of them put it up somewhere else. Indeed, if all those views were real traffic, that would be quite the audience. Is there anything else about the thread that might attract them? Would the sheer number of hyperlinks somehow serve as a magnet?
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You passed from under darkened dome, you enter now the secret land. - Take me to Finrod's fabled home!... ~ Finrod: The Rock Opera |
07-17-2024, 10:03 AM | #23 | ||
Overshadowed Eagle
Join Date: Nov 2017
Location: The north-west of the Old World, east of the Sea
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Quote:
Quote:
I also don't understand why they would. They've sent 4000 bots to our thread today because, say, it links to lots of YouTube videos, and then.. what? What's the profit? What's the point? They're not even posting! If the Downs tracks visiting IP addresses it might be possible to check them against lists of known scrapers. And if there's a tool to look at what exactly is getting the views (eg, are they coming in through the front page or straight to a post?) we could try fixing that specific thing. All I know how to see is the viewers per forum, not per thread. hS
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Have you burned the ships that could bear you back again? ~Finrod: The Rock Opera |
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07-18-2024, 05:09 AM | #24 | |
Blossom of Dwimordene
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: The realm of forgotten words
Posts: 10,346
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Quote:
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You passed from under darkened dome, you enter now the secret land. - Take me to Finrod's fabled home!... ~ Finrod: The Rock Opera |
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08-06-2024, 01:44 PM | #25 |
Animated Skeleton
Join Date: Aug 2023
Location: New Jersey
Posts: 39
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I can't help but wonder why it seems like nobody is doing anything about the bots? I was hoping that bringing it up and pointing out the target of the bot activity would help spur some kind of change. Are there any admins or mods who can be contacted or who can comment on the situation? I don't know about anyone else, but the bot activity is seriously hampering my ability to use the forum.
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08-06-2024, 02:57 PM | #26 | |
Blossom of Dwimordene
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: The realm of forgotten words
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Quote:
In the meantime, though I get the 508 errors very frequently too, they don't really limit me all that much beyond being a mild annoyance. Just refresh the page once or twice, and you get through. It's annoying when it happens as you're submitting a post, cause then the site thinks you are trying to post twice and puts you in the "timeout zone" for posting in rapid succession, and I am always scared I will lose my post when this happens - but I've never lost it, and you literally click on any other page to get out of the timeout counter.
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You passed from under darkened dome, you enter now the secret land. - Take me to Finrod's fabled home!... ~ Finrod: The Rock Opera |
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08-06-2024, 06:53 PM | #27 |
Emperor of the South Pole
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: The Western Shore of Lake Evendim
Posts: 614
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The bots are getting wily since all they have to talk to on Arwen Undomiel is each other. They have gone looking for more old tech boards to invade.
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Yesterday, 01:03 PM | #28 |
Animated Skeleton
Join Date: Aug 2023
Location: New Jersey
Posts: 39
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