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Author Topic: Guest Book Spam  (Read 10627 times)
Berlin-Bob
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Re: Guest Book Spam
« Reply #30 on: Thursday 10 August 06 23:16 BST (UK) »

Hi hcoldron,

unfortunately the ardguest guestbook already has this feature (I think it's called CAPTA or CAPTURE)

I have a tracker on my website and I know that there were no visitors accessing the guestbook pages at times when spam was written in the guestbook.

So that method is fine for real people, but doesn't always work for spam-robots. Some seem to have found a way to circumvent this.

Bob
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Searching for Coleman, Moore, Kallnung in London; Margulies, Remenyi in E. Europe;
Ancestors of Hessie Stevenson-Coleman-Baxter (Ireland, 1861)
and, of course, any other ancestors for my web-site http://boco.rootschat.net

All Census Data included in this post is Crown Copyright (see: www.nationalarchives.gov.uk)
krisesjoint
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Re: Guest Book Spam
« Reply #31 on: Thursday 10 August 06 23:31 BST (UK) »

Sshh Julian,  Lips Sealed

We don't want anybody to give Ahmed, Nick and the boys our new addresses!

Dead quiet this end too.  Grin  Kris
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Berlin-Bob
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Re: Guest Book Spam
« Reply #32 on: Friday 11 August 06 08:43 BST (UK) »

Quote
(I think it's called CAPTA or CAPTURE)

Found it - it's called CAPTCHA, an acronym for

Completely Automated Public Turing-test to tell Computers and Humans Apart

The Turing-test, named after Allen Turing, is legendary in the computer world

If you are in a room with a terminal and you communicate only through this terminal, how can you tell if the answers appearing on your terminal are coming from a computer, or from a human being, who is sitting at another terminal ?


Our problem these days, is, if you find something in your guestbook/e-mail, how do you know if a real person wrote it, or a machine (spam-bot, spam-robot).

Bob

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Searching for Coleman, Moore, Kallnung in London; Margulies, Remenyi in E. Europe;
Ancestors of Hessie Stevenson-Coleman-Baxter (Ireland, 1861)
and, of course, any other ancestors for my web-site http://boco.rootschat.net

All Census Data included in this post is Crown Copyright (see: www.nationalarchives.gov.uk)
krisesjoint
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Re: Guest Book Spam
« Reply #33 on: Saturday 12 August 06 14:15 BST (UK) »

Today, I was reminded of what these spammers have taken from us. Remember the thrill that the email: "Someone signed your guestbook" used to bring?

I remember the excitement, the wonder of who had found me, the little ritual I had of not looking at the email, but going straight the guestbook to see who it was and what they had to say.

With these spammers that same email became the worst thing I could see in my inbox. The sheer frustration!  After not having any since I "shifted house" today there it was again "Someone signed your guestbook"

Gggggrrrrrrrr, grumbling and stomping feet. Steam rising I clicked the email to delete and head to the site to delete the entry. Lo and behold,  Cry spoiled my little ritual in the process. it was a real entry!

Thanks to the spammers over the last few weeks, I had completely forgotten the pleasure of receiving a genuine entry......Kris  Grin
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Keith Bateman
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Re: Guest Book Spam
« Reply #34 on: Saturday 12 August 06 22:08 BST (UK) »



I totally agree Kris - I thought it was just me - I nearly deleted a "real" reply this morning as I was going through deleting 6 spam ones!!

Mustn't let the spammer win tho - I will keep at it until they are beaten - either by me or by the software.

I wonder how else they might lose - what extra could Google and other search engines do to stop reading spam and putting them up their lists?

Keith
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julianb
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Re: Guest Book Spam
« Reply #35 on: Sunday 13 August 06 08:58 BST (UK) »

With these spammers that same email became the worst thing I could see in my inbox. The sheer frustration!  After not having any since I "shifted house" today there it was again "Someone signed your guestbook"

Touch wood, I  have had no undesirable entries since I followed Kris's example of "moving house" for the guestbook.  Need to keep my feet on the ground about this, but this may be a means of holding the nasties at bay.

PS I totally agree on the excitement about the e-mail notification dissipating over the last few weeks because of the spam - it became a complete humdrum chore.

JULIAN
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Essex - Carter, Danns, Mason, Middleditch, Pond, Poole, Rose, Sorrill, Surry, Theobold
Kent - Luetchford
Nottinghamshire - Baker, Dunks, Woodward, Price, Priestley
Suffolk - Rose
Surrey - Baker, Bedel, Bransden, Carter, Coleman, Gibbs, Luetchford, Quinton
Sussex - Gibbs, Langridge
Wiltshire - Brice, Rumble

http://genbires.blogspot.com/

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Any census info in this post is Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
JDGen
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Re: Guest Book Spam
« Reply #36 on: Sunday 10 September 06 18:13 BST (UK) »

Oh no, my first spam (I think) and I was so excited as I'm on a roll with one of my lines at the moment.  From someone called hachundr giving a website address - if I get any more I might need some help, just read through this thread and still not quite sure what to do!!

Jean
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Census information is Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk

CHS: Barber(Tabley) Barlow(Antrobus) Blackshaw(Lymm, Mobberley) Blease/Done/Moore(G Bud) Owen(Netherton, Tabley) Spragg/Witter(Goostrey) Youd(Frodsham) Pennell Bankes Birchall Beckett
DBY: Higginbottom(Mellor)
HRT: Gurney
HRT/BED/ESS: Verney (Markyate St)
LAN: Davenport(Bolton) Schofield/Gurney(Oldham) Lord(Heap) Quinn(Manchester) Sutcliffe(Rossendale)
NTH: Tubb/Johnson(Hellidon)Brown(Kettering)
YKS: Scott(Clapham)
julianb
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Re: Guest Book Spam
« Reply #37 on: Sunday 10 September 06 18:19 BST (UK) »

Oh no, my first spam (I think) and I was so excited as I'm on a roll with one of my lines at the moment. From someone called hachundr giving a website address - if I get any more I might need some help, just read through this thread and still not quite sure what to do!!

Jean
Jean

I'll send you a PM with my (well Kris's actually) "solution" - which has worked so far!

JULIAN
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Essex - Carter, Danns, Mason, Middleditch, Pond, Poole, Rose, Sorrill, Surry, Theobold
Kent - Luetchford
Nottinghamshire - Baker, Dunks, Woodward, Price, Priestley
Suffolk - Rose
Surrey - Baker, Bedel, Bransden, Carter, Coleman, Gibbs, Luetchford, Quinton
Sussex - Gibbs, Langridge
Wiltshire - Brice, Rumble

http://genbires.blogspot.com/

http://genbires-networking.blogspot.com/

Any census info in this post is Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
JDGen
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Re: Guest Book Spam
« Reply #38 on: Sunday 10 September 06 18:20 BST (UK) »

Thanks Julian,

Appreciate it - hope to stop it before it takes hold!

Jean
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Census information is Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk

CHS: Barber(Tabley) Barlow(Antrobus) Blackshaw(Lymm, Mobberley) Blease/Done/Moore(G Bud) Owen(Netherton, Tabley) Spragg/Witter(Goostrey) Youd(Frodsham) Pennell Bankes Birchall Beckett
DBY: Higginbottom(Mellor)
HRT: Gurney
HRT/BED/ESS: Verney (Markyate St)
LAN: Davenport(Bolton) Schofield/Gurney(Oldham) Lord(Heap) Quinn(Manchester) Sutcliffe(Rossendale)
NTH: Tubb/Johnson(Hellidon)Brown(Kettering)
YKS: Scott(Clapham)
Keith Bateman
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Re: Guest Book Spam
« Reply #39 on: Monday 11 September 06 18:55 BST (UK) »

Other than take off a place for people to put the name of any website address - I did nothing - and after slowing down the amount of spam it has now stopped.................. hopefully!!

Cheers

Keith
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Partington - Liverpool - Devon - Manchester
Foster - Liverpool - Manchester - Scotland
Gates - Cumberland - Liverpool - Manchester - Australia
Westwood - Ware, Herts

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Keith Bateman
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Re: Guest Book Spam
« Reply #40 on: Monday 11 September 06 22:04 BST (UK) »


They can't be reading our post can they!! Angry Angry

20 mins after writing my last post - 2 spam bits appeared in my guestbook Angry Angry

Keith
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Bateman - Ware, Herts, London.
Partington - Liverpool - Devon - Manchester
Foster - Liverpool - Manchester - Scotland
Gates - Cumberland - Liverpool - Manchester - Australia
Westwood - Ware, Herts

Website- http://www.batemans-history.rootschat.net

"Any information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk"
JDGen
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Re: Guest Book Spam
« Reply #41 on: Tuesday 12 September 06 07:48 BST (UK) »

I hope not Keith!

2nd bit today, will have to take action, is too disappointing when it's not real!!

Jean
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Census information is Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk

CHS: Barber(Tabley) Barlow(Antrobus) Blackshaw(Lymm, Mobberley) Blease/Done/Moore(G Bud) Owen(Netherton, Tabley) Spragg/Witter(Goostrey) Youd(Frodsham) Pennell Bankes Birchall Beckett
DBY: Higginbottom(Mellor)
HRT: Gurney
HRT/BED/ESS: Verney (Markyate St)
LAN: Davenport(Bolton) Schofield/Gurney(Oldham) Lord(Heap) Quinn(Manchester) Sutcliffe(Rossendale)
NTH: Tubb/Johnson(Hellidon)Brown(Kettering)
YKS: Scott(Clapham)
Zeb
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Re: Guest Book Spam
« Reply #42 on: Wednesday 20 September 06 14:40 BST (UK) »

This is one of the problems when you make a link to your website publically available.

Spambots trawl through the pages of a website looking for email addresses to grab. When they find a link to another page they "remember" it and follow it later. Its a bit like how lightening works. Web pages are a bit like branches of a tree except the branches can mix a bit more in places.

I don't know if its still here (Berlin Bob - is it?) but I wrote a free PHP based guestbook which I gave away. Another couple sites I've made have been hit by these spam bots. One company requested the guestbook be removed and the other needed it so I wrote a small fix which stopped around 98% of the spam.

If my guestbook is still available here I'll gladly modify it so it blocks most of the spam. I'm currently working on a new system to try and stop the spam by removing the link to the guestbook. If it works I'll post the solution but it means asking Tristan if the free web space provided here supports PHP.
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Derby: WOODCOCK (Donnington)
Devon: HARRIS (Plymouth)
Lancashire: DERRICK
Lincolnshire: CROPPER, WOODCOCK (Boston)
London: BARKER, DUGGIN, HARRIS, HINTON, HULBERT, WHITE
Wales: HARRIS, PRITCHARD (Pembrokeshire)
Warwickshire: DERRICK, WOODCOCK
Desperate for my Woodcocks from Birmingham!
Berlin-Bob
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Re: Guest Book Spam
« Reply #43 on: Wednesday 20 September 06 17:35 BST (UK) »

Hi Zeb,

glad to see you back  Smiley Smiley Smiley Smiley

What you did do, was to provide a program for e-mail forms, which several of us are using. (thanks  Smiley )

And, you mentioned a guestbook, but then didn't follow it up as you weren't feeling too good at the time. I even said that getting better was far more important than PHP and guestbooks  Smiley
Topic: Forms for Emailing from site
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,91843.0.html


Yes, the site does support PHP, so if you fancy having a go, I'm sure it will be most welcome.  Maybe you can upload it to the same area where your e-mail form is.

cheers,
Bob
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Searching for Coleman, Moore, Kallnung in London; Margulies, Remenyi in E. Europe;
Ancestors of Hessie Stevenson-Coleman-Baxter (Ireland, 1861)
and, of course, any other ancestors for my web-site http://boco.rootschat.net

All Census Data included in this post is Crown Copyright (see: www.nationalarchives.gov.uk)
Zeb
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Re: Guest Book Spam
« Reply #44 on: Wednesday 20 September 06 17:57 BST (UK) »

OMG! I remember now, I've got a nice guestbook somewhere.

When I get better again (off work with a nasty cold atm) I'll hunt through my scripts and see what I can find. Depending on how much time I get I'll add some nifty little features.

I'll PM you in a sec...
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Derby: WOODCOCK (Donnington)
Devon: HARRIS (Plymouth)
Lancashire: DERRICK
Lincolnshire: CROPPER, WOODCOCK (Boston)
London: BARKER, DUGGIN, HARRIS, HINTON, HULBERT, WHITE
Wales: HARRIS, PRITCHARD (Pembrokeshire)
Warwickshire: DERRICK, WOODCOCK
Desperate for my Woodcocks from Birmingham!
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