Please report SPAM asap!

[Therrin]

Hey folks,

If you see any spam or what you think is non-authorized advertising content posted here on MU, or come across anything which still exists that I have missed;

Please PM me and inform me of it and after reviewing it I will remove it immediately!

Thanks!

Therrin
MU Spam Assassin

[offroadcmpr]

Some forums I have been on have a "report post" button, but I can't seem to find one here. That would be an easy way to report spam. But I guess PMing you would work also.

[josh bernhard]

The Spammers are still going... on the wiki, 15th of February as of 8:23 a.m. 21 new user accounts and that many fake articles made in only eight hours. Same thing with yesterday...

[Therrin]

Thanks for the notice. The wiki is controlled through a different section of the forum, and has some other considerations in place right now. We will be working on it soon.

However, could you please post up links to places within the wiki which are collecting spam?

[rhartill]

Most of the "recent changes" link in the locations DB are spam:

http://www.mojaveunderground.com/wiki/index.php?title=Special:RecentChanges

[offroadcmpr]

I wonder if we can set up a system where you have to get approved to edit the wiki. Have a user get approval from a admin to get editing privileges. It might kinda defeat the purpose of a wiki, but it would help with spam.

[Mike]

The system is actually already set up that way. There is just a known security hole in the MediaWiki version that the spammers are using, and I don't have the time right now to do the full patching needed to get it to the latest version. With all the custom extensions and settings, its a lengthy process. Anybody else familiar with MediaWiki, PHP, SQL and Google APIs that is willing to help?

[rhartill]

I too am interested in learning about the abovementioned s/w--am willing to help if given some instruction in plugging these security holes...

[Therrin]

Thanks, to all who've mentioned SPAM in PM's on on here so far.

Rhartill, I'm not sure if you've already talked to Mike or not yet. He and I were talking about it the other day. The PHP and SQL stuff, it's difficult for someone to "teach" you. You kinda gotta see what's there, then start teaching yourself. A lot of it has to do with just learning the stuff by doing it. Go through a tutorial and then start setting some of the stuff up, or take something that's already existing and start modifying it and adding changes to it and learn by trial and error till you have a feel for how it works first.

I've worked with them a bit in the past, but not for a couple years. It was the same thing back then, you just gotta DO it and be calm enough and driven enough to learn it the hard way. Being able to tackle new aspects of it that you haven't seen or used before and figure it out on the fly will get to be a regular thing. Thus... difficult to teach it.

I need to brush up on it and start working on it on my own as well, I've just been pretty busy lately.

[Joanne]

I'd volunteer if I just had more time. It can be a real chore to try to upgrade heavily customized software like that. Between two jobs, running a cooking website, and webmastering two more sites, I barely have enough time to eat and sleep.

Joanne