Wiki news

SDL Development
1

I have enabled email on the wiki. That means that you can now subscribe
to a page (by clicking on the little “envelope” icon on the upper right
side of every page) and receive an email any time that page is changed.

This is handy if you post a question and are waiting for someone to post
an answer. It is also handy for tracking changes and updates on any page
you are interested in.

On a completely different topic. Our wiki has been found by the
spammers. Keep a look out for spam links being inserted at random into
the text. It appears the spammers are going to the effort of ceating a
user, inserting their spam, and then deleting the user. I suspect a
script exists to the job. So far all the spam links I’ve seen have been
inserted by user “britany” so watch the RecentChanges page and help
erase these links.

If you have any ideas on how to stop people form defacing the wiki,
please let me know.

	Bob Pendleton--

±-------------------------------------+

2

Maybe disallow any postings/updating from a registered user until:

(1) Their first attempt at submitting content has been reviewed, and
approved. (e.g., if they first thing they post is a correction to
some API call, they’re probably not a spammer. :^) If the
first thing they post is “XXX web’cam! LOL! 5743”, don’t approve the
update, and delete the account)

  I'm not sure if the Wiki setup allows this, but it'd definitely be
  a good feature, I imagine.

(2) The person has popped up on “#sdl” and spoken with one of the Wiki
admins ‘in person.’

or maybe:

(3) Another existing registered ‘good’ Wiki user has vouched for them?

#1 seems like the easiest way for new people to get on board.
“Your first attempt(s) to change the Wiki will be held for approval.
Once we decide you’re not a spammer, you’ll have full access to edit the
Wiki, just like the other users.”

#2 and #3 seem like more hardship on the potential new users, but we could
argue “one smallhardship on you which in turn helps the entire wiki is
a suitable comprimise.”

shrug What do I know about Wikis, though? (A: Not much :slight_smile: )

-bill!
bill at newbreedsoftware.com "Stand underneath a falling object and
http://www.newbreedsoftware.com/ explore the meaning of the word ‘@#%$!’"
New Breed SoftwareOn Wed, Aug 18, 2004 at 11:52:18AM -0500, Bob Pendleton wrote:

If you have any ideas on how to stop people form defacing the wiki,
please let me know.

3

I think option 1 is the go if there were someone or a group of people
who would volunteer to review updates. This could be done by most people
on this list. I myself would volunteer as I’m sure would many others.

Bill Kendrick wrote:>On Wed, Aug 18, 2004 at 11:52:18AM -0500, Bob Pendleton wrote:

If you have any ideas on how to stop people form defacing the wiki,
please let me know.

Maybe disallow any postings/updating from a registered user until:

(1) Their first attempt at submitting content has been reviewed, and
approved. (e.g., if they first thing they post is a correction to
some API call, they’re probably not a spammer. :^) If the
first thing they post is “XXX web’cam! LOL! 5743”, don’t approve the
update, and delete the account)

 I'm not sure if the Wiki setup allows this, but it'd definitely be
 a good feature, I imagine.

(2) The person has popped up on “#sdl” and spoken with one of the Wiki
admins ‘in person.’

or maybe:

(3) Another existing registered ‘good’ Wiki user has vouched for them?

#1 seems like the easiest way for new people to get on board.
“Your first attempt(s) to change the Wiki will be held for approval.
Once we decide you’re not a spammer, you’ll have full access to edit the
Wiki, just like the other users.”

#2 and #3 seem like more hardship on the potential new users, but we could
argue “one smallhardship on you which in turn helps the entire wiki is
a suitable comprimise.”

shrug What do I know about Wikis, though? (A: Not much :slight_smile: )

-bill!
bill at newbreedsoftware.com "Stand underneath a falling object and
http://www.newbreedsoftware.com/ explore the meaning of the word ‘@#%$!’"
New Breed Software

SDL mailing list
SDL at libsdl.org
http://www.libsdl.org/mailman/listinfo/sdl

4

Ditto. Posts that need review wouldn’t come in very often – I imagine
not many /new/ people submit things in a day. :^)

-bill!On Thu, Aug 19, 2004 at 08:27:52AM +1000, grembo wrote:

I think option 1 is the go if there were someone or a group of people
who would volunteer to review updates. This could be done by most people
on this list. I myself would volunteer as I’m sure would many others.

5

grembo wrote:

I think option 1 is the go if there were someone or a group of people
who would volunteer to review updates. This could be done by most people
on this list. I myself would volunteer as I’m sure would many others.

You can count me in, if needed (and if this idea is viable).

–Scott

6

as far as defacing the wiki check out how this site handles it:

http://www.cruxshadows.com/wboard/wwwboard.html

it asks questions that make it harder to automate the process.

another way would be to have gdlib print out a number into a png or
something and have the user enter the number they see in the picture to
validate that they are human> ----- Original Message -----

From: bob@pendleton.com (Bob Pendleton)
To: “SDL Mailing List”
Sent: Wednesday, August 18, 2004 9:52 AM
Subject: [SDL] Wiki news.

I have enabled email on the wiki. That means that you can now subscribe
to a page (by clicking on the little “envelope” icon on the upper right
side of every page) and receive an email any time that page is changed.

This is handy if you post a question and are waiting for someone to post
an answer. It is also handy for tracking changes and updates on any page
you are interested in.

On a completely different topic. Our wiki has been found by the
spammers. Keep a look out for spam links being inserted at random into
the text. It appears the spammers are going to the effort of ceating a
user, inserting their spam, and then deleting the user. I suspect a
script exists to the job. So far all the spam links I’ve seen have been
inserted by user “britany” so watch the RecentChanges page and help
erase these links.

If you have any ideas on how to stop people form defacing the wiki,
please let me know.

Bob Pendleton

–
±-------------------------------------+

SDL mailing list
SDL at libsdl.org
http://www.libsdl.org/mailman/listinfo/sdl

7

In the end, with OCR and stuff, that’s turning into a bot arms race. :slight_smile:
But, it’d definitely be better than nothing^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hporn spam.

-bill!On Wed, Aug 18, 2004 at 04:04:18PM -0700, Alan Wolfe wrote:

another way would be to have gdlib print out a number into a png or
something and have the user enter the number they see in the picture to
validate that they are human

8

deffinately bill (:

we could complicate it by having random foreground/background colors and by
adding noise like speckles and lines but in the end, especialy with neural
network programming, if our eyes can distinguish the pattern so can a
computer :stuck_out_tongue:

maybe we should make it display a simple riddle/math problem in an image in
a random font with noise/random colors that you have to answer when creating
an account? that might keep em at bay for a little longer heheh> ----- Original Message -----

From: nbs@sonic.net (Bill Kendrick)
To: "A list for developers using the SDL library. (includes SDL-announce)"

Sent: Wednesday, August 18, 2004 3:54 PM
Subject: Re: [SDL] Wiki news.

On Wed, Aug 18, 2004 at 04:04:18PM -0700, Alan Wolfe wrote:

another way would be to have gdlib print out a number into a png or
something and have the user enter the number they see in the picture to
validate that they are human

In the end, with OCR and stuff, that’s turning into a bot arms race. :slight_smile:
But, it’d definitely be better than nothing^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hporn spam.

-bill!

SDL mailing list
SDL at libsdl.org
http://www.libsdl.org/mailman/listinfo/sdl

9

I doubt any spammer would go to too much trouble

Alan Wolfe wrote:>deffinately bill (:

we could complicate it by having random foreground/background colors and by
adding noise like speckles and lines but in the end, especialy with neural
network programming, if our eyes can distinguish the pattern so can a
computer :stuck_out_tongue:

maybe we should make it display a simple riddle/math problem in an image in
a random font with noise/random colors that you have to answer when creating
an account? that might keep em at bay for a little longer heheh

----- Original Message -----
From: “Bill Kendrick”
To: "A list for developers using the SDL library. (includes SDL-announce)"

Sent: Wednesday, August 18, 2004 3:54 PM
Subject: Re: [SDL] Wiki news.

On Wed, Aug 18, 2004 at 04:04:18PM -0700, Alan Wolfe wrote:

another way would be to have gdlib print out a number into a png or
something and have the user enter the number they see in the picture to
validate that they are human

In the end, with OCR and stuff, that’s turning into a bot arms race. :slight_smile:
But, it’d definitely be better than nothing^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hporn spam.

-bill!

SDL mailing list
SDL at libsdl.org
http://www.libsdl.org/mailman/listinfo/sdl

SDL mailing list
SDL at libsdl.org
http://www.libsdl.org/mailman/listinfo/sdl

10

If you have any ideas on how to stop people form defacing the wiki,
please let me know.

Maybe disallow any postings/updating from a registered user until:

(1) Their first attempt at submitting content has been reviewed, and
approved. (e.g., if they first thing they post is a correction to
some API call, they’re probably not a spammer. :^) If the
first thing they post is “XXX web’cam! LOL! 5743”, don’t approve the
update, and delete the account)

  I'm not sure if the Wiki setup allows this, but it'd definitely be
  a good feature, I imagine.

The wiki we are using does not provide this option.

(2) The person has popped up on “#sdl” and spoken with one of the Wiki
admins ‘in person.’

or maybe:

(3) Another existing registered ‘good’ Wiki user has vouched for them?

Option 2, and 3, are possible. People can be marked as trusted so they
can then post.

#1 seems like the easiest way for new people to get on board.
“Your first attempt(s) to change the Wiki will be held for approval.
Once we decide you’re not a spammer, you’ll have full access to edit the
Wiki, just like the other users.”

#2 and #3 seem like more hardship on the potential new users, but we could
argue “one smallhardship on you which in turn helps the entire wiki is
a suitable comprimise.”

I’ve done a little more work on this. The spamming is coming from
britney.bizrate.com. Because I have the IP address on the RecentChanges
page I was able to just ban their entire IP subnet.

My understanding is that what bizrate.com is doing is actually a federal
crime in the US.

When you run into spamming on the wiki, please email me and I’ll ban the
IP. Or at least I will until the next time Sam changes the password. :slight_smile:

shrug What do I know about Wikis, though? (A: Not much :slight_smile: )

Yeah, you and me both, I’m learning as I go.

	Bob PendletonOn Wed, 2004-08-18 at 14:31, Bill Kendrick wrote:

On Wed, Aug 18, 2004 at 11:52:18AM -0500, Bob Pendleton wrote:

-bill!
bill at newbreedsoftware.com "Stand underneath a falling object and
http://www.newbreedsoftware.com/ explore the meaning of the word ‘@#%$!’"
New Breed Software

SDL mailing list
SDL at libsdl.org
http://www.libsdl.org/mailman/listinfo/sdl
–
±-------------------------------------+