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[Updated 2024] How Not To Be Mistaken For A SpambotTopic%20Title
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In Justice We Trust

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Location: Southern California

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Joined: Wed Dec 12, 2007 6:31 pm

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So in case it's not obvious, we tend to get a lot of spambots. Because of how many of the blasted things try to register, we're trying to get rid of them before they even post. Why do you need to know this? Because there's a risk (albeit a miniscule one, as we try to err on the side of caution) that you'll be mistaken for a spambot as long as your post count is zero. As such, it's in everyone's best interest (especially yours) for you to distinguish yourself from a spambot as quickly as possible.

What is a spambot?

A spambot is a computer program that creates an account for the express purpose of posting spam. The ones that show up here are usually designed to post ads for products or sites or simply boost their search engine ranking by creating as many links as possible. Clicking these links is strongly discouraged, as it is very likely that the sites they link to contain spyware, viruses, or other stuff you really don't want on your computer.

Worryingly, as of 2023, some spambots have recently gained access to human users' accounts. If your account is hijacked, we will contact you via email and ask you to change your password in the hope that that will lock the spambot out. If you fail to change your password and your account continues to be used to post spam, we will ban it. If that happens, please contact us once you are ready to change your password and we will unban your account.

What do we do to spambot accounts?

Our standard procedure for dealing with spambots is to ban them, delete their posts, and then delete their accounts. The username is banned for life, any IP addresses the spambot used are also banned for life (meaning any new accounts or posts created through that IP address will be rejected), and the spambot's email address is banned for life (meaning any new account created through that email address will be rejected). After that, we delete the account and its posts--essentially, the spambot disappears from the forum like a dissenter from a dictatorship.

All new accounts are subject to administrator approval before they are activated. Please contact us with your CR account name, be it through the Ace Attorney Discord or through email, once you've registered and we'll activate your account. An account that shows clear signs of belonging to a spambot is simply banned and deleted rather than activated.

What if my account has been hijacked by a spambot?

If your account is hijacked and we spot it posting spam, we will alert you by contacting the email address you used when registering. Please look into ways to cut off the bot's access on your end. We believe changing your password will suffice. If the bot continues to use your account to post spam, the account will be banned until we hear from you. Because of this possibility, though, it's crucial that your account show clear evidence of your humanity; we don't knowingly delete humans' accounts, but if nothing in the profile or prior posts points to you being human, there's a serious danger of us mistaking the account for one that was always run by a bot.

How do I prove I'm human?

For the time being, our system of admin approval is sufficient, but there are probably some spambots who got in before we adopted the new system. We try to err on the side of caution, so you're unlikely to be mistaken for a spambot, but the risk is not zero. Below are some things you can do to help ensure you won't be "disappeared" by mistake.

  • Personalize your profile. Some spambots will make a signature or choose a generic avatar, list their interests, etc., but there are often telltale signs of their inhumanity in the way they do it--such as by having the name of a product or site in their custom user title. That being the case, personalizing your profile in a way that doesn't resemble spambot behavior--such as by putting an explicit reference to the Ace Attorney games in it--helps you stand out as human. Regrettably, spambots have been prone to altering the profiles of any accounts they hijack, so this isn't a guarantee.
  • Don't advertise any sites in your profile. The one exception to the "personalize your profile" bit of advice is websites. Not all spambots bother with advertising sites in their profiles, but if there's a link to an obscure or dubious site in your profile, it's going to make you look suspicious.
  • Post. As I pointed out in the beginning of this post, there is a risk that you'll be mistaken for a spambot as long as your post count is zero. Now, this doesn't mean you'll get banned for lurking; we respect your right to not post. That said, the content of a user's posts is pretty much decisive and incontrovertible proof of their humanity (or lack thereof), so posting is the best way to get out of the "possible spambot" category. Now that spambots have been caught hijacking accounts, any prior posts of yours double as evidence that your account was merely hijacked rather than fully a bot account.

What if I'm banned by mistake?

To my knowledge, this has only happened once and it was corrected before it was too late, so I doubt you have anything to worry about, but as with any ban, we have a system in place to address this problem. Most of us staff members have our respective email addresses and/or one or more of our respective IM addresses visible on our respective profiles, so just contact one of us through one of those media and explain your situation. Once your IP address has been removed from the banlist, you'll be able to register a new account here (sorry, but since we delete spambot accounts, restoring an old one is impossible). You can also contact the forum staff as a whole by sending an email to courtrecord@gmail.com. We're also on the Ace Attorney Discord server, so you can try reaching out to us there, too.
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I'll always love you, Max.


Last edited by General Luigi on Sat Dec 28, 2024 8:34 pm, edited 7 times in total.

Updated

Re: Anti-spambot measures: how not to get mistaken for a spambotTopic%20Title
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Gettin' Old!

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Tis a good idea this pre-emptive banning.
Lately I've noticed many of the 'newest members' from the link at the main board page are just bots, even if they don't really post they have links and adverts in their profile and location. Will be a good way to curb these things.

On the plus side it might encourage lurkers to become more active in the community as well after they've made a first post :garyuu:
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You thought you could be safe in your courts, with your laws and attorneys to protect you. In this world only I am law, my word is fact, my power is absolute.
Re: Anti-spambot measures: how not to get mistaken for a spambotTopic%20Title
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The GG. The Girl Gamer

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What's a spambot?
Re: Anti-spambot measures: how not to get mistaken for a spambotTopic%20Title
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Gender: Male

Location: UK

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Joined: Sat Aug 16, 2008 3:38 pm

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Erm...it's like a program that is controlled by a computer and just spreads spam. In this case, it's a CR user that may or may not post. If it does, it only posts links to other sites. If not, the links are in it's profile. But they're never controlled by a real person. I guess Wikipedia can probably explain it better.
Re: Anti-spambot measures: how not to get mistaken for a spambotTopic%20Title
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FINE

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Joined: Mon Nov 16, 2009 3:07 am

Posts: 1316

I feel like I've been a spambot my entire life
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Re: Anti-spambot measures: how not to get mistaken for a spambotTopic%20Title
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Squirtle!

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Basically spambots are programed to flood forums with links to random sites, which generally get revenue per view.

Something like that, lol
Married to SnowWright! Father of Tornado of Souls!
Re: Anti-spambot measures: how not to get mistaken for a spambotTopic%20Title
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Livin' joke.

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Joined: Sat Nov 13, 2010 8:08 pm

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Seems like our newest member is yet another spambot...

memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=15154
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Re: Anti-spambot measures: how not to get mistaken for a spambotTopic%20Title
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Gender: Male

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Why is it always the Russians?
Re: Anti-spambot measures: how not to get mistaken for a spambotTopic%20Title
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Livin' joke.

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Rank: Decisive Witness

Joined: Sat Nov 13, 2010 8:08 pm

Posts: 253

Another one.

Here.
My Court Records Family?

My Court Records brother is Apollo72 , and my dear mother and father are yuzikichan0 and Inquisitor Amakiir !

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Thanks for the banner, Polly!
Re: Anti-spambot measures: how not to get mistaken for a spambotTopic%20Title
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Gender: Female

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I love reading their nonsense profiles (the ones in English anyway).

EDIT: lmao I just saw this. I thought it was a genuine account because of the name :B
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Re: Anti-spambot measures: how not to get mistaken for a spambotTopic%20Title
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You've been hit by, a smooth prosecutor

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Another phpBB forum i'm on is set up to where the first 2 or 3 posts made by a new member have to be approved by a mod. IDK if it'd work here though.
Re: Anti-spambot measures: how not to get mistaken for a spambotTopic%20Title
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Gettin' Old!

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Johnny Rotan wrote:
Another phpBB forum i'm on is set up to where the first 2 or 3 posts made by a new member have to be approved by a mod. IDK if it'd work here though.


I think that would make things very slow for genuine members especially if there's no mods currently on. However it would probably stop the spam.
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You thought you could be safe in your courts, with your laws and attorneys to protect you. In this world only I am law, my word is fact, my power is absolute.
Re: Anti-spambot measures: how not to get mistaken for a spambotTopic%20Title

Sup

Gender: Male

Location: Canada

Rank: Suspect

Joined: Thu Aug 11, 2011 1:09 pm

Posts: 10

:omg:
thx

i joined on aug. 11 2011 so i got scared for a sec




also i don't have an avater or a signature so thx again for the tip




and i only have 2 posts (3 now) so this is a big help
Re: Anti-spambot measures: how not to get mistaken for a spambotTopic%20Title
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I'm bad at puzzle solving..

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Location: The land of depressing weather.

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So many spambots.

I am making good use of my report button.
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Re: Anti-spambot measures: how not to get mistaken for a spambotTopic%20Title
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Found a new one- and it's posting too :edgeworth:
memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=15256
Looking at it's post I'm pretty sure it's a spambot.
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"Having a place to go — is a home. Having someone to love — is a family. Having both — is a blessing."
Re: Anti-spambot measures: how not to get mistaken for a spambotTopic%20Title
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Gettin' Old!

Gender: Male

Location: Scotland

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Joined: Fri Jul 11, 2008 4:30 pm

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If we could put up a feature where after a user have received X amount of reports they are blocked from posting more until an Admin or Mod has dealt with the reported posts it may help.

A bot today posted like 8 topics and stuff which I battled against and would be good to shut it up for a wee while.
Then again most bots I've seen just post like one topic but it couldn't hurt.
Also then again it could open the forum up to horrendous griefing if trolls decide to create an account and report posts to freeze an account....but we ain't got anyone like that I think.
Made by Chesu+Zombee
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You thought you could be safe in your courts, with your laws and attorneys to protect you. In this world only I am law, my word is fact, my power is absolute.
Re: Anti-spambot measures: how not to get mistaken for a spambotTopic%20Title
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In Justice We Trust

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Joined: Wed Dec 12, 2007 6:31 pm

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For now, just report troublesome posts and the staff will respond as quickly as possible. Also, MiaFeyFan, there's no need to post spambots here. Just report spam with the Report function and someone will be on it once they see the report.
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I'll always love you, Max.
Re: Anti-spambot measures: how not to get mistaken for a spambotTopic%20Title
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Gender: Female

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^ Oh ok. Sorry about that. I'll remember to do that from now on :payne:
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"Having a place to go — is a home. Having someone to love — is a family. Having both — is a blessing."
Re: Blacklisted IPs and How Not To Be Mistaken For A SpambotTopic%20Title
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In Justice We Trust

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Location: Southern California

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Joined: Wed Dec 12, 2007 6:31 pm

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In light of recent developments, I've updated the first post in this thread.

Recently, spambots advertising cryptocurrency (or more likely a scam meant to prey on cryptocurrency users) have gained access to at least two humans' accounts. Another account that appears to belong to a lurker also posted the same spam recently.

As things stand, we can only speculate as to how spambots gained access to some humans' accounts, so any concrete information on how they got in is welcome. We also don't know how many accounts have been compromised. A quick Google search on my end advises changing your passwords if you've been hacked, so I shall echo that advice here. It may be wise to change your password just in case given our current ignorance of how many accounts have been compromised.
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I'll always love you, Max.
Re: [Updated 2024] How Not To Be Mistaken For A SpambotTopic%20Title
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In Justice We Trust

Gender: Male

Location: Southern California

Rank: Admin

Joined: Wed Dec 12, 2007 6:31 pm

Posts: 4214

Another update: A lot of prospective users have fallen afoul of the blacklists we'd been using to prevent spambots from registering. We've done away with the blacklists. Henceforth, anyone wishing to register will be able to do so. Your account will be activated once an administrator (probably me) has inspected it and is satisfied that it doesn't belong to a spambot. If you've registered and aren't activated, please contact us on the Ace Attorney Discord or through courtrecord@gmail.com and tell us your username. We'll activate your account as soon as we see your message.
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