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[Updated 2023] How Not To Be Mistaken For A SpambotTopic%20Title
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In Justice We Trust

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Location: Southern California

Rank: Admin

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've got some automated systems in place to prevent spambots from even registering, but those systems occasionally block humans--please see the section on blacklisted IPs if you're one of those humans. Some spambots get through, though, and we're trying to get rid of those ones 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 with actual accounts) 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 (only three have been sighted thus far, but the risk is there). For the time being, we're only cleaning up the spam posted by the hijacked accounts and asking for the victims' consent to restrict their posting abilities until they regain total control of their accounts. If the situation gets out of hand, though, we may have to stop asking for permission.

What do we do to spambot accounts?

Ideally, our automated defenses keep them from even registering. However, on average, a few manage to get through each day. Our standard procedure for dealing with whatever spambots get past our automated defenses 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.

My current system for figuring out who among our newest users is a spambot is to inspect every new user's profile for signs of being a spambot. I classify each profile as either "guilty," "not proven," or "innocent." "Guilty" is reserved for accounts that show clear signs of being spambots, such as profile elements that are ads for something, to say nothing of blatantly spammy posts. Those are banned and deleted. "Not proven" means that the user in question has done nothing to convince me of their humanity, but also has done nothing to convince me that they're a spambot. I leave those users alone. A lot of users fall into this category since all they did was register and have neither posted nor customized their profiles. "Innocent" means that the user has sufficiently proven their humanity. Needless to say, those users are left alone, too.

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. Please look into ways to cut off the bot's access on your end, such as changing your password. We'd also appreciate your permission to restrict your posting abilities until the bot's dealt with, but our policy may change if too many hijacked accounts surface. Because of this possibility, though, it's crucial that your account show clear evidence of your humanity.

How do I prove I'm human?

Regrettably, the automatic systems already in place are insufficient to keep spambots from registering and posting, to say nothing of the occasional false positive. Below are some things you can do to help ensure you won't be "disappeared" by mistake if you've managed to register.

  • 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.
  • 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.

I tried to register, but the site says my IP is blacklisted.

We get hundreds of attempted registrations from spambots each day. The ones I ban in my sweeps are just the few who get past our automated defenses. The blacklist is technically a bunch of different blacklists of IP addresses that have been known to be used by spambots; if your IP address is on one or more of the blacklists we use, you'll be blocked from registering. Sadly, we can't drop a blacklist without opening the door to a lot more spambots. There are ways to change your IP address, though, and you can also contact your ISP (Internet Service Provider) about the issue.
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I'll always love you, Max.


Last edited by General Luigi on Thu Jan 19, 2023 10:55 pm, edited 4 times in total.

Updated

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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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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Location: USA

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Joined: Fri Jul 08, 2011 6:28 pm

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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

Rank: Medium-in-training

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

Gender: Male

Location: Not Here

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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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Location: All around Pennsylvania

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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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Rank: Decisive Witness

Joined: Sat Nov 13, 2010 8:08 pm

Posts: 253

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

memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=15154
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: 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.

Gender: None specified

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

Rank: Ace Attorney

Joined: Wed Jan 14, 2009 7:11 pm

Posts: 7882

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!

Gender: Male

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Joined: Fri Jul 11, 2008 4:30 pm

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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.
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

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

Rank: Ace Attorney

Joined: Fri Jul 11, 2008 4:30 pm

Posts: 14363

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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Joined: Wed Jul 21, 2010 9:06 pm

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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.
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