UESPWiki:Administrator Noticeboard/Archives/Proxy Vandalism

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Proxy Vandalism

Just throwing this out there, just as an idea...perhaps we should get someone to visit Proxy.org, go through each Proxy (or as many as possible), find out what the IP of each one is, and perma-block it. It's already been done on several Wikia-run Wikis, and I've seen much lower vandalism rates (at least 1 vandalism in 2 days). I know this seems like alot of work, but I think Wikia might have used a team of people, or even a program to go through and block each Proxy's IP. Daedryon^{•T•C•E•} 00:37, 18 December 2008 (EST)

We've done it before - the first time we had a major bot attack (you think this is bad, this is nothing compared to before...), Nephele found a list of open proxies and put blocks on all of them. I forget how many, but it was a lot. Since then, we've added certain tools that severely limit the power of spambots (Captcha required for posting links being the most effective so far), but since the current bot isn't posting links, these measures don't work against them. (It's probably trying to post links, but those edits are being blocked by the Captcha.) The problem with blocking large numbers of IPs is that many IPs are dynamic, and shared by many people, so we might end up blocking large numbers of legit posters as well as the spammers. Anyhow, I'm sure we'll come up with something. And the spammers will find a way around it, and we'll do it again. Such is life on the internet. --TheRealLurlock ^Talk 00:44, 18 December 2008 (EST)

Yes but these IP's on Proxy.org aren't dynamic, as far as my knowledge goes. They are/were specifically designed for getting around blocks on Wikipedia, getting around school blocks on MySpace or Facebook, etc. I doubt they'd be used for regular internet purposes...although once I did have my IP (while using Bell Sympatico) change to an IP with a page full of warnings on Wikipedia for vandalizing porn related articles...hm...guess this will require some delving into to figure out if they are dynamic... Daedryon^{•T•C•E•} 00:53, 18 December 2008 (EST)