BattleTechWiki:SPAM

Summary

This page attempts to detail all of the current anti-SPAM measures the BattleTechWiki has in place, their effectiveness, and so on. BattleTechWiki SPAM has increased over time, and new anti-SPAM techniques are needed periodically to keep SPAM on the wiki under control.

Current Measures

Measure	Status	Implemented	Configuration	Effectiveness	Log	Notes
$wgEnableSorbs	(removed)	~2008	$wgEnableSorbs = true	Unknown	Unavailable	Was removed in MediaWiki 1.24.0, deprecated in favor of $wgEnableDnsBlacklist
$wgEnableDnsBlacklist	Enabled	10/2012	$wgEnableDnsBlacklist = true $wgDnsBlacklistUrls = array(...): http.dnsbl.sorbs.net web.dnsbl.sorbs.net sbl.spamhaus.org xbl.spamhaus.org opm.tornevall.org truncate.gbudb.net dnsbl.proxybl.org	>1000/day	Available to Admins	Replaces $wgEnableSorbs Might block legitimate users who use proxies
SimpleAntiSpam	(removed)	12/2011	n/a	< 1/day	Available to Admins	Was merged into MediaWiki core in 1.22.0+
SpamBlacklist	Enabled	12/2011	$wgBlacklistSettings = ...: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Spam_blacklist http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MediaWiki:Spam-blacklist	~5/day	Available to Admins
CommentSpammer	(removed)	02/2012	n/a	< 1/day	Log	Extension no longer works in 2016+
ConfirmEdit (QuestyCaptcha)	Enabled	05/2013	Enabled for edits and new users	10/day	Available to Admins
BadBehavior	(removed)	10/2012	n/a	~2500 actions/day	Available to Admins	Was removed in 2017 as it was breaking caching in some cases
Block of China IP Addresses	Enabled	10/2012	n/a	~3000 IPs/day	Available to Admins
AbuseFilter	Enabled	02/2018	n/a	~20 day	Available to Admins

Other Measures

Other possible options, not currently enabled:

• TitleBlacklist
  • Unknown how useful it will be Nicjansma (talk) 14:18, 18 October 2012 (PDT)
• $wgEmailConfirmToEdit
  • Would require visitors to supply a valid email before they can edit pages Nicjansma (talk) 20:24, 18 October 2012 (PDT)
• AkismetKlik
  • Unknown how helpful it will be Nicjansma (talk) 20:24, 18 October 2012 (PDT)
• ConfirmAccount
  • Would require manual account confirmation Nicjansma (talk) 20:24, 18 October 2012 (PDT)

Tools

• User Merge and Delete can be used to clean up (i.e. remove) SPAM accounts. Simply put the SPAM account's name in the Old user field, and leave the New user field blank. The SPAM account will be merged into the Anonymous user, including all of their pages and edits.

Log

• 2008: $wgEnableSorbs enabled
• 2008: ConfirmEdit enabled
• 2009/10/07: ReCaptcha used for ConfirmEdit
• 2011/12/19: SimpleAntiSpam enabled
• 2011/12/19: SpamBlacklist enabled
• 2012/02/11: QuestyCaptcha used for ConfirmEdit
• 2012/02/11: CommentSpammer enabled
• 2012/08/10: Additional QuestyCaptcha questions added
• 2012/10/18: $wgEnableDnsBlacklist enabled
• 2012/10/18: BadBehavior enabled
• 2012/10/18: This page created
• 2012/10/22: Blocked all Chinese IP addresses
• 2013/05/01: Changed ConfirmEdit from QuestyCaptcha to AreYouAHuman
• 2021/02/15: $wgEnableSorbs removed from list, had been removed in MW 1.24.0+
• 2021/02/15: SimpleAntiSpam removed from list, had been removed in MW 1.22.0+
• 2021/02/15: CommentSpammer removed from list, had not been working since 2016
• 2021/02/15: Bad Behavior removed from list, had been removed in 2017 due to breaking caching
• 2021/02/15: Abuse Filter added to list (was enabled in 2018)
• 2021/02/15: Switched from ReCaptcha to QuestyCaptcha

Resources

MediaWiki articles on SPAM control:

• Combating SPAM
• Proxy blocking
• Anti-Spam Features
• Comparison of DNS Blacklists
• MediaWiki Spam Management Extensions

Other articles on MediaWiki SPAM control:

• DanBp.org
• IguanaSuicide.net
• Blocking China IP addresses