My coppermine is getting spammed!

[brownChiLD]

Hi guys

im using coppermine 1.4.2 stable, and it is getting heavily spammed lately, starting a few days ago..

I have activated PUBLIC COMMENTS for the pictures (because lots of its viewers should not be required to register just to praise/comment on a photo)..  but lately, someone, or something, has been posting crap on it.. i tried to block the IP, but the spammer uses many IPs.

therefore i'd like to know if it's just only me, or are there other coppermine users getting this? because it could be a bot designed to crawl the web for coppermine installations, and spam em automatically..

i wish there was this "image verification thing" available as per post.. that feature that lest you type in the number you see in an image.. (what do you call that technique agian?)..

Please advise

tea

PS
here is one of the pages with the spam comments:
http://www.windandwavedavao.com/galleries/displayimage.php?pos=-196

[Aditya Mooley]

The "image verification thing" is called CAPTCHA.
Here's the mod ->
http://forum.coppermine-gallery.net/index.php?topic=29564.0;topicseen

[Nibbler]

Before you apply the mod, update your gallery.

[brownChiLD]

thanks very much guys..

umm.. soo.. what do you tink is this little spam problem of mine?? is this a common thing in Coppermine or could it be someone trying to ruin my site? (a competitor perhaps?)

[kegobeer]

If it's not marketing stuff, I'd say it's probably one person, or a group of people that have targeted your gallery.  If it is marketing stuff, it may be a bot.

[pinpoint222]

You can use any one these which ever suits you


1--  CAPTCHA (randomly generated image) as described by Abbasi Ali at

http://forum.coppermine-gallery.net/index.php?topic=29564.0

Check for FONT Support on your server for this


2-- Use Single Image as visual confirmation ( independent of your server settings) at

http://forum.coppermine-gallery.net/index.php?topic=36235.0

3-- Use Akismet spam-checking to Coppermine commenting ( its a guessing fillter)  at

http://forum.coppermine-gallery.net/index.php?topic=33827.0

[Tranz]

This spam thing is not specific to Coppermine. Just about everything that allows for user input can get spammed. For my site, spammers have gone after my guestbook, forums, blog, contact form, and gallery. It's a matter of implementing various measures to deter them.

[pinpoint222]

very true.. i had this problem with my site a year back.then i made myself single image visual code confirmattion and for last 1 yr it is working 100% with no spam....what i learnt is bots cant read images..and instead of random image ..single image will do the job...... recently my coppermine gallery was hit badly with same. so built hack for coppermine comment ..took only 5 minture to keep it working and same result No spam at all.

[Abbas Ali]

[ot]
@pinpoint222: Its 'Abbas' and not 'Abbasi'. Sorry to point this out but you are using the wrong spelling everywhere.

Cheers.
[/ot]

[Stramm]

very true.. i had this problem with my site a year back.then i made myself single image visual code confirmattion and for last 1 yr it is working 100% with no spam....what i learnt is bots cant read images..and instead of random image ..single image will do the job...... recently my coppermine gallery was hit badly with same. so built hack for coppermine comment ..took only 5 minture to keep it working and same result No spam at all.

I've seen and tested bots that are able to read basic image confirmation codes. As soon as the confirmation codes get more sophistic these systems don't work anymore, but clearly written numbers weren't a problem at all. They also had support for not changing image confirmations.

[pinpoint222]

pinpoint222: Its 'Abbas' and not 'Abbasi'. Sorry to point this out but you are using the wrong spelling everywhere.

Abbas bhai. Pardon me for that.Typo mistake.

I've seen and tested bots that are able to read basic image confirmation codes. As soon as the confirmation codes get more sophistic these systems don't work anymore, but clearly written numbers weren't a problem at all. They also had support for not changing image confirmations.

U missed the reason for use of single image confirmation. Better to have something than nothing at all.

[thecoalman]

Can't say I've had a problem with it because my gallery is bridged with phpbb and that has many modifications to prevent spammers. As mentioned the captcha works to some extent but if it can/will be able to be read by a computer. The mod that I added that has stopped the bots dead in there tracks is quite simple. You add a human question, ex: What's two plus one? Haven't had a single spam registrant in months, that's down from one or two a day.