Opticraft Community

Discussion forum => Helpful articles => Topic started by: Wyboth on December 19, 2012, 03:14:39 am

Title: How To Report a Spambot
Post by: Wyboth on December 19, 2012, 03:14:39 am
Update: This is obsolete, and it has been requested by operators that players not report spam posts at all. Please do not use the report to moderator button if it is available to you.

Occasionally, we get a poster who advertises some sort of product or posts a bunch of links on the forums. This is called a spambot. They, as their name suggests, spam the forums. Their posts usually look something like this:
(click to show/hide)
They get in the way of normal forum discussion and need to be banned. If you see one, you can help out the operators tremendously by reporting them. You may think this entails a private message to an active moderator, but it doesn't. It's actually much easier. At the bottom of each post, you should see a button that looks like this:
(https://www.opticraft.net/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FzIxso.png&hash=37d09fb4fea4455a80f73e981394442d)
If you click this button, it will send an e-mail to an operator telling them about the flagged post. Immediately after clicking the button, it will take you to a page that asks you for a comment about why the post needs to be reported. Just type "Spam" into the textbox and then continue. That's it! The post should be deleted soon. Of course, if you see any other post that needs to be deleted for any reason, you can click the report to moderator button and enter the reason in the textbox.
Title: Re: How To Report a Spambot
Post by: SalsaInABowl on December 19, 2012, 03:18:32 am
Thank you for this imformative topic! I'm sure it will give more users something to do instead of replying "Cool Story Bro"
Title: Re: How To Report a Spambot
Post by: RuthlessTomato on December 19, 2012, 03:21:43 am
I dont see the button >.<
Title: Re: How To Report a Spambot
Post by: clawstrider on December 19, 2012, 03:26:33 am
(https://www.opticraft.net/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg577.imageshack.us%2Fimg577%2F3290%2Fspamsl.png&hash=a3a5314b150ac6a51262b03ed740b9e2)

As I was talking to Xeadin about earlier today, there is no report button for non-staff players.
Title: Re: How To Report a Spambot
Post by: Wyboth on December 19, 2012, 03:29:07 am
I see them...

Edit: Screenshot of it.
(click to show/hide)
Why would only staff be able to report to mods? I mean, they are the mods!
Title: Re: How To Report a Spambot
Post by: RuthlessTomato on December 19, 2012, 03:34:34 am
Stop arguing and look at novembera top voters for a sec! D:
Btw wyboth, werent you an op at 1 point?
Title: Re: How To Report a Spambot
Post by: Hasan (Tabooti) on December 19, 2012, 03:34:55 am
Just something, It's impossible to ban them all. They only keep their thread up for a few minutes before deleting it themselves.

If you IP track them, they are all from some building in china. And no, They aren't bots. They are real Chinese people.

For example, Chinese prisoners are sometimes forced to play world of Warcraft for 11 hours a day, every day.

Now this may seem really awesome, but... They are forced to fly around, all day, mining. That's all they do! They just go around, mining all the nodes, and then they sell them to HordeWalmart in the auction house, They make a lot of money, THEN, the send the money to another account, and from that account they sell the currency for like 1$ per 1000g.

Title: Re: How To Report a Spambot
Post by: Wyboth on December 19, 2012, 03:37:31 am
Stop arguing and look at novembera top voters for a sec! D:
Btw wyboth, werent you an op at 1 point?
No, but everyone thinks I was. Also, how is this an argument?
Just something, It's impossible to ban them all. They only keep their thread up for a few minutes before deleting it themselves.

If you IP track them, they are all from some building in china. And no, They aren't bots. They are real Chinese people.

For example, Chinese prisoners are sometimes forced to play world of Warcraft for 11 hours a day, every day.

Now this may seem really awesome, but... They are forced to fly around, all day, mining. That's all they do! They just go around, mining all the nodes, and then they sell them to HordeWalmart in the auction house, They make a lot of money, THEN, the send the money to another account, and from that account they sell the currency for like 1$ per 1000g.


Are... you... kidding?
Title: Re: How To Report a Spambot
Post by: RuthlessTomato on December 19, 2012, 03:41:33 am
Just something, It's impossible to ban them all. They only keep their thread up for a few minutes before deleting it themselves.

If you IP track them, they are all from some building in china. And no, They aren't bots. They are real Chinese people.

For example, Chinese prisoners are sometimes forced to play world of Warcraft for 11 hours a day, every day.

Now this may seem really awesome, but... They are forced to fly around, all day, mining. That's all they do! They just go around, mining all the nodes, and then they sell them to HordeWalmart in the auction house, They make a lot of money, THEN, the send the money to another account, and from that account they sell the currency for like 1$ per 1000g.


Seems legit.


Anyway, do you have any sources to back you up?
Title: Re: How To Report a Spambot
Post by: Wyboth on December 19, 2012, 03:46:06 am
Here, I will go through the process to prove that it's possible.

1. Click the report button when you see a spam post.
(click to show/hide)
2. Enter "Spam" in the textbox and hit enter.
(click to show/hide)
After that, it will take you back to the subforum that the topic was posted under.
Title: Re: How To Report a Spambot
Post by: iGenerator on December 19, 2012, 03:46:58 am
People think you are a mod because you pretended to be one on the forum for a few weeks over the summer. I also do not said button
Title: Re: How To Report a Spambot
Post by: Wyboth on December 19, 2012, 03:48:28 am
People think you are a mod because you pretended to be one on the forum for a few weeks over the summer.
No I didn't...
Title: Re: How To Report a Spambot
Post by: Hasan (Tabooti) on December 19, 2012, 05:11:42 am
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/25/china-prisoners-internet-gaming-scam

here is, PS that Bloodelf is hot.
Title: Re: How To Report a Spambot
Post by: Terrewee on December 19, 2012, 06:08:59 am
here is, PS that Bloodelf is hot.
lol....
Title: Re: How To Report a Spambot
Post by: clawstrider on December 19, 2012, 12:44:08 pm
If everyone would stop yelling at each other, (And posting pictures of hot blood-elfs ;) ) I have a suggestion:
Wyboth can obviously see it.
I can't and iGen can't.
Neither can Goalie.
The Staff already can.

I believe that something got screwed up in the website creation. Classic Ops can already see this report button, I know that for a fact, I spent nearly a year looking at it.
Snape can also see it (I think).
Maybe, just possibly, guest/recruits can see this button, and so can staff (Xeadin can also see it), yet builders/rankless cannot.
Title: Re: How To Report a Spambot
Post by: Wyboth on December 19, 2012, 03:01:46 pm
That's what I've been thinking. Mods and ops can see it, builders and non-ranks can't. I can, and I'm a recruit. Probably the recruit rank is able to see it because Optical forgot to disable it for that rank. Which brings me to another question: why disable it for non-staff? They're the ones who it's intended for.
Title: Re: How To Report a Spambot
Post by: SalsaInABowl on December 19, 2012, 03:16:07 pm
I started seeing it when I was a moderator.
Title: Re: How To Report a Spambot
Post by: Wyboth on December 19, 2012, 08:45:57 pm
Ok, I think it's safe to conclude that non-ranked players, builders, and crafters cannot see it, and recruits, moderators, operators, and admins can. For those who can see it, the button is useful.
Title: Re: How To Report a Spambot
Post by: Hasan (Tabooti) on December 19, 2012, 09:13:10 pm
You guys are silly. You can see it on other players, But obviously you don't see the "Report to moderator" button on yourself.

Wyboth, the picture you uploaded was a screenshot of your own post without a "Report to moderator".
Title: Re: How To Report a Spambot
Post by: TarynMai on December 19, 2012, 09:18:08 pm
Its not really a big deal. Mods/ops can jut delete them when they get to it. Some staff member is bound to do it eventually, so the reporting isnt really necessary.
Title: Re: How To Report a Spambot
Post by: Wyboth on December 20, 2012, 06:29:43 am
You guys are silly. You can see it on other players, But obviously you don't see the "Report to moderator" button on yourself.

Wyboth, the picture you uploaded was a screenshot of your own post without a "Report to moderator".
Are you kidding? The one where I said "I see them"? It's very clearly marked in that picture.
Its not really a big deal. Mods/ops can jut delete them when they get to it. Some staff member is bound to do it eventually, so the reporting isnt really necessary.
Yeah, but it might speed up the process a little. I don't know. This evolved more into a "I can't find the button!" thread than a "Is it necessary?" thread.
Title: Re: How To Report a Spambot
Post by: Hasan (Tabooti) on December 20, 2012, 07:58:18 am
You guys are silly. You can see it on other players, But obviously you don't see the "Report to moderator" button on yourself.

Wyboth, the picture you uploaded was a screenshot of your own post without a "Report to moderator".
Are you kidding? The one where I said "I see them"? It's very clearly marked in that picture.
Its not really a big deal. Mods/ops can jut delete them when they get to it. Some staff member is bound to do it eventually, so the reporting isnt really necessary.
Yeah, but it might speed up the process a little. I don't know. This evolved more into a "I can't find the button!" thread than a "Is it necessary?" thread.

My bad, I got confused between your & clawstrider's posts.
Title: Re: How To Report a Spambot
Post by: hennydeez on December 20, 2012, 08:51:05 am
Stop arguing and look at novembera top voters for a sec! D:
Btw wyboth, werent you an op at 1 point?
No, but everyone thinks I was. Also, how is this an argument?
Just something, It's impossible to ban them all. They only keep their thread up for a few minutes before deleting it themselves.

If you IP track them, they are all from some building in china. And no, They aren't bots. They are real Chinese people.

For example, Chinese prisoners are sometimes forced to play world of Warcraft for 11 hours a day, every day.

Now this may seem really awesome, but... They are forced to fly around, all day, mining. That's all they do! They just go around, mining all the nodes, and then they sell them to HordeWalmart in the auction house, They make a lot of money, THEN, the send the money to another account, and from that account they sell the currency for like 1$ per 1000g.


Are... you... kidding?

spammers pay eastern european labor workers to solve captchas all day, doesn't matter what kind of captcha system is used since a human is solving them. recaptcha does a pretty good job.
Title: Re: How To Report a Spambot
Post by: SalsaInABowl on December 20, 2012, 03:43:42 pm
Being forced to play WoW...that's pretty cruel.
Title: Re: How To Report a Spambot
Post by: Wyboth on December 20, 2012, 08:24:22 pm
I read the article tabooti posted, so I'm clear on the Chinese WoW PoW camps. That being said, could we keep it on-topic from here on out? That would be much appreciated.
Title: Re: How To Report a Spambot
Post by: iGenerator on December 21, 2012, 02:12:04 am
What is the point of this being in helpful articles when it is more of a support issue
Title: Re: How To Report a Spambot
Post by: SalsaInABowl on December 21, 2012, 02:30:11 am
It was originally a helpful article...now it's more of a General Discussion
Title: Re: How To Report a Spambot
Post by: Xeadin on December 21, 2012, 04:43:47 am
What is the point of this being in helpful articles when it is more of a support issue

This topic doesn't pertain to either of the servers. Please think before you type
Title: Re: How To Report a Spambot
Post by: iGenerator on December 21, 2012, 07:02:53 am
What is the point of this being in helpful articles when it is more of a support issue

This topic doesn't pertain to either of the servers. Please think before you type
how is this a "helpful article" if only a fraction of the server can use it?
Title: Re: How To Report a Spambot
Post by: SalsaInABowl on December 21, 2012, 03:21:45 pm
Because then that helpful fraction could use it to help the other helpful fraction.
Title: Re: How To Report a Spambot
Post by: Spyow on December 23, 2012, 11:54:39 pm
I can see the report to a moderator button. Must be recruit only. Then staff+
Title: Re: How To Report a Spambot
Post by: Wyboth on December 24, 2012, 01:17:47 am
I can see the report to a moderator button. Must be recruit only. Then staff+
That's odd, you are the Guest/Recruit rank. Perhaps it doesn't have to do with forum ranks?
Title: Re: How To Report a Spambot
Post by: Wyboth on December 24, 2012, 02:46:49 am
It has been requested by an operator who would like to remain anonymous that I not use the report to moderator button to report spam posts. Per this operator's request, I am requesting that everybody disregard this topic and ignore any spam messages they may see. I am sorry for the inconvenience that this topic may have caused. Due to this recent development, no further discussion on this topic is necessary, so at this time it will be locked.
(https://www.opticraft.net/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FFEPqG.png&hash=adcf1e78fcafbd958eaea002907ec2f3)