the SETL Wiki:Notices

From the SETL Wiki

• [edit] 2012-01-27: Creation of new user accounts disabled.

  • I have now disabled creation of new accounts because
    • Registration had no effect on the volume of spam
    • CAPTCHAs don't work either - they just waste bandwidth with the extra images.
    • Spammers were creating 10-20 throwaway accounts per day
    • MediaWiki has no way of deleting an account, so they pollute the database (and the user list page) forever
    • It is now easier to see (and block) the IP addresses used by spammers

  If you create or edit a talk page, please sign all comments with your real name.
  If you really want an account, or want to suggest an edit to a protected page, please contact a sysop.

  --Finnw 20:52, 27 January 2012 (UTC)

• [edit] 2012-02-13: Creation of new user accounts re-enabled.

  • Creation of new accounts is enabled again, but only if you use SSL.
    I am guessing this will be at least as effective as a CAPTCHA at preventing automated signups.
  • Installed the User Merge and Delete extension and weeded out hundreds of spam accounts.
    • The criteria I used for deleting accounts were:
      • No non-spam, non-null edits
      • I did not know the identity of the user
      • They had no user page
    • Unfortunately there are probably some false positives, because I applied this after deleting a bunch of spam edits, so some edits that were done to remove spam now appear to be null edits.

  --Finnw 02:53, 13 February 2012 (UTC)