Regarding a centralized DB... This would require a whole 'nother effort and staff.
Alternative: Sites simply publish their spammer IP list to a public page that is only editable by admins or bureaucrats and in a predefined format such as: IP, date-discovered (or semantic format?) Then, anyone can download those lists from the sites they choose (trust). For performance reasons, it would be best if only the recent additions to the lists can be queried... which implies using semantic data. A side benefit would be that the whole world, other than wiki admins, can also see the list and use it as they wish... sharing, the wiki way! ________________________________ From: Al Johnson <[email protected]> To: Al Johnson <[email protected]>; MediaWiki announcements and site admin list <[email protected]>; MediaWiki announcements and site admin list <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, May 24, 2013 3:19 PM Subject: Re: [MediaWiki-l] Wiki spam. Stronger fightback. More brainstorming ideas about this... A centralized DB would require a site requiring heavy use since it would be hit for each edit submission from every participating site. An alternative would be a subscriber model where the global list (or updates) is downloaded periodically by subscribers. How long to block an IP? I'm not an expert in this area, but what if the IP is blocked for an extended period of time, such as ONE YEAR. If that IP ends up being reissued to a legitimate ISP customer and he gets blocked, that will alert that user that his ISP is either participating in spamming or is tolerating spammers user of their IPs which is affecting regular customers. This may sound harsh, but this could force ISPs to address the problem with their spammer customers. And, there is still a workaround for the legit user who can usually just reboot their modem to get a new IP address. Just thinking out load... al ________________________________ From: Al Johnson <[email protected]> To: MediaWiki announcements and site admin list <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, May 24, 2013 2:41 PM Subject: Re: [MediaWiki-l] Wiki spam. Stronger fightback. Maybe mediawiki sites can unite to keep a global list of these IP's and block them as soon as they are submitted. Each mediawiki site can auto-submit a spammer IP as soon as it's discovered to the global list. What are the problems with this idea? Al _______________________________________________ MediaWiki-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-l _______________________________________________ MediaWiki-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-l
