Spam

Possible solutions and what is currently being done to combat the growing spam problem.

Spam Blacklist Extension

The first way that we can decrease the spam problem is by using a blacklist filtering approach. There is a widely used MediaWiki extension called Spam Blacklist that checks instances of URLs in new posts against a shared blacklist. If a match is found, posting is prevented.

On this server, this extension is currently configured to use the Mediawiki Spam Blacklist. However, if this proves insufficient, a local blacklist can also be created.

reCAPTCHA Extension

An additional method of preventing spam is to prevent automated posting. One method of doing this is through a CAPTCHA. A CAPTCHA is a reverse Turing Test that determines whether or not submissions and new user requests are coming from a human or not.

The implementation that has been put in place for Open Circuits makes use of the reCAPTCHA plugin. From the reCAPTCHA site:

By default, CAPTCHAs are triggered on the following events:

*New user registration
*Anonymous edits that contain new external links
*Brute-force password cracking

Other Suggestions

russ_hensel suggests that a first step is to require all users to register, when they spam ( hopefully never ) delete them.

I suggest that registred users that been around a longer time without spam incidents should not be subject to captcha. When doing lot's of edits, it's a real pain. Freqmax 16:04, 29 February 2008 (PST)