We're back! in Site Updates
- Sept. 15, 2022, 4:46 p.m.
- |
- Public
Hey everyone,
Wow was that a stressful morning! It’s never fun to wake up to a panda infestation, let alone on a work day. But, thankfully we were able to get back up and running relatively quickly.
So, what happened? Well, we’re still figuring that out. The moment things were back up and running, I told the developer to get back to his dayjob. Initial investigation points to some code we had in place that helps make managing subscriptions easier. We removed it for now to get things back up and running, but it doesn’t actually break anything — I’ll just have to click a few more things every day. I can definitely do that until we figure out a way to get back to normal without things breaking.
In the meantime: Well hello there!
First off, I’ll go ahead and address the elephant in the room: Yes I am still here. Though I haven’t had a public presence for quite a while, I’ve been working quietly in the background to keep an eye on things, both on the community and on the health of the site.
Lately I’ve of course had my eye on the absurd number of spammers that keep popping up. Wow is it getting bad! I know it’s really frustrating for those of you that use the front page, and I’m sorry for that.
What’s equally frustrating from an admin perspective is that they seem to be getting worse despite my trying a variety of different anti-spam solutions – multiple types of captchas for sign up, email verification for new users, limits on posting by new users, IP ban lists, an attempt to automatically detect the posting style of bots, yelling at each of the spammers individually in a fit of rage (really), a bunch of things. So far, nothing has been a silver bullet.
Equally frustrating (for me at least!), when I go into the system behind the curtain to delete the spam accounts manually, due to our occasionally creaky system (love ya SM) it can take up to a minute to delete each spammer. If I try to do several at once? 50/50 shot of it working or the server slapping me with a panda. The situation: not ideal.
So, why oh why is this happening? Well, let’s take a step back for a moment and unpack why spammers post on Prosebox at all. Why is it that they desperately want to tell you about how you can use a Brand New 2023 Catalytic Convertor to Solve Your Solar Instragram Needs? It’s a numbers game. They hire cheap teams of programmers to write scripts that spam posts on sites like this one across the internet. And, because Prosebox is an older site with lots of fresh, organic (read: written by humans) content, it shows up pretty high on the results list when you do a Google search for something like “Solar Catalytic Convertors”. Rinse and repeat.
If you look around the internet today you’ll notice that a lot of the older sites — especially places like forums — are facing similar problems. Or, well, they’re gone now because it got overwhelming. It’s an arms race, and it’s escalated exponentially over the last few years.
Ok, what can be done? Well, there are a few things that we’re working on.
First, the ability to click a button and report an account as spam. I know some of you have found it controversial when I’ve previously brought up this functionality because it has the potential for abuse. At this point, I think it’s a risk we have to take. I intend for it to be built in such a way that it will be very difficult to abuse, and if the abuse happens anyway, we’ll adjust it to make it harder. But we need it.
Next, limiting the ability for new accounts to post publicly for 7 days, and limiting the ability to comment publicly on other user’s entries for a similar amount of time. Hopefully that will reduce the incentive enough to slow them down.
Finally, there are a lot of things that I’ve been doing behind the scenes to clean up the mess of spammers, and I intend to keep going down that path. I know the spam looks really bad these days, but I promise you it could be so much worse. A lot of this work is me playing detective — digging into the database to see if there are trends with the email addresses or usernames that are used and then deleting huge swaths of users, that kind of thing. It’s an ugly job, but it’s oddly satisfying when you can eliminate a few hundred spammer jerks with a few lines of code.
I’ve also been keeping a close eye on server performance lately. There have been sporadic reports of panda sightings. A few weeks ago when this kept happening, I took the step of upgrading the server’s processing power substantially, so hopefully it’ll happen less. There was a not insignificant impact on operating cost there, but given the subsequent reduction in panda sightings, I say it was worth every penny.
And, well, that’s about it in terms of what’s going on lately! Other than the occasional hiccup the site remains stable, and even with the increased operating costs, Prosebox is in good shape financially. Once things are a bit steadier with the spam, more features will be coming. And yes, I will do my best to post more. Special shout out to the user that has been poking me almost daily for the last two weeks to write something. You now owe me the $5 you promised me. Yes it’s $5 now.
But okay, enough about the site. I know the real reason you’re all here.
MOCHI CATCHUP TIME!
Exploring the redwoods
Contemplation
Mochi in our new home!
<3,
-J
Last updated September 29, 2022
Park Row Fallout ⋅ September 15, 2022
Thank you for the update. I was worried we wouldn't get one but consider any updating as an excellent Bonus since this is very much a side thing for you. So again- thank you for the diligent work and the post!! And as ever: YAY MOCHI PICS!!! Definitely a fan of Mochi: Redwood Explorer!
Deleted user ⋅ September 15, 2022
Nice dog. Looks old and much loved. I will pay the fiver soon. Even I can afford that living on SS ;-) Your work is appreciated and every time some fooking idiot gripes about the site I want to say non pleasant things to them. Thanks for taking the time and effort to write this explanation. With photos ;-0) I like birds but also...dogs ;-)
Firebabe ⋅ September 15, 2022
Fighting spammers is a Sisyphean task - we appreciate your work!
Mochi is looking Lordly, as usual. Carry on fluffy one. 🧡
simple mind ⋅ September 15, 2022
It's good to hear from you! The spam report button was on my wish list of things I wanted to do but didn't get around to. Great ideas there, especially limiting public posts to older accounts. You might also consider not allowing links in the book descriptions. I've noticed they love to sign up and never post anything, just create a book with a description for backlinking. What a pain.
josh simple mind ⋅ September 15, 2022
Oh great call!
TellTaleHeart ⋅ September 15, 2022
Thanks again for your hard work! Give Mochi some scritches from me.
Fawkes Gal ⋅ September 15, 2022
Aww, sweet Mochi! Thanks for everything you do!
Jodie ⋅ September 15, 2022 (edited September 15, 2022)
Edited
Thank you so much for doing your very best to get and keep this site up and running.
I know you know pretty much everything about what you are doing but I do have an idea of slimming down the spammers to nil and that is at the sign up ask if they are a robot and then have someone or some people check out their profile maybe from other sources like face book and while these people are being checked out they can't write or leave notes just read? And also I have found some ideas of how to get rid of spammers. Maybe this will help some?
Oh and I was wondering when the time is better and all of this is fixed is if we can have more options like just leaving out id and no comment when we click save and if we can have more options for different letter to be typed like old English or cursive? And maybe when people do write new entries that their id is hi lighted
https://www.google.com/search?q=what+is+the+best+way+to+get+rid+of+spamers%3F&rlz=1C1CHBF_enCA882CA882&oq=what+is+the+best+way+to+get+rid+of+spamers%3F&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i22i30l2j0i390l2.12723j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
rhizome ⋅ September 15, 2022
ilu, mochi <3
thanks for the updates on the behind-the-scenes goings-on. it's good to know you're all still there, keeping track of the health of our dear website
EchoSeven ⋅ September 15, 2022
Good to hear from you, thanks for keeping us posted. Glad Mochi is doing well!
Jinn ⋅ September 15, 2022
Thank you for all you do . So glad to see an update from you and to see Mochi! Have a great Fall !!
Walking Crow ⋅ September 15, 2022
<3<3<3 Thank you so much for the update!! It's so good to hear from you!!
I fully support a spam button. I hope it won't be abused but a spam button is different than a report button to me. Idk maybe I am just wiser than before?
I wish the team and you WELL and the adorable Mochi pictures are always welcome!!
-Silver Satan
Meeks ⋅ September 15, 2022
❤️ Mochi ❤️
Meeks ⋅ September 15, 2022
Thank you josh !
GypsyWynd ⋅ September 15, 2022
Thank you for all your unseen and unheralded hard work.
And a special thank you for the Mochi pictures!
•kitkat• ⋅ September 15, 2022
Mochi!
Thanks for the update. Sorry it too so long to approve the post in the Fb group. I never got notified so I had no idea you posted until I saw your comment!
josh •kitkat• ⋅ September 15, 2022
All good!!
Adira ⋅ September 15, 2022
Hurray for Mochi!!!
But also, thank you for all your hard work.
Mystery ⋅ September 15, 2022
Will there be any way to not flood people's bookmarks? If I want to share a book with hundreds of entries in it that had been private, well, I don't want to flood the hell outa anyone's bookmarks, so will there be a way around that in the future?
Swanny ⋅ September 15, 2022
Thank you for all the work you do x
JustSurviveSomehow ⋅ September 15, 2022
I was a little worried when I saw the Panda this morning because you hadn't updated in awhile, I thought we might've been gone forever! Glad you're still here and thank you for everything that you do. Hi Mochi!
auburn_girl JustSurviveSomehow ⋅ September 16, 2022
We all have a little OD PTSD when it comes to that. 😟
Oswego ⋅ September 15, 2022
Greatly appreciate all you do behind the scenes to keep the site running smoothly. It’s an indispensable site in this day and age, and I’m very grateful for it.
Muchi is quite photogenic!
sassafras ⋅ September 15, 2022
Thank you so much for keeping this site going and for all of your hard work! Hi Mochi ♥️♥️
A Pedestrian Wandering ⋅ September 15, 2022
I sure don't envy your job keeping up with spammers. Thanks for keeping at it!
ConnieK ⋅ September 15, 2022
I agree with Infinite Ocean that most people have the ability to pay online and a $1 signup fee paid through a 3rd party (since the object is to stop spammers, not punish broke people) to PB would deter many of the spammers would be effective and a "report Spam" button sounds great.
Anyway, when I saw the Panda, I said, "Okay. They're working on it. I'll go do something else and check back later." Like magic, an hour or so later, PB was up and running! :)
KittyCat says she's still not a Moochi fan. She can be a bit stuck up.
josh ConnieK ⋅ September 15, 2022 (edited September 15, 2022)
Edited
Mochi is robust and graceful enough to be fine with the haters
Appreciate the patience <3
synapse ⋅ September 16, 2022
thank you for existing
auburn_girl ⋅ September 16, 2022
Thanks Josh!
thesunnyabyss ⋅ September 16, 2022
Thanks Josh!
Jigger ⋅ September 16, 2022
Thank you!
TrippyNina ⋅ September 16, 2022
Thank you!
Purple Dawn ⋅ September 16, 2022
I didn't panic over Sad Panda, you're doing an awesome job and are very much appreciated. Mochi looks quite pleased with the world :)
Mr. Mofo ⋅ September 16, 2022
Thanks for all the computer stuff I did not understand. In my best Steve Rogers voice, "It appears to run on some form of electricity".
Mochi amongst the redwoods sounds like a Woody Guthrie song.
Ginger Snap ⋅ September 16, 2022
I saw Sad Panda and knew you were on it! Thanks go out to you and Mochi - you are both fantastic!!
Azrael ⋅ September 16, 2022
Congrats on the new home and THANK YOU, appreciate you keeping us posted and more importantly keeping things running!
colder ⋅ September 16, 2022
Maybe you could deputize a few of us, and give us the ability to nuke spam accounts when we see them?
eucatastrophe. ⋅ September 16, 2022
Thank you, love you ☺️
NorthernSeeker ⋅ September 18, 2022
I am so grateful for the PB community and all the work you do to maintain this site. You create friendship between strangers...it is magic.
Deleted user ⋅ September 21, 2022
Still think you should charge a nominal fee to sign up. Just a few bucks. It will also keep certain individuals from constantly creating new accounts every time they realize that the community at large has had enough of their nasty comments and trolling and the number of block lists they land on is too high for their egos.
sadandlonelygirl ⋅ September 22, 2022
You're fantastic! I'm so grateful for all your work! I soo NEED Prosebox for my mental health and I could only thank you and your team.
TTO ⋅ September 23, 2022
Just hear to say thank you for all your support and the work you do to keep this site running.
Deleted user ⋅ October 22, 2022
Thanks!!
sundekuclarkson ⋅ January 09, 2023
amazing!!
heliousgeorge ⋅ January 28, 2023
Συγκεντρώσαμε μια λίστα όπου υπάρχουν πάντα τρέχοντα και νέα διαδικτυακά καζίνο χωρίς κατάθεση που μπορείτε να αποκτήσετε δωρεάν.