AI spammers

[BlueKrono]

Greetings! It's wonderful to see such a vibrant community here. Let's engage in meaningful discussions and learn from each other's perspectives. Remember, diversity of thought enriches our conversations. Feel free to share your insights and ask questions – together, we can create an environment of knowledge and mutual respect. Happy interacting, everyone.

Are you a real person or an AI bot?

[DinoToyForum]

Greetings! It's wonderful to see such a vibrant community here. Let's engage in meaningful discussions and learn from each other's perspectives. Remember, diversity of thought enriches our conversations. Feel free to share your insights and ask questions – together, we can create an environment of knowledge and mutual respect. Happy interacting, everyone.

Are you a real person or an AI bot?

Yeah, it's obviously not a real person. Account deleted. 

[BlueKrono]

Greetings! It's wonderful to see such a vibrant community here. Let's engage in meaningful discussions and learn from each other's perspectives. Remember, diversity of thought enriches our conversations. Feel free to share your insights and ask questions – together, we can create an environment of knowledge and mutual respect. Happy interacting, everyone.

Are you a real person or an AI bot?

Yeah, it's obviously not a real person. Account deleted. 

I keep wondering how these bots get through the questionnaire I remember taking... Are they really that advanced?

[Stegotyranno420]

Increase security measures.     

[DinoToyForum]

Greetings! It's wonderful to see such a vibrant community here. Let's engage in meaningful discussions and learn from each other's perspectives. Remember, diversity of thought enriches our conversations. Feel free to share your insights and ask questions – together, we can create an environment of knowledge and mutual respect. Happy interacting, everyone.

Are you a real person or an AI bot?

Yeah, it's obviously not a real person. Account deleted. 

I keep wondering how these bots get through the questionnaire I remember taking... Are they really that advanced?

Yes. Or a real person is working out the answers to give to the bots. It would only have to be done once. A bit like hacking a password, once one person has hacked it, they can share it with the rest of the world and save them the bother of having to hack it themselves. I update the security questions regularly to keep them on their toes.

[Lynx]

What's the deal with people putting bots on a dinosaur figure forum?

[DinoToyForum]

What's the deal with people putting bots on a dinosaur figure forum?

Fake content to support real spam links, either in the post or in the signature, often hidden. It's more often about SEO than it is about getting real people to click the links.

[andrewsaurus rex]

changing the questions frequently is the best defense against humans that aid the AI.   Just need to change one question (so long as all correct answers are req'd to join the forum) and do it frequently so that it makes it a nuisance for a human to keep having to check back and update the answers for the AI.  Spammers are by and large lazy people so you can take advantage of that.

If the AI is smart enough to know/find the answers on its own that's a bigger problem.   Wording the questions trickily, so that a human can figure it out but AI might not is one way.  Deliberate spelling mistakes that might fool/confuse the AI is another (for example instead of saurus spell it sore ass.....not an ideal example obviously but you get the idea).

One day AI will be undefeatable and that will change the world.  I imagine AI programs can be developed that counter other AI programs.   But soon after that, the Terminators will come. 

[Halichoeres]

What's the deal with people putting bots on a dinosaur figure forum?

Fake content to support real spam links, either in the post or in the signature, often hidden. It's more often about SEO than it is about getting real people to click the links.

That makes so much sense. It isn't always obvious that there are links, and when they're there they don't seem like anything a real person would click, but it's enough for a search engine crawler to index. Thanks for the explanation.

[DinoToyForum]

changing the questions frequently is the best defense against humans that aid the AI.   Just need to change one question (so long as all correct answers are req'd to join the forum) and do it frequently so that it makes it a nuisance for a human to keep having to check back and update the answers for the AI.  Spammers are by and large lazy people so you can take advantage of that.

If the AI is smart enough to know/find the answers on its own that's a bigger problem.   Wording the questions trickily, so that a human can figure it out but AI might not is one way.  Deliberate spelling mistakes that might fool/confuse the AI is another (for example instead of saurus spell it sore ass.....not an ideal example obviously but you get the idea).

One day AI will be undefeatable and that will change the world.  I imagine AI programs can be developed that counter other AI programs.   But soon after that, the Terminators will come. 

Yes, I now update the security questions semi-regularly, in response to a sudden influx of bots, which indicates the code has been cracked.

[DefinitelyNOTDilo]

Not sure if this is the place, but @DinoToyForum there appears to be a bot amongst us by the name of ? @Amy, would it be possible to deal with them?

[DinoToyForum]

Not sure if this is the place, but @DinoToyForum there appears to be a bot amongst us by the name of ? @Amy, would it be possible to deal with them?

It wasn't the right thread, but I moved it to the correct thread, and deleted the bot or spammer using AI.

Spammers like that who don't include any links in their posts are the most confusing, and difficut to spot. I don't know what they're getting out of it, maybe they just want the challenge of fooling people.

[DinoToyForum]

The new security questions have minimised the number of bots and spammers but they still get through. So, I'm trying a new approach. I've added a mandatory "reason for joining" field on the registration page, and now approve new members before they can post. It means it is much easier for genuine new members to join, instead of asking lots of security questions. We'll see how this pans out and how good the AI is at giving a convincing reason to join the Dinosaur Toy Forum.

[andrewsaurus rex]

that's a good idea.  It will slow down the registration/participation process a bit for new members but otherwise very beneficial to the forum overall.  AI bots with no links in them are usually just looking to see if their strategies for getting into forums work before they send the spam with links, or because they want to spread disinformation in text form.  I've seen lots of those on other forums mentioning, usually in a subtle way, how climate change is a hoax,  some election was rigged, yaddda, yadda. 

[DinoToyForum]

Reasons given so far:

"To add backlinks". Seriously! The spammer basically said they wanted to spam. So that was an easy application to deny.

"exchange of knowledge". This seemed genuine enough, if a little vague, so I gave them the benefit of the doubt. Turned out to be a genuine person. 

"DISCUSS". I'm slightly on the fence with this one, but my inclination is to reject this one and I think I will. The all caps is a red flag, as is the single word reason, it doesn't seem like a reason an actual person would give.

The risk, of course, is that some genuine people get denied entry.

[andrewsaurus rex]

I agree the single word answer is a major red flag.  A person who genuinely wants to be on here is going to make more of an effort.   Any response that doesn't reflect that should be denied.

You could give some of those you deny but are on the fence about the option to appeal.....ie send you a message explaining why they'd like to join.

[DinoToyForum]

I agree the single word answer is a major red flag.  A person who genuinely wants to be on here is going to make more of an effort.   Any response that doesn't reflect that should be denied.

You could give some of those you deny but are on the fence about the option to appeal.....ie send you a message explaining why they'd like to join.

Good idea. If in doubt, I can send them an email to check they are authentic.

I approved another just now, the join reason  was "An absolute love for everything dinosaur and prehistoric.". That sounds like a real person! I just hope the spammers don't work that out...

[andrewsaurus rex]

As AI gets better it may be able to duplicate human type responses.  One clue that it is AI might be a very long winded response.   A person is probably going to write a sentence or two.  AI has a tendency to be very wordy and verbose.  At least at the moment.

Nuanced questions are another way to filter out AI, at least at the moment.   Something like "what is your fondest memory of dinosaurs from childhood"   AI isn't great at duplicating emotions, especially the quality of AI that will trying to get on to forums like this.  It is more likely to write an essay on children and dinosaurs.

[DinoToyForum]

As AI gets better it may be able to duplicate human type responses.  One clue that it is AI might be a very long winded response.   A person is probably going to write a sentence or two.  AI has a tendency to be very wordy and verbose.  At least at the moment.

Nuanced questions are another way to filter out AI, at least at the moment.   Something like "what is your fondest memory of dinosaurs from childhood"   AI isn't great at duplicating emotions, especially the quality of AI that will trying to get on to forums like this.  It is more likely to write an essay on children and dinosaurs.

Yes, if I find it becomes difficult to sort the real people from the phonies I'll consider asking a more nuanced question.

[DinoToyForum]

The "Reason for joining" question seems to be working very well. It's usually obvious if the person is genuine or not. This reason was an easy one to reject:

"tertrh 5yyjmuy rtuyjghj rgryjuk"

Some of the reasons give me pause for thought, because they are a bit general. But we're certainly stopping most of the bots.

This change also seems to have had another unintended positive outcome, the easier registration process means more members are joining, who may have otherwise been put off by the difficult registration questions.