The state of insanedifficulty.com

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#1 Hart-Hunt

Impostonator

Job: Regulator
Posts: 3,847

27 July 2016 - 09:04 AM

Title edited by Kaffe: The topic has grown, changing the subject to reflect the larger scope. Also moving to General in hopes to get more eyes and thoughts on the topic.
Old thread title: Just deleted +140 posts from a spambot.

Posted Image

This was manageable when they were scarce, but this is plain ridiculous. We can't keep the forums clean with something like this. And the users won't be able to use the forums with spam like this either. It was 3 entire pages of spam threads, by just one account.

So yeah. Please do something about this, because I can't keep deleting threads like this and pretending like this isn't a problem.

#2 Augestein

Challenger

Job: Member
Posts: 801

27 July 2016 - 12:27 PM

Tired of being small and inadequate then you should try http://www.bodybuild...big-muscle.html Because sometimes you just need that Posted Image

for that special person that stretches all over your http://www.overstock...27/subcat.html.

No but really, this site sometimes just breaks for me for no reason because there's so much going on. That's honestly why I stopped trying to upload my "let's suck through 1.3" here because I got tired of fighting the site to actually let me post anything.

-1

#3 Emmy

Creator of Monster Tactics

Job: Modder
Posts: 987

27 July 2016 - 01:08 PM

LOL @ the titles of the threads that the bot posted. I think the bot spent too much time in late night chat.

140? SO MUCH BIG! Is that an actual number or an exaggeration? i saw 3 spam posts up last night but none of the admins were paying attention when I mentioned it. Do we have a captcha or something like that for account registration right now? If so, how are the bots getting through it?

#4 Lolwayup

Anal God Disciple

Job: Member
Posts: 645

27 July 2016 - 05:28 PM

....you know, that top link there looks like something BTB would have, lol.

-1

#5 Hart-Hunt

Impostonator

Job: Regulator
Posts: 3,847

27 July 2016 - 08:30 PM

Lmao! You guys. Yeah, it's no exaggeration. It was over 140 threads, not posts.

Yeah, I follow your YT channel Augestein :]

No. It was no exaggeration. It was over 140 threads. There is a catpcha, but it's obviously not enough to keep the spambots out.

#6 Kaffe Myers

Game Breaker

Job: Regulator
Posts: 2,015

09 August 2016 - 10:10 AM

From what I can tell, the site has not seen a lot of development for years, so it's natural that it's behind the curb in many ways. Maybe there's a fix for this particular problem, but it's not the only problem the site has. It would probably be easier just to set this site as a read-only archive and start from scratch, to be honest...

ETA: To clarify, move this site to a new address, something like "old.insanedifficulty.com" or something of the like, so we can still cross-reference to it if needed. We don't want our posts to just vanish. No sir-ee. On the usual address we just place a new forum, one that's up to date with all the security fixes and all. We would have to register again and so on, but that ain't no big deal. I suggest this because it is the EASIEST way to get a working homepage. Complete migration would be better, but probably much more effort than any one would every want to put into it.

#7 Emmy

Creator of Monster Tactics

Job: Modder
Posts: 987

12 August 2016 - 05:12 AM

Only thing with starting over is I'd like it if it's possible to keep my stickied topics for documentation purposes. Read only could work, I'll just have to transfer over the posts that are an ongoing project to keep updated (difficulty discussion and updates, mostly). Other than that, I use my chat room more than I use the forums anyway.

Augestein (and anyone else posting lp's) - Why not post them in the relevant rooms in chat? They'll likely get more attention that way (so you're not fighting the site to look at them).

#8 Kaffe Myers

Game Breaker

Job: Regulator
Posts: 2,015

12 August 2016 - 05:24 AM

Emmy, on 12 August 2016 - 05:12 AM, said:

When the solution is "Don't use the website", something needs to be done. x]

I think the forum is a better place for posting LPs in concept, but with the current state... I'm inclined to agree with you, Emmy.

I haven't researched good options for a new website at all, but my thought would be to have an open-source and well-documented platform to make it as easy as possible to administrate. With a quick search I found something promising: Wordpress.org + Muut.
https://wordpress.org/plugins/muut/
https://muut.com/

ETA:
A second option I found that you can use with Wordpress is Discourse:
https://wordpress.or...s/wp-discourse/
http://www.discourse.org/

#9 BTB

Co-Creator of BNW

Job: Modder
Posts: 4,548

12 August 2016 - 05:32 AM

Spammers are the reason that crucifixion needs to make a comeback. Their overwhelming presence on this website makes it look shoddy and unkempt and probably does a lot to drive new traffic away.

I'm going to throw in with Kaffe that moving to something open-source that more of us can understand and have some control over maintaining would probably be a good idea.

#10 Kaffe Myers

Game Breaker

Job: Regulator
Posts: 2,015

10 October 2016 - 03:26 AM

The site is not working now; no one seem to be able to register at all. This is getting pretty sad. We need a working site. If nothing is done with ID to at least repair the obvious bugs so the site can be used, then maybe it's time to look at alternatives (e.g. build "ID v.2.0" on our own time).

#11 auraplatonic

Creator of Dancing Mad

Job: Modder
Posts: 1,287

10 October 2016 - 06:07 AM

If the site is behind the curb development wise, is account security an issue? I mean it's unlikely that someone would target this website but it still seems troubling.

#12 Hart-Hunt

Impostonator

Job: Regulator
Posts: 3,847

11 October 2016 - 12:24 PM

I agree it's time we thought of something else. It's become gradually clear that the problems with the forums have leaned the new users to only be chat regulars, instead of posting in the forums. (Remember when it was the other way around? It's not a coincidence it was when the forums had no issues)

It was first ID chat, then the DDOS attacks, then the spambots / security issues, now users can't even register. All within a pretty short time span.

#13 auraplatonic

Creator of Dancing Mad

Job: Modder
Posts: 1,287

11 October 2016 - 06:59 PM

Hart-Hunt, on 11 October 2016 - 12:24 PM, said:

I am with you here. I think the best option for everyone is for the site to be fixed, but its hard to say when that could happen. Arch and FFTA are barely around and i'm sure it would take time to do whatever fixes were needed if development on the site is far behind. I guess we don't have any control on if and when this could happen.

Another option would be to make a new site? That just seems to be hard to do overall. Is anyone around that could do it? Not to mention that it's going to take alot of time and that is something that someone would typically be paid for. Then you have hosting costs and probably some other things in there that I forgot.

This is a simplified way of looking at things but its just my first reaction to the situation. Would love to hear what other people think.

#14 Trekks

Novice

Job: Member
Posts: 9

11 October 2016 - 08:17 PM

Redirect new forum registrees to Discord in order to be approved to view a channel which rotates through passwords for ID forum account creation. Most people can spot a bot. It doesn't seem anyone wants to fix the issue (or do and can't/won't), but people have also said they don't want to lose archived posts and content. There are already mods for Discord, and they could accept people at their leisure (they already do this).

#15 Kaffe Myers

Game Breaker

Job: Regulator
Posts: 2,015

11 October 2016 - 10:36 PM

Of course it would be preferable if Arch and/or FFTA came back to fix the site, but it doesn't seem to happen, and waiting without a word would most likely be a waste of time, as development has been stale for years now and there is no indication that the site will receive any attention. If it's going to happen, it will most certainly take me off guard. And I'd enjoy that! If Arch swoops in and says "I'll get right on it!", then we'd have something to go on. Before that happens, I consider it an unsubstantiated "idea".

So, how does it actually look? What reasonable options do we have?
It's more like -- either we eventually abandon the site altogether and keep to discord only, or we get a new site for us.

It costs time and money, of course, but it is not HARD. I was thinking of throwing something together and have a few people test it out, just to see if I can create a decent alternative.

#16 Hart-Hunt

Impostonator

Job: Regulator
Posts: 3,847

15 October 2016 - 07:16 AM

Well, I'd be glad to help anyway I can. Regulating, modding, brainstorming, etc etc. The thing is, we need someone who can code thea actual site.

#17 Augestein

Challenger

Job: Member
Posts: 801

15 October 2016 - 09:14 AM

Yeah, who exactly has permissions aside from Arch and FFTA? Or is that literally it? I'd hate to see the site go to the wayside.

#18 Kaffe Myers

Game Breaker

Job: Regulator
Posts: 2,015

15 October 2016 - 09:37 AM

Hart-Hunt, on 15 October 2016 - 07:16 AM, said:

Well, I'd be glad to help anyway I can. Regulating, modding, brainstorming, etc etc. The thing is, we need someone who can code thea actual site.

Augestein, on 15 October 2016 - 09:14 AM, said:

Yeah, who exactly has permissions aside from Arch and FFTA? Or is that literally it? I'd hate to see the site go to the wayside.

Considering the lack of feedback from Arch, I was thinking a new site under a new URL. New face, new name, same ol' community. It's the pragmatic approach, not the sentimental.

#19 Hart-Hunt

Impostonator

Job: Regulator
Posts: 3,847

15 October 2016 - 10:55 AM

Don't know about you, but the one thing that's kept me coming back is not "the old community". I don't talk a lot to Advent, Stann, and... whoever you think is the old community, because no one is as active as they were, me included. But the whole name "Insane Difficulty", hard mods, all of that, is what keeps me going back. I wouldn't be part of a new community.

#20 Kaffe Myers

Game Breaker

Job: Regulator
Posts: 2,015

15 October 2016 - 11:32 PM

Hart-Hunt, on 15 October 2016 - 10:55 AM, said:

Same, same, except that I don't see a URL change as a deal breaker.

ETA: I think you might confuse "same ol' community" with "same ol' faces".

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