New Website !!

Hello,

I'm really new here, so perhaps I missed something. But it seems that the wiki is not working. At least it isn't for me. I get the following message when I go to caelinux.org:

Internal error

Redirect loop detected!

This means the wiki got confused about what page was requested; this sometimes happens when moving a wiki to a new server or changing the server configuration.

Your web server was detected as possibly not supporting URL path components (PATH_INFO) correctly; check your LocalSettings.php for a customized $wgArticlePath setting and/or toggle $wgUsePathInfo to true.

jcugnoni wrote: Hi Claws,

yes, I agree with you, the spam has reached such a level that it cannot be controlled anymore...

I have implemented all the available means to my knowledge to stop the spam (captcha + email confirmation + a huge spammer IP db and filter), but it looks like the spam is submitted by real humans... and not bots. In that case no captcha system or other system can hold.

So until the situation gets more relaxed, I have decided to block new user registration. If the spammers submit modifications in the standard way, it should vanish rapidly. If the spammers have installed a backdoor or have cracked a password, then it will be clear.

Thanks you so much for your time spent on cleaning the wiki... I know it's boring and frustrating to see that it goes on whatever we do.

Joel

Stumbled on this thread: I think the problem with all these Captcha-solutions is that they rely on something that is taught to everyone in school: basic arithmetics and reading and the people who do this spamming learned that (don't get me wrong: the guys doing this are probably sitting in some low-wage country doing this kind of work for ridiculous amounts of money - and probably they're paid per site. Nevertheless: we don't want them to succeed).

I had a similar spammer-problem at openfoamwiki.net/ and installed the usual Captcha-stuff (calculation too) but nothing worked. The thing that stopped them was that I installed an extension that asked a question to which somebody who did the tutorials for OpenFOAM knew the answers (the answers are single letters: so there is no room for typos). I guess the reason is that answering these questions requires some research and these guys want to get as much done in as little time as possible. So they think "If I'm lucky I find the answer in 10 minutes. In that time I can spam 2 other Wikis. Lets drop this one"

Of course this works best if you have a very narrow user-base where you can assume that everyone knows the answers without having to think too much (because otherwise you'd drive valid contributors away)

Bernhard