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Quote from a previous article (so I wouldn't attribute all 8% to bots): We’re experimentally removing CAPTCHA and using other methods for spambot detection.
by extrapolate 12y ago
Quote from a previous article (so I wouldn't attribute all 8% to bots):
We’re experimentally removing CAPTCHA and using other methods for spambot detection.
We know it’s annoying for humans, and are starting to worry the bots are actually enjoying it.
Plus, our visual CAPTCHA was failing on accessibility for non-visual redditors.
- AdamGibbins 12y agoSorry, to be clear, I wasn't attributing the lack of CAPTCHA to bots. Rather the improved usability and increased human sign-up rate to the removal of a painful CAPTCHA.
- jbeja 12y agoWhat other method for spambots could be used?
- bobbles 12y agoIn addition to plenty of stuff I cant think of, you could see: 1) High percentage posts flagged as 'reported' 2) High percentage posts flagged as 'spam' 3) High volume of posts containing URLs 4) Posts containing identified spam messages (like how an email spam filter may work) 5) Multiple accounts from similar/same IPs Almost all spam in a subreddit I mod for is from accounts < week old. (I believe there may already be a limit on how much you can post after registration though)
- ubernostrum 12y agoI mod a subreddit with >100k subscribers. We use AutoModerator and have it set to remove anything posted by an account less than a day old. It catches some false positives from people who sign up just to post something, but it's also drastically decreased the spam. Most spambots are still at the "sign up and then blast shotgun-loads of posts before the algorithms catch you" level of behavior.
- tokenizerrr 12y agoDo you review the removals and undo those for legitimate users? If not, wow. Talk about being hostile towards new users.
- jobposter1234 12y agoIn terms of community building, that might not be the worst thing in the world, especially if the community objective is quality over quantity.
- ubernostrum 12y agoMost people never notice. The ones who do get an explanation of what happened when they ask about it in modmail. It can be rough on a brand-new account that wanted to jump into a discussion right away, but at the same time the quantity of spam hitting your subreddit once you pass the 100k mark is just ludicrous, and this is by far the most effective way to stop it.
- extrapolate 12y agoIIRC they probably mean to detect them through how they operate on the website, rather than how they register (tracking navigation, how they upvote/downvote, and what content they post).
- eli 12y agoSimply testing for javascript still works pretty well for drive-by bots. For ones targeting Reddit specifically the captcha probably wasn't doing much anyway.
- UrMomReadsHN 12y agoAdding a simple honeypot would probably cut spam in half.