Scratch

Same.

How about users not older than 14 days be able to post images? Like you said, most spammers won't wait 14 Days.

Composer wrote:

Same.

How about users not older than 14 days be able to post images? Like you said, most spammers won't wait 14 Days.

This has been suggested before; I guess we'll see how things work out.

What will stop the spammer from finding ways around that like the horrible ACII art they posted?

Paradox wrote:

Silverspines wrote:

What will stop the spammer from finding ways around that like the horrible ACII art they posted?

Maybe we should just ban text, altogether. That'll fix the problem

Hmm. How about just the "Code Boxes"? The inappropriate ACII art they posted would have been impossible without them.

Silverspines wrote:

Paradox wrote:

Silverspines wrote:

What will stop the spammer from finding ways around that like the horrible ACII art they posted?

Maybe we should just ban text, altogether. That'll fix the problem

Hmm. How about just the "Code Boxes"? The inappropriate ACII art they posted would have been impossible without them.

NOOO! NOT THE CODE BOXES! 
Once this spammer gives up (which I sense they won't do easily), everything will be restored to normal without consequence.

The TBG got hit as well. >_>

Was the IP(s) close to [IP removed by moderator]?

Last edited by coolstuff (2010-06-11 22:47:00)

Oops!        

First of all, my heartfelt thanks and congratulations to the Scratch Team for their nuanced response, first reacting immediately to a crisis with an easy but broad fix, and then working to develop better solutions instead of just sticking with the easy one.  What an amazing group of people!

Second, although all my sympathy is with the people saying "let each individual decide on his/her own protection level," this leaves out of consideration the fact that kids have parents, and it's really important that the Scratch site keep its reputation for absolute safety -- no viruses, no *, etc.  For some kids it may well come down to no pictures on forums versus no Scratch at all.

(Although, in a slight digression, parents and Scratch Teamers have a different idea of what the real Internet dangers are from my own.  As we speak, the NoScript plugin in my browser is preventing the Scratch site from letting google-analytics at my computer, a much more serious threat imho than any amount of pornography.  But that's a different discussion.)

And thirdly, a request.  When things calm down, could we have a better code blocks solution?  The existing one doesn't actually look much like Scratch code, and it randomly turns things I type into block pieces even though I didn't say [  blocks  ].  What I want is a way to control-click/right-click on a script and say "upload this script to My Stuff" and then be able to embed those pictures in posts.

Fourthly, about ascii art.  All of these technological solutions are temporary and ad hoc.  It's like banning liquids in luggage because one person tried a terrorism scheme involving liquids, and then x-raying shoes (but not belt buckles) because one person tried a scheme with blades in his heels.  It's relatively easy to build a highly secure computer system if security is first priority, like you're building nuclear weapons on it or something.  You don't put the computer on the Internet, for starters -- you make people physically come to the computer to work.  And then there are equally unpleasant things you can build into the software to help.  But to build an open system that's totally secure is hopeless.  There will be crises like this, and a few kids will get a little excited before we have a repeat of locking down and then gradually easing off.

The closest thing to a solution will probably be to track down the bad guys and sic MIT's lawyers on them.

Azzeren wrote:

bharvey wrote:

The closest thing to a solution will probably be to track down the bad guys and sic MIT's lawyers on them.

First good idea. Bring down the mighty wrath of the MIT lawyers.

That might be going a little too far.

Solarbuddy wrote:

joeisawesome wrote:

littletonkslover wrote:

I protest. Just because a few people abuse the system it must be shut down completely?

It's like saying you can't own kitchen knives because some use them to murder.


A low percentage of people neglect the image system, I say we turn it back on.

I agree with Tonkie.

And if imgs are disabled, why are the sigs fine?

I agree

hmnwilson wrote:

You can't get a signature until your account is 14 days old, and most spammers won't wait that long.

hmnwilson wrote:

One problem, the spammer's most likely using a proxy so they can't get their IP banned or traced. That's why their IP keeps changing.

That makes banning them a lot more difficult...

Whats more likely is they have a dynamic IP address. All they will have to do is reset there router after a good days spaming. If it were possible as I have said before they should block MAC address of the offenders.

But it wouldn't be the Scratch team's fault that these images are being shown to kids. It's like a view at your own risk thing. Even though I'm over the age of 13, to be completely honest with you, I would choose NOT to view these images.

It's happening again!

And his username is still shown in Newest Forum User, since it is a rather rude username I suggest making a new account and logging on... So his username won't show...