Migration to a new server

[Clodoaldo]

The Fahkiwi is being moved to a new server at the http://new.fahwiki.net
domain.

As part of the migration to a new server the Mediawiki version had to
be upgraded from 1.7 to 1.17. That was because the old version did not
run on PHP 5.3 in the new server.

The old version will continue to run read-only on the old server under
the same fahwiki.net domain until the migration is considered done
when the fahwiki.net domain will point to the new version.

I will wait for some days or a week or two to point fahwiki.net to the
new server.

Until then it would be good if people checked for problems and
communicate them.

Regards, Clodoaldo

[Bas Couwenberg]

On Wed, Jul 27, 2011 at 6:39 PM, Clodoaldo <clodoal...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Until then it would be good if people checked for problems and
> communicate them.

The only issue I could find was the different default skin used. When
not logged in yet it used the new Modern skin, whereas my profile
still had FaHWiki configured.

Is the Modern skin the desired new default or should it also use the
traditional FaHWiki skin?

Thanks for your continued effort in maintaining the FaHWiki!

Regards,

Bas

--
Disclaimer: Any errors in spelling, tact, or fact are transmission errors.

[Clodoaldo Neto]

2011/7/27 Bas Couwenberg <linux...@gmail.com>

On Wed, Jul 27, 2011 at 6:39 PM, Clodoaldo <clodoal...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Until then it would be good if people checked for problems and
> communicate them.

The only issue I could find was the different default skin used. When
not logged in yet it used the new Modern skin, whereas my profile
still had FaHWiki configured.

Is the Modern skin the desired new default or should it also use the
traditional FaHWiki skin?

There is no desired new default. I just changed the default because the google search box is not working. I'm trying to make it work. I can change it back to the old default.

Clodoaldo
 

[Bas]

On Jul 27, 6:39 pm, Clodoaldo <clodoaldo.pi...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Until then it would be good if people checked for problems and
> communicate them.

Is there some way to improve the validation of new user accounts?

I don't think any of the new accounts created since the upgrade are by
real people. They're most probably dormant spam accounts.

Before the upgrade we didn't have such influx of new (spam) accounts,
so maybe a plugin is missing?

Regards,

Bas

[Clodoaldo Neto]

2011/9/3 Bas <linux...@gmail.com>

On Jul 27, 6:39 pm, Clodoaldo <clodoaldo.pi...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Until then it would be good if people checked for problems and
> communicate them.

Is there some way to improve the validation of new user accounts?

There is this extension:

http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:ConfirmAccount

It will require the new account to be approved by a bureaucrat. I'm not sure it is a good idea. I mean, how will someone know for sure it is an human creating that account? Just by the account name? What do you think? Any suggestion?
 

I don't think any of the new accounts created since the upgrade are by
real people. They're most probably dormant spam accounts.

Before the upgrade we didn't have such influx of new (spam) accounts,
so maybe a plugin is missing?

There were no plugins preventing account creation. I have this set:

$wgEmailAuthentication = true;
$wgEmailConfirmToEdit = true;

I think the new server topic attracted the attention of the robots hence the new bot registrations.

Regards, Clodoaldo
 

Regards,

Bas

[Bas Couwenberg]

On Sun, Sep 11, 2011 at 4:05 PM, Clodoaldo Neto
<clodoaldo....@gmail.com> wrote:
> 2011/9/3 Bas <linux...@gmail.com>
>>
>> On Jul 27, 6:39 pm, Clodoaldo <clodoaldo.pi...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> > Until then it would be good if people checked for problems and
>> > communicate them.
>>
>> Is there some way to improve the validation of new user accounts?
>
> There is this extension:
>
> http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:ConfirmAccount
>
> It will require the new account to be approved by a bureaucrat. I'm not sure
> it is a good idea. I mean, how will someone know for sure it is an human
> creating that account? Just by the account name? What do you think? Any
> suggestion?
>

That's a good question. I haven't blocked the other newly created
accounts because I could not be certain that it was not a legitimate
user. As soon as they posted crap there was evidence.

RBLs work pretty well for SMTP, preventive blocking of IPs may work
for wikipedia too if the hosts registering accounts are limited.

Customizing the account creation process is probably the best way to
go to stop the bots that know how to automatically create accounts,
differing from the way wikipedia does it will require bot authors to
customize specifically for FAH Wiki.

Maybe something simple as a hidden form field inserted by javascript
which most bots can't interpret.

>> I don't think any of the new accounts created since the upgrade are by
>> real people. They're most probably dormant spam accounts.
>>
>> Before the upgrade we didn't have such influx of new (spam) accounts,
>> so maybe a plugin is missing?
>
> There were no plugins preventing account creation. I have this set:
>
> $wgEmailAuthentication = true;
> $wgEmailConfirmToEdit = true;
>
> I think the new server topic attracted the attention of the robots hence the
> new bot registrations.
>
> Regards, Clodoaldo

Regards,

Bas

--

[Clodoaldo Neto]

2011/9/11 Bas Couwenberg <linux...@gmail.com>

On Sun, Sep 11, 2011 at 4:05 PM, Clodoaldo Neto
<clodoaldo....@gmail.com> wrote:
> 2011/9/3 Bas <linux...@gmail.com>
>>
>> On Jul 27, 6:39 pm, Clodoaldo <clodoaldo.pi...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> > Until then it would be good if people checked for problems and
>> > communicate them.
>>
>> Is there some way to improve the validation of new user accounts?
>
> There is this extension:
>
> http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:ConfirmAccount
>
> It will require the new account to be approved by a bureaucrat. I'm not sure
> it is a good idea. I mean, how will someone know for sure it is an human
> creating that account? Just by the account name? What do you think? Any
> suggestion?
>

That's a good question. I haven't blocked the other newly created
accounts because I could not be certain that it was not a legitimate
user. As soon as they posted crap there was evidence.

RBLs work pretty well for SMTP, preventive blocking of IPs may work
for wikipedia too if the hosts registering accounts are limited.

Customizing the account creation process is probably the best way to
go to stop the bots that know how to automatically create accounts,
differing from the way wikipedia does it will require bot authors to
customize specifically for FAH Wiki.

For now I added a DNS black list. If it is not enough I will go to the form field creation.

$wgEnableDnsBlacklist =    true;
$wgDnsBlacklistUrls = array('http.dnsbl.sorbs.net');

Clodoaldo
 

[Nicolas Vervelle]

Hi,

I had also problems with spams when I upgraded Jmol wiki.

I set up a few features to make spamming a lot more difficult.

New accounts are still created daily by bots, but almost no more spamming.

I have setup the following things :

• Restricted page creation and minor edits to autoconfirmed users.
• Added the Force Preview extension, but with preview mandatory only if you're not autoconfirmed
• Added the SpamBlackList extension with 3 external lists (Meta, en and chongqed) and 1 internal list
• Added the ConfirmEdit extension with ReCaptcha

With these settings, it seems ok for several months.

Nico

[Clodoaldo Neto]

2011/9/11 Bas Couwenberg <linux...@gmail.com>

On Sun, Sep 11, 2011 at 4:05 PM, Clodoaldo Neto
<clodoaldo....@gmail.com> wrote:
> 2011/9/3 Bas <linux...@gmail.com>
>>
>> On Jul 27, 6:39 pm, Clodoaldo <clodoaldo.pi...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> > Until then it would be good if people checked for problems and
>> > communicate them.
>>
>> Is there some way to improve the validation of new user accounts?
>
> There is this extension:
>
> http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:ConfirmAccount
>
> It will require the new account to be approved by a bureaucrat. I'm not sure
> it is a good idea. I mean, how will someone know for sure it is an human
> creating that account? Just by the account name? What do you think? Any
> suggestion?
>

That's a good question. I haven't blocked the other newly created
accounts because I could not be certain that it was not a legitimate
user. As soon as they posted crap there was evidence.

RBLs work pretty well for SMTP, preventive blocking of IPs may work
for wikipedia too if the hosts registering accounts are limited.

Customizing the account creation process is probably the best way to
go to stop the bots that know how to automatically create accounts,
differing from the way wikipedia does it will require bot authors to
customize specifically for FAH Wiki.

Maybe something simple as a hidden form field inserted by javascript
which most bots can't interpret.

I think I will have the time today to try something along this path.

Clodoaldo
 

[Clodoaldo Neto]

2011/9/29 Clodoaldo Neto <clodoaldo....@gmail.com>

I'm having difficulty in implementing the anti bot code in the wiki. I have already asked for help:

http://stackoverflow.com/q/7613286/131874

Clodoaldo