[Xastir] Had to tighten up security on the Wiki

[Tate B]

>From my perspective - way cool.

I run 4 Mediawiki sites and I've gone one step further by installing an
extension: ConfirmAccount -
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:ConfirmAccount

It allows anyone to request an account - but it must be approved by a
bureaucrat. Automatic account creation is disabled. The extra bit is, it
asks for a couple paragraphs of information. One is later used to start the
user's talk page, the other is private and is their opportunity to plead
their case. You can read their request and readily see if they've an honest
interest in your site or are just trying to setup a spam account. I go an
extra step on our ham sites by insisting that a call sign be provided.
Either as a/part of user name or in their biography or 'private' info
shared - someplace in their request. That way if they wish to avoid
'sharing' their call publicly, they can - but the bureaucrat that approves
the request will know that at least - there's a call sign. Helps to verify
it matches the name of the person requesting!

It can be setup to email notice of pending accounts to whoever you choose.
It also handles the email confirmation as part of the whole process. That
right there keeps most spammers otherwise occupied. If notice isn't set out
- a bureaucrat just needs to check the special page for pending requests,
now and then.

So far ::knock on wood:: it's been very effective at keeping the spammers
at bay and allowing folks to be self inclusive.

73

On Thu, Oct 16, 2014 at 3:41 PM, Curt, WE7U <curt.we7u at gmail.com> wrote:

>
> The dog/cat captcha we were using is no more.  The service we were using
> (Asirra) was discontinued earlier this month.  This made it so that NOBODY
> could edit the wiki.
>
> I switched to the simple math captcha yesterday.  That only lasted a few
> hours before I discovered 100 new accounts along with associated wiki
> pages.  After cleaning those out, I locked down the Wiki so that only
> Admins can create new Wiki accounts.
>
> If you'd like a Wiki account and can convince me that you have the best
> interests of the project in mind, send me an e-mail.  I'll create a new
> account that will require e-mail verification to activate it, then you'll
> be up and running without any captcha at all for your edits.
>
> It looks like Chuck Byam and Tom Russo can create accounts as well.  Just
> send a request to the mailing list if you forget who can help you.
>
> --
> Curt, WE7U.        http://wetnet.net/~we7u
> APRS Client Capabilities:  http://wetnet.net/~we7u/aprs_capabilities.html
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>



-- 
Casper ARC - W7VNJ
www.casperarc.net <http://casperarc.net>
<http://wyominghamcon.org>