[Python-Dev] Summary of Tracker Issues

[Andrew McNamara]

>> I think a single-click button "Spammer"
>> should allow committers to lock an account and hide all messages
>> and files that he sent, but that still requires somebody to implement
>> it.
>
>I'd expect that to be pretty effective -- like graffiti artists,
>spammers want their work to be seen, and a site that quickly removes
>them will not be worth the effort for them.

Unfortunately, the spammers are using automated tools to locate,
register on and post to victim sites. The tools are distributed (running
on compromised PCs) and massively parallel, so they really don't care
that some of their posts are never seen.

I'm reluctant to mention the name of one particular tool I'm aware
of, but as well as the above, it also has OCR to defeat CAPTCHA, and
automatically creates throw-away e-mail accounts with a range of free
web-mail providers for registration purposes.

-- 
Andrew McNamara, Senior Developer, Object Craft
http://www.object-craft.com.au/