[Noisebridge-discuss] Wiki spam

[Leif Ryge]

On 11/18/2010 02:43 PM, L E wrote:
> ----- Original Message ----
>
>> From: Sai<noisebridge at saizai.com>
>> FWIW I fully agree w/ Leif there. It's a good thing to lower the
>> barrier to  constructive participation as much as possible.
>>
>> This should be handleable  with some sort of content based filtration /
>> extra CAPTCHA trigger.
>>
>> -  Sai
>
> I realize now that I forgot to reply-all my common-login reasoning,
> so for archival purposes, here it is:
>
> If the correlation of people-on-the-NB-list with
> people-who-edit-the-wiki-in-good-faith is 100%, then there's no _practical_
> reason not to require login to edit.   Registration requires CAPTCHA (once).
> Nobody has to use their real name to edit the wiki, and it provides _better_
> anonymity than IP addresses to all the other regular users.
>
> In the spirit of honoring anonymity, while blocking spammers, we could offer a
> single common username for noisebridgers who choose anonymity to use: anon,
> password anon.  Or nb, password nb.
>
> Note that while I support the _goal_ of assuming the good faith of everyone,
> there is still a lock on the front door of the building.  But all paid members
> get a physical key to it if they want.  This doesn't seem different, to me, than
>
> requiring login, but offering a common login for paid members to use who choose
> to remain anonymous while editing.
>
> - Lex

As has been pointed out, we really aren't talking about anonymity here 
at all - we're talking about non-logged-in edits, which actually 
publicly reveal more about the editor (their IP address) than a 
logged-in account with a pseudonyms does.

Reiterating points from my previous message:

1) Requiring a login prevents many edits. I have an account, but I don't 
want to use it (or make another) on every public terminal I edit the 
wiki from.

2) Requiring a login does not stop spam, unless you also make it 
prohibitively difficult to create an account (which would exacerbate 
problem #1).

~leif

p.s.: Has anyone seen my Voight-Kampff machine around the space? I seem 
to have misplaced it.