Anti spam program - discussion

[Kijya]

Anti spam program - discussion

I once said this:

The only automation program I could ever "consider" making would be an auto squelch program to rid users from those annoying spam bots ... :whistling:

And when I got on a few days ago, I realized just how bad it has become these days ... so the thought once again crossed my mind.

So ... I continued sitting down and drew the outline of a program. Just as with adria it would need to be within the limit of my ability as a programmer, and it must be acceptable for use on these boards.

Resulting idea:

Name: Willowisp (Will obsessively wipe spam :whistling
Function: Repeat "clear messages" while casp/num/scroll lock is active.

Basically just a small program that simulates pressing a key on the keyboard repeatedly if a specified lock key is active, that's actually all it has to do to work. Make it a key that doesn't have any functionality in the program interface, like "pause/break", and it would cause minimal play interference. Some player controlled settings would be which lock key to use and the timing between the key-presses + timing in between how often it checks the lock-key status.

Personally I would think that this solution should be acceptable. I could be wrong but no matter how I put it I cannot see how to use this type of program to "cheat" on d2. That is unless you count the fact that your screen is clear of spam as an "unfair advantage" ...
From blizzards standpoint I think it should be just as ok as manually spamming the key is. From a network traffic optimization standpoint it makes no sense alerting the server that you've cleared the screen from messages so hopefully it wouldn't bother their servers at all ...

I've PMed the admins for their opinion on the matter, and their reply will be the deciding factor if this will be made or not. In the meantime I'd however like to hear some more opinions, both in regards to the planned features and the legality of such a program.

 

[Technomancer]

Re: Anti spam program - discussion

I think something like that could be really nice. However, the side effect is that it would disable ALL incoming communication, so you could only use it while you were expecting NO conversation, like when following bot runs.

It could still be useful, since I've died a couple times trying desperately to hunt for the 'n' key. :whistling:

 

[Kijya]

Re: Anti spam program - discussion

Indeed, assuming that it uses a key like pause the only way to chat ingame with it on would be in channels and while you have the message log up. If it used n then it would interfere with chatting altogether.

 

[hannesdelbeke]

Re: Anti spam program - discussion

you could also do it so that a certain key activates it, and pressing the same key again deactivates it
so instead of a while hold key, you do press key and then turn take a variabel, i guess boolean, and if the variabel is true, then press n, else not

 

[Kijya]

Re: Anti spam program - discussion

To do it that way I would need to add a keyboard hook so that the program can notice when the button is pressed. With one of the lock keys I can just check its status in regular intervals, which is a lot simpler. I was thinking that I could throw this program together in an hour or so. :whistling:

 

[Gorny1]

Re: Anti spam program - discussion

Can you throw something together to stop forum spam bots? :azn:

 

[nurman]

Re: Anti spam program - discussion

I knew you were going to suggest that Gorny

 

[Kijya]

Re: Anti spam program - discussion

Dunno, does the forum have a clear messages button?


Serious answer: My experience in the commonly used programming languages for the web is a bit lacking :whistling:

 

[Gorny1]

Re: Anti spam program - discussion

Heh, actually it would need to be a way to stop spam bots from creating accounts.

 

[Feysal]

Re: Anti spam program - discussion

Perhaps some sort of CAPTCHA for registering new accounts? I've no idea if this has been tried, it's been a long time since I joined, and I've had no reason to know how registration works since.

Though I guess you could work some code that would identify bots by the user agent in the HTTP header, and reject their access to whatever page is used to create accounts. Don't know how practical that would be, there could be a way too long list of user agents.

 

[Gorny1]

Re: Anti spam program - discussion

Captcha ssems to have failed/been hacked. I've seen reports of it on the internet as other sites are being invaded by bots as well.

 

[mephiztophelez]

Re: Anti spam program - discussion

while i like the concept, it's still a Third Party Program and it's use on the realms will breach the b.net ToU and EULA.

 

[Shaigon]

Re: Anti spam program - discussion

It doesn't even need to be a program really...just something you can turn off/on like /dnd. Obviously you would need to ignore all in-game messages and not just spam bots, but I'd be ok with that in most situations.

I mean let's be honest the in game spam is pretty out of control...some bots spam upwards of 20 lines when they join the game. So when you have 4 or 5 spam bots join...it's pretty annoying. By the time you squelch them all they're already leaving and more are on the way.

If Blizzard implemented an in-game command such as /squelch all, that would IMO solve the issue. If you aren't bothered by the spam, you don't need to use it...if you are bothered, use it. The command should only apply to the game you are currently in, so you can still get whispers from friends who aren't in the game, etc.

 

[Kijya]

Re: Anti spam program - discussion

Of course the best thing would be if blizzard made a system to fix all this botting, or add a user maintained chat filter option so we could add our own criteria and auto-squelch those caught by it.

This thread was about what I could do as a programmer, which isn't much, but I had an idea that I thought would work and that in my mind seamed semi legit. That said I fear this was a flop, mephiztophelez may be right and it's simply beyond what is acceptable.

I still have no reply from any of the admins, and they may have forgotten about my pm by now, think I'll just let this idea sink. :whistling:

 

[mephiztophelez]

Re: Anti spam program - discussion

Of course the best thing would be if blizzard made a system to fix all this botting

it would be nice, but i doubt it'll ever happen.

D2 was coded up many moons ago and was designed around people connecting to battlenet over a dialup intarwebz link (the 56k modem being the standard connex when D2 was developed).

unfortunatly, to make major changes to D2 essentially involves recoding large chunks of the game from scratch.

i'd rather Blizzard put that development effort and investment into D3 thanks all the same.

D2 is like that old, favourite concert T-Shirt you just can't bear to toss, even though it's threadbare, full of holes and has an odd smell from the time the dog puked on it.

That said I fear this was a flop, mephiztophelez may be right and it's simply beyond what is acceptable.

fortunatly or unfortunatly, the ToU and EULA leave zero wiggle room. if it's not available from Blizzard as an official release, it breaches the B.Net ToU.

 

[Kijya]

Re: Anti spam program - discussion

fortunatly or unfortunatly, the ToU and EULA leave zero wiggle room. if it's not available from Blizzard as an official release, it breaches the B.Net ToU.

Actually they do afaik, they allow programs that don't affect the gameplay. At least that was the case when I read up on it while programming adria ... has it changed?

In any case, was planning to just let this sink, but got a admin green signal this morning. I've gone and uploaded it to the files forum. Let's move the discussion to that thread and let this one die.

Program thread:
http://www.purediablo.com/forums/showthread.php?p=7781106



[SIZE=+1]Thread closed[/SIZE]

 

[zarniwoop]

Re: Anti spam program - discussion

I long ago accepted that in order to play D2 and not hate it, you pretty much have to play in passworded games only.

This would be wonderful, but my question is, how is this going to avoid being picked up by blizzard? Their code doesn't test whether its harmless or not, just whether its resident in memory and interacting with D2's memory space from my understanding.

 

[Gorny1]

Re: Anti spam program - discussion

I really love it when people say that their thread is closed.

Only we mods have the authority and ability to do this

 

[Kijya]

Re: Anti spam program - discussion

At least I can try ... sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't.




Zarniwoop, it doesn't interact with d2 in such a direct manner, it just simulates a keystroke, regardless what program is in focus. I do not know how warden works, and I'm not really actively trying to sneak by blizzards hack detection. My plan was just to make a small utility to keep the spam away while waiting for blizzard to do a proper fix, I'm not going to invest much time into this program.

 

[Technomancer]

Re: Anti spam program - discussion

It sounds like it's just a stand-alone background program that sends an "n" key command, or whatever is chosen, to windows at a specified interval. That wouldn't impact Diablo at all. Windows would receive a key command, it would end up dispatching that key to whichever program is listening to keyboard input at the time (D2 if open and has focus), and then D2 just interprets it as if that key on the keyboard was pressed.

It shouldn't have any connection to D2 at all. If you opened up Notepad while this program was running, it would type "n" at each interval. It's basically a virtual keyboard controller. It would be no more relevant to Warden than if Notepad, Firefox, or a calculator were open in the background. I'm running XP, so I don't know if it'd be the same for other versions, but go to Start Menu->Accessories->Accessibility->On-Screen Keyboard for an example of the principal.

Of course, that's all assuming I've interpreted Kijya's approach correctly. I don't read VB. Very clever and well done! I tried it and it works fine!

Edit: Hmm, this also explains part of why bots are so hard to track down. I just don't really understand how they get feedback from the game itself, that seems easier to sniff out for something like Warden.

Edit 2: I don't really care how, and we probably shouldn't try to get into that conversation.