h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I noticed that there are a staggeringly huge number of people on line (far more than when the default size of the 'whos online' window was long enough for about half of those listed) (Ok, so I have a five-digit user ID, from rather a long time ago).

Most of the new users in the past week have nicknames of roughly the same length, and their user pages are queued for moderation.

I have also noticed that a number of times, I have had to log in via the 'secret question' method, due to my password being entered incorrectly several times.

All of this leads me to suspect that some kind of automated sign-up/password-cracking tool is being directed at h2g2, and possibly bbc.co.uk as a whole, probably for malicious, if not childish purposes.

My questions are:
1) Am I right in thinking that there has been an upsurge in automated sign-ins and password-guessing attacks? Would the editors care to discuss this or reveal whereabouts on the net these attacks are coming from?
2) Is the moderation queue is getting very long and unmanageable? If so, is it time for a distributed moderation effort, possibly with metamoderation, to be designed (similar to Slashdot's moderation methods, where moderations are moderated, and good moderators get to continue moderating, and bad moderators are weeded out)? (Ok, so I have not fully read the way moderation works, and I'm sure the BBC are probably keen to keep this sort of thing 'in house')
3) Are all new users subject to some form of automatic probationary pre-moderation?

Happy New Year

Let's not get carried away, eh?

We don't pre-moderate new users on h2g2, but if people post whose home site is post-moderated, or who have come from Messageboards where they don't have full Personal Spaces, their Personal Spaces will look like they are on pre-moderation. Likewise, if they've converted their Personal Space to h2g2 from a site that has closed, the old site will be on pre-moderation, which might affect their interaction on h2g2. This is something we can look into after 4 January, if the people concerned contact us via the h2g2.support email address (which ends @bbc.co.uk).

The Moderation queue is, if anything, quieter at the moment as fewer people are posting. The Moderators work 24/7 though, so they'd still be able to work through it. The only issues might come from other DNA-based areas, such as certain messageboards.

Hope this helps,

Jimster

Thanks for the quick reply (I don't suppose you can get my heating going too? It's as cold in here as it is down at the potting shed at Fratton Park; just got back after a week away visiting folks)

I know we like to think of ourselves as miracle workers, but I don't think even WE can manage that one...!

Paully

Maybe pay the bill first................


.......................back, do what Fratton Park

> do what Fratton Park

Lose, mainly.

I operate the betting shop in the North Stand there. Pompey are favourites tomorrow for the match against Fulham, who have more injury problems than Portsmouth, however, I'm skeptical. We shall see.

Jim

I think you guys will win, give the ball to Lua Lua he will do the business for you

Actually, we gave it to O'Neil. He seems to know where the goal is.

Er, have you two wandered in from another conversation? It doesn't seem to be on topic....

Hi Jimster - happy new year! What are you doing working today?

I was just wondering about the possibility of the 'Who's Online' thingy ever becoming h2g2 specific again.


az

Appologies, I'll keep the Pompey stuff to my journal.
(And I know what it's like working on New Year's Day, I just did...)

Hi Azahar - it's on our to do list for this year, hopefully very soon. But it will require a bit of development time, which is a bit rare just now. Don't fret though, we've not forgotten