write.as devlog

Today I saw a new user account created titled fifa18fixes. Remembering the influx of malware posts we saw back in March, I knew I'd have to check on them later once they'd started posting. However, they raised flags immediately as I soon got an automated email with the subject Spam post blocked. I set these emails up a while ago to send me the entire content of the post when a user encounters our Y u no write your feelings? spam page (and their post is never published). This way I can restore their work if needed and make sure the filter isn't too strict.

I kept an eye on the logs and eventually noticed a post went through for them. I checked the API to see what they'd posted, and saw they were simply explaining how to download and install a patch (without any link to the patch). The language was ru, despite being written in English.

The spam filter currently doesn't actually run on post edits, only on initial publishing — something they must've discovered as they tried various posts to get things working. Eventually they logged out, and I saw there was now a link in the two blog posts that went through.

I added the username to our list of hellbanned users.