Subj : Re: Back to Mystic
To   : n2qfd
From : fusion
Date : Wed Mar 13 2024 11:09 am

On 13 Mar 2024, n2qfd said the following...
 
 n2>  AK> I am curious about other peoples' experiences dealing with bots and w
 n2>  AK> has worked and what hasn't worked.  If I understand the Mystic bot
 n2>  AK> checker, it requires callers to press a specific key (usually Esc)
 n2>  AK> within some time after connecting, and before presenting the login
 n2>  AK> prompt - is this correct?
 n2> 
 n2> So I'm relatively new to the construction and maintenance of a BBS
 n2> system. I've been up and down a few times with my mystic setup and I to
 n2> see the gate crashers getting banned too. I ended up setting the auto IP
 n2> to some lower numbers and definitely use the human check via button
 n2> sequence if you pass that gate. 

i have a script that runs for prompt 000.. i replaced it with "!ascii" and
then created a mps script in my theme's script folder that's basically like:

Begin
  DispFile('answer') // greeting screen.. this will show either the ansi one
                     // or ascii, so you could probably put the next message
                     // there if you wanted to
  If Graphics = 0 then Begin // no ansi support detected
    Write('|CR    <spaces to center>    ANSI REQUIRED USE SOMETHING ELSE');
    HangUp;
    Exit;
  End;

  Write('|PA');        // pause for people who have ansi support before:
  DispFile('preuser'); // display ansi with input boxes or whatever
End;

the mystic line editor is so bad i don't think i'd even use mystic if i
wanted to run a board that supported ascii-only (i.e. absolutely no ansi
codes).. but i'd implement the 'press <key> to continue' thing only for them.

not only does this catch absolutely everything, but they get banned in less time than the inactivity timeout they'd normally have to hit however many times in a row.. maybe 5 or 10 seconds.

unintentionally that big research database of internet hosts picks up that
first screen and it shows cleanly on their website. not that normal people
go looking around on there for .. anything really. still kinda neat.

 n2> 
 n2> 99% of the actual traffic on my system is me... But remove SYSOP
 n2> tinkering and it quickly becomes the ravenous bot army. 
 n2> 

yeah i made it so i log in silently .. kinda feel bad for my one daily caller because my last callers screen is usually just a wall of his nickname :)

Alex

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/25 (Windows/32)
 * Origin: cold fusion - cfbbs.net - grand rapids, mi (21:1/616)

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