[Note: This is now included in Wikka by default starting with Wikka 1.1.3.1]

A simple workaround discussed with DreckFehler (See comments in: WakkaWiki) to avoid massive linking from spambots. The link to the referrers page is only visible to registered users (and not to search engines). Make the following modification in footer.php:

original:

<a href="<?php echo $this->href("referrers") ?>"
title="Click to view a list of URLs referring to this page.">Referrers</a> ::

modified:

<?php echo ($this->GetUser() ? "<a href='".$this->href("referrers")."'>Referrers</a> :: " : "") ?>


-- DarTar

Thanks. -- JsnX

Yeah, thanks a lot.

Additionally, I added

if ($this->GetUser()) {

to the top and

} else {
	print("<em>You have to be logged in to access referrer information.</em>");
}

to the bottom (at the appropriate places, of course ;) of both referrers.php and referrers_sites.php (handlers/page/, Wakka 0.1.2) to generally prevent access to these pages for beings who are not logged in.

--RalfLehmann, 2004-08-07
Comments
Comment by DarTar
2004-09-07 10:23:01
I'm getting a small but increasing number of fake subscriptions by spammers to one of my wikka-based sites, although the referrers are invisible: is anyone else experiencing the same problem? Can someone explain me the reasons of spammers' interest to get listed as fake users on a wiki?
Comment by JavaWoman
2004-09-26 04:29:18
Just guessing (trying to get into the head of a spammer): if you can create an account, then you can also create your own page and stuff it with links; you could even write a script to do both (spammers are evil). While they may be misunderstanding what a Wiki is and not realize how easy it is to remove such a page, if the Wiki is active and actively being indexed, it could still result in a number of incoming links for "promoted" sites at least for a while.

A possible solution (though a little less friendly for new users and not 100% watertight) would be to require confirmation for signing up by sending a comfirmation email with a key to "activate" an account. It would at the same time validate the email address given on registration. This could be implemented as an option to be turned on/off by admins.

Another possible solution I've seen is to lead all external links through a (Google) redirecter; I'm not sure whether this really prevents Google to index such a page - it might do so but only if Google's own edirecter is used and wouldn't stop bots from other SEs (and vice versa) since most bots are clever enough to follow redirection if done at the server.
Comment by DarTar
2004-09-26 22:50:27
I think the email validation is an interesting extension. Still, in my case, new userpages are not indexed by search engines (unless they are linked from the public pages of the site, which I control), so it is no use to register as a new user for creating spam...
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