Forum: The Racing Rules of Sailing

Please Beware of AI Bot Posts

P
Angelo Guarino
Certifications:
  • Regional Judge
  • Fleet Measurer
Dear Forum Friends,

First Happy New Year to everyone!!!  I hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable holiday and New Year season. 

I want to ask you to keep your eyes out for AI Bot posts/comments on the forum.  At first glance, these new comments contain content that seems to be about sailing and even somewhat on-topic, but when you read it more closely, you realize it really doesn't seem right. 

Along with these posts is a clickable-link, which can take you who knows where. 

We’ve been battling Bot-posts for a long time.  They would open an account and then generate a new thread.  Those attempts failed because we review and approve each new thread before it goes out on the forum.  We simply reject those posts and block the user. 

However we do not review/approve each comment before it is posted to the forum, and that is the loophole they are now using. 

These new Bot-posts are more sophisticated. They are not generating new threads, but are adding comments to existing threads and using the content of the thread as source material for the comment-text.  

I’m deleting them when I see them.  If you see one, you can help by reporting it. 

Also, please be careful on the links you click on and please be cautious if the wording of the comment seems awkward and/or you don’t recognize the forum member. 
Created: 24-Jan-05 13:36

Comments

P
Niko Kotsatos
Certifications:
  • Judge In Training
0
could you post an example if possible? Would adding more captchas help?
Created: 24-Jan-05 16:51
P
John Allan
Certifications:
  • National Judge
  • Regional Race Officer
0
Example of AI bot post.

Note the not quite RRS language, mismatch  between the posters name an  email address, lack of Race Official qualifications, and the odd embedded links.

Note them, don't click them.



Keven Tremblay
Email: leepritt964@gmail.com
 Actions

0

In sailing, an offset mark is used to set a fair course when the windward mark is close to something that could make tracking difficult. It is usually put to one side of the windward mark to make a clear border or offset zone. To finish the course properly, sailors must go around both the windward mark and the offset mark.

The offset mark's job is to make sure that sailors can safely and fairly get around the challenge or barrier. By having a separate mark, it's easy to give clear directions and keeps competitors from getting confused. The offset mark is usually put in a spot that takes the direction of the slope wind and other things into account so that it can be used as a good adjustment point.

Created: 23-Dec-22 02:10

Another example 

Franco Leannon
Email: mariellepadberg@hotmail.com
 Actions

0

In the same way, Speed Charts and Target Time Charts are useful for keeping track of and measuring success. People can set clear goals and see how they're doing over time with these tools geometry dash. These charts help you look at trends in performance, find places to improve, and make goals that are attainable.
Created: 23-Dec-21 03:40
Created: 24-Jan-06 08:11
P
Angelo Guarino
Certifications:
  • Regional Judge
  • Fleet Measurer
2
Thanks John … those 2 are great examples. 

Could you edit the examples please and redirect the links to google or something we know is safe?

Thanks - Ang

PS: Edit Comment -> Highlight Link-text -> Click link-tool in toolbar -> Delete old URL and replace with something we know. 
Created: 24-Jan-06 13:45
P
John Allan
Certifications:
  • National Judge
  • Regional Race Officer
0
Here's another example in Standard Course Diagrams

Lyly Purnell
Nationality: United States
0
The course demonstrates how Symbolic ML (SML) is used across the whole range of natural language processing (NLP) tasks.  retro bowl college
Created: Fri 08:53
Created: 24-Jan-08 20:34
P
Angelo Guarino
Certifications:
  • Regional Judge
  • Fleet Measurer
0
Thanks again John. Everyone … you can also tag the posts for us by  selecting “report”  under the “Actions” pull-down in the upper-right corner of each comment. 

Thanks again for the extra eyes!  It really does help. 

Ang
Created: 24-Jan-08 21:57
P
Angelo Guarino
Certifications:
  • Regional Judge
  • Fleet Measurer
0
BTW .. Paul added some very useful forum moderation tools which has helped us keep the bot-posts off the forums AND out of your inboxes. 

It’s a little more work for your Friendly Neighborhood Moderators … but it’s a huge gain keeping potentially dangerous links out of your email. 
Created: 24-Feb-17 13:59
P
John Allan
Certifications:
  • National Judge
  • Regional Race Officer
1
Well done guys.  Haven't seen anything like those for a while.
Created: 24-Feb-17 22:21
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