MediaWiki > MediaWiki security >

Ok, I give up. Earlier MediaWiki versions cannot be protected against spam. This is what I’ve been saying all along. Pathetic “wiki-think” crippled earlier versions, and PHP5 and the latest versions are required for any hope against spammers. On top of that, poor foresight means that recent versions are insecure out of the box.

Without PHP5 and various non-standard upgrades like a captcha extension, there is no way to prevent spamming. Zero. Zip. Nada.

To achieve “sensible” MediaWiki security requires so many not-officially-supported changes.

• content banning
• Bad Behavior — Seems to have issues now. =/
• captcha — WOW!

• SpamBlacklist extension — Which doesn’t really work.

Basic things like proper permissions and access control are essentially impossible. MediaWiki philosophy intentionally cripples this.

THANKS GUYS!

So I have to wait for my PHP5 upgrade to determine if it’s even possible to secure an installation without requiring a 24/7 cleanup squad.

Recent additions ∞

• MediaWiki captcha — doesn’t block non-link spam though.

• Bad Behavior is broken now..