The Atari Compendium/The Atari Compendium (Toad Computers) (1994).iso/files/umich/telecomm/fnordadl/fn132src.zoo/ref-man/ruggie.tex

Text File | 1991-09-02 | 28KB | 620 lines

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@comment $Id: ruggie.tex,v 2.2 91/09/01 23:04:40 royce Exp $

@node Anti-Ruggie Measures, Shells vs. the Desktop, Doors, Top
@chapter Anti-Ruggie Measures
@cindex Anti-ruggie measures

@cindex Ruggie
@dfn{Ruggie} is short for ``rug-rat''; it's a somewhat mutated term
which now refers to any brat, twit, twerp, loser, wanker, nud, idiot, len,
moron, or generally, any walking waste of protoplasm.  These types of
people (often, though by no means exclusively, kids who've
just been given their first modem for Christmas) may suddenly spring up
and begin to plague your @sc{bbs}.  They may do any one of a number of things,
from logging in and asking stupid questions, to putting drivel in the
discussion rooms, to strewing megabytes of profanity all over your board.
If they do the former, then you may simply want to take them aside, so to
speak, and answer their questions.  If they do something like the latter,
then read on.

@node Philosophy, Secret Weapons, Anti-Ruggie Measures, Anti-Ruggie Measures
@section Philosophy

``But first, a brief philosophical interlude.''  The developers
of Fnordadel have been running conversation-only @sc{bbs}es for a
number of years (the Round Table, Royce's board, went up in
August of 1984, and Secret Service, Adrian's board, has been around
since March of 1986).  In all that time, a philosophy of ``open''
Sysoping has prevailed.  That is, we've always disliked the
validation style of @sc{bbs}es---the kind where you have to leave
ten pages of personal information before the Sysop will grant
you access to his system.  We prefer to run systems where
anyone can create a new account at any time, without Sysoply
intervention, and then dive into most of what goes on with the system.

The problem with this, of course, is that undesirables
tend to slip in.  Any ruggie can call in and leave his drivel
or profanity at any time, and there ain't much that the Sysop
can do about it.  About the most he can do, on a standard
Citadel, is delete the offending messages as soon as he sees
them, hopefully before they got sent anywhere if the rooms affected
are networked, and pray the ruggie doesn't call back.  Or he can turn
his system into a ``closed'', validation-style system, which may
not be an attractive option.  It certainly isn't to us.

Here in Edmonton, we've had a pretty determined gang
of ruggies plaguing the boards for a couple of years, and it
was primarily these twits who prompted the development of
Fnordadel's anti-ruggie features which aren't found on other
Citadels.

@emph{Please note:} no security measures
ever devised can stop a determined incursion, so we advise you
to be pretty low-key about what security measures you may have in
place, to avoid tempting people to break them.

@node Secret Weapons, Ruggie Hints and Notes, Philosophy, Anti-Ruggie Measures
@section The Secret Weapons

Here, then, are the tools at your disposal.  Use any
combination that works for you without causing your regular users
undue discomfort.

@node Paranoid mode, Messages per room per call, Secret Weapons, Secret Weapons
@subsection Paranoid mode
@cindex Paranoid mode
@cindex Getname mode

Standard Fnordadel requires that users login
using their password only; if people are intelligent in
choosing their passwords, this works fine and is quicker
than having to type in one's user name as well.  Unfortunately,
many people are not the least bit intelligent when it
comes to password choosing (or anything else, for that
matter), so it leaves a resourceful ruggie with some
golden opportunities to hack someone's account and cause
chaos.

If you define the variable @code{#getname} to have the value
@vindex getname
@samp{1} in your @file{ctdlcnfg.sys} (referred to in the literature as
``paranoid mode'', for hysterical@dots{} err@dots{} historical reasons),
Fnordadel will ask for both a name and a
password when logging users in.  This means that a ruggie
has to guess not only a user's password, but to which user
the password belongs.  This is pretty tough.

@node Messages per room per call, Mail messages per call, Paranoid mode, Secret Weapons
@subsection Messages per room per call
@cindex Limits, messages per room per call

A favourite ruggie trick is to use an automated
macro to enter one message (frequently something short but
obscene) into one or more rooms, over and over and over
again; the goal being to scroll all the real messages out
of your message base.

To combat this, Fnordadel allows you to define
the maximum number of messages which any given user can
enter in any given room during any one login session.
(The @code{Mail>} room is an exception; see the next section.)
Simply define the @file{ctdlcnfg.sys} variable @code{#msgenter} to be
@vindex msgenter
your desired maximum.  For most systems, a number like @samp{4}
or @samp{5} is pretty good; it allows the legitimate users
plenty of leeway for verbosity, while helping to contain
the damage done by a vandal.  Deleting 4 or 5 messages
from a few rooms is much better than deleting hundreds,
or having to nuke your message base because it's full of
``Sysop Sucks Eggs'' messages.

Setting this parameter to @samp{0} means there is no
limit on the number of messages enterable by anybody.
Even if the value is non-zero, all Aides, Co-Sysops and the Sysop are
exempt from the limit.  Hopefully you won't all run wild.

@node Mail messages per call, Calls per day, Messages per room per call, Secret Weapons
@subsection Mail messages per call
@cindex Limits, mail messages per call

The parameter @code{#mailenter} in @file{ctdlcnfg.sys}
@vindex mailenter
works exactly like its counterpart @code{msgenter} described above.
It controls only the @code{Mail>} room, however, and thus allows you
to independently alter users' use of private mail.  Not only
can this be used to stop vandals from flooding your decent
users with junk mail, it can be used to control non-ruggies
who may be a bit too enthusiastically posting private messages.

Again, setting this parameter to @samp{0} means there is no
limit on the number of messages enterable by anybody.  Aides, Co-Sysops
and the Sysop are exempt from the limit in any case.

Another parameter to consider in this area is @code{allmail}.
If set to @samp{1}, the parameter allows all users full access to
entering messages in the @code{Mail>} room.  If set to @samp{0}, however,
users are not able to enter mail to anybody except @samp{Sysop},
unless you manually give them mail privileges (@pxref{User Status Commands}).
Naturally, Aides, Co-Sysops and the Sysop always
have full @code{Mail>} access.  See @file{flipbits.man} if
@pindex flipbits
you need a way to set
the mail access flag for all users in one swell foop.

@node Calls per day, Connect time per day, Mail messages per call, Secret Weapons
@subsection Maximum number of calls per day
@cindex Limits, calls per day

This parameter is called @code{#maxcalls} in @file{ctdlcnfg.sys},
@vindex maxcalls
and is used to limit the total number of calls any user (except
Aides, Co-Sysops and the Sysop, of course) may make in a given day.  Again,
setting the parameter to @samp{0} means there is no limit.

@node Connect time per day, Close calls per day, Calls per day, Secret Weapons
@subsection Maximum connect time per day
@cindex Limits, connect time

This parameter is called @code{#maxtime} in @file{ctdlcnfg.sys},
@vindex maxtime
and is used to limit the total connect time any user (except
Aides, Co-Sysops and the Sysop, of course) may use up in a given day.  The
value is in minutes.  Again, setting the it to @samp{0} means there
is no limit.

This measure is like the others, in that it is non-intrusive---users
will not be booted off the system the second they
exceed their daily allotment of connect time.  Instead, they
will be allowed to finish their current login session.  But
if they call back the same day, they will not be permitted entry.
This seems to us like a good mix of control for the Sysop vs.
consideration for the users.

A related parameter that you might want to look at is
@code{mincalltime}.  This value is in minutes, and specifies the
minimum connect time you wish