Spammers and URL shortening scripts

[abdussamad]

I launched a few URL shortening sites that ended up being abused by spammers and this got me into trouble with my web host. I am new to this sort of site so could those NPers who have experience with running URL shortening sites give me some tips as to how to ensure that my sites don't get abused by spammers?

Also do you provide contact info so that people who have complaints about your site can reach you?

 

[monaco]

Use a captcha and limit creation of the shortened url's to 1 per ip per hour or something like that. That will generally make spammers go somewhere else, it's just too much hassle for them.

 

[abdussamad]

Use a captcha and limit creation of the shortened url's to 1 per ip per hour or something like that. That will generally make spammers go somewhere else, it's just too much hassle for them.

Thanks for the tips.

 

[angisson]

well I have not had a problem yet, I run a LongerURL™ service.. not too many spammers use that :lol:

you really should try like captcha and or a human question.. like "what is 5x9" or what ever.. and make it different every time someone refreshes the page.. might slow it down

 

[Joseph]

I launched a few URL shortening sites that ended up being abused by spammers and this got me into trouble with my web host. I am new to this sort of site so could those NPers who have experience with running URL shortening sites give me some tips as to how to ensure that my sites don't get abused by spammers?

Also do you provide contact info so that people who have complaints about your site can reach you?

Just record all the urls into a db and if you see anything suspicious delete the redirection works a treat

 

[Kate]

On one of my sites the script is configured to send me an E-mail when a new link is entered so I can keep track of activity

 

[abdussamad]

Thanks for tips everyone. I have one idea myself. As you may know tinyurl has this preview feature for those wanting to know what site they'll end up on. I am going to make it so that my script would automatically force preview for links that get a high rate of traffic. This should both increase my site's page views and deter spammers.