NineChime forum

This started becoming a big problem about the time 5.5.6 was released.  The latest version, 5.5.11, has new measures to block spam.  I recommend the update.  Since you're using 5.5.3, this is the file you need.  There's a lot of files to update, but it's easy to do if you take a look at the readme.

For the interested, this new spambot is becoming a huge problem for forums all over the Internet.  It specificly targets blogs and WordPress sites, though it also works on many forums and oekakis.  I believe it is affiliated with those porn/warez sites that require you to "vote", allowing the bot to steal other peoples' computers to make posts, which is why the IP address is different every time your site is attacked.  I recently made some changes to this forum to deal with the problem, because I was getting dozens of these messages posted here.  Right after making the anti-spam code active, I got 1503 blocked spams within 24 HOURS!  Pretty frightening, huh?

WHAT?  What on earth did the updater say?  The only thing that's potentially destructive is updating the config file.  Everything else has to check out before the new config is written.

As for the avatar, that may happen if the installer can't tell if the avatar field already exists.  I've found that a lot of hosts configure the database so you can't reliably test that, so I'll have to change the updater.  Here's a fix.

The upload problem is common.  Truth is, JPEG and GIF uploads on Wax Poteto are a hack, so the links won't work right.  PNG uploads will work fine, though.

To remove a template, just delete the file in the templates folder, and then "reset" the templates in the control panel.  Resetting the templates is required, or else anybody using that template will get pages that look pretty weird.

If you're not the board owner, the most you can do is edit the templates.

If people upload PNG files, the thumbnail generator will work properly.  Uploading GIFs or JPEGs is possible, but doesn't work all that well.

Unfortunately, this can happen with Oekaki Poteto from time to time.  I've fixed this in Wacintaki, but haven't gotten around to fixing either this or the upload support yet.

To make sure the picture counter is set correctly, you can run this file:  reset_pic_counter.zip

I really should fix these issues with Wax 5.6 soon, as progress on my new oekaki has been pretty slow.

That depends how the spam is being posted and what it looks like.  Most of the spam I've seen attacking Oekaki boards is caused by a spambot originally designed to attack WordPress boards (blogs).  The spam catcher I added to 5.5.11 looks for links formatted like how the spambot uses them.  However, it doesn't count links.  What's really annoying about these spambots is their tendency to post several links at a time.

Try this file:  Functions 5.5.12 for Wax Poteto

It won't allow more than two links for guest posts.  If you want to disable links in guest posts altogether, search for this on line 842:

$max_guest_links = 2;

...and set it to zero.

Oh yeah, these spambots use proxies to hide their true IP/host, so most of the time, banning won't be any help at all.