Spam Attacks Halted by Modern Revelation

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MormonWiki.com is our collaborative site where Church members can write articles on Mormon beliefs and doctrines. The potential downside of a collaborative site (a “wiki”) is that spammers and vandals can participate too.

Among the most prolific participants at Mormonwiki.com is Rick Willoughby, who has volunteered countless hours to write articles and combat spam and vandalism. Rick recently pointed out an interesting pattern: automated spam attacks on Mormonwiki usually fail when the article contains any reference to the Doctrine and Covenants (D&C). It turns out the ampersand in “D&C” fouls up the spam attacks. Rick jokingly called these cases “spam attacks halted by modern revelation.”

Despite occasional “impotent vandalism,” as Rick calls it, Mormonwiki.com has been remarkably successful. It recently reached its 1,000th article in English, and there are hundreds of articles in other languages. It’s by far the most popular website published by the More Good Foundation. Mormonwiki.com is a rising star among the many sites that provide good information about the Mormon faith online. For this we can thank the dozens of participants like Rick who’ve volunteered their time to write and collaborate on articles.

If you’re interested in participating, please visit Mormonwiki.com and see our Beginner’s Guide.