Billing Server Feature List

[Delic]

A command that lists the squads you own would be nice... But I guess it would be too spammy in some cases =P

[L.C.]

Why not hire Sharvil for this job? Isometry already does a lot of these things..

 

Look at this command list for Isometry: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=d67vd23_3775b98kcr

 

EDIT: Or is this even possible?

Edited February 2, 2010 by L.C.

[rootbear75]

mike are you actually considering a new billing server? how would you get priit's servers to transfer over... unless you still have contact with him even though he is off his vacation afaik...

 

and i thought last time snrrrub came around you guys couldnt see eye-to-eye on who should have the source, so lc, why would he want to work again?

[»Maverick]

A command that lists the squads you own would be nice...

Yea, that is definately something that's missing.

[BDwinsAlt]

A command that lists the squads you own would be nice...

Yea, that is definately something that's missing.

A command that lists all the commands is something I really want to see, too.

[»Xog]

A command that lists the squads you own would be nice...

Yea, that is definately something that's missing.

A command that lists all the commands is something I really want to see, too.

 

THAT would be way too long. Perhaps a:

 

Xog> ?commands

You may view a full list of available commands here: http://commands.website.com

[Samapico]

mike are you actually considering a new billing server? how would you get priit's servers to transfer over... unless you still have contact with him even though he is off his vacation afaik...

 

and i thought last time snrrrub came around you guys couldnt see eye-to-eye on who should have the source, so lc, why would he want to work again?

Mike wouldn't come here asking this if the idea didn't come from the council/priitk/these kind of guys, or some approval, or whatever.

 

Some things are moving at the moment, and that's good (insert thumbs up here)

[Gravitron]

IIRC the 10 chat restriction was put in place by Priit under reasons of security or something the such.

[»Xog]

IIRC the 10 chat restriction was put in place by Priit under reasons of security or something the such.

 

is it possible he never impelemnted the security check of local/private staff cahts beyond ;10; protocals o!_O!O!O!O!O!_O!_O!O!_O!O!O beer

[PoLiX]

The whole basis of this idea is great. But the issue is that power corrupts everything, and laziness overpowers all.

 

I think there are some features planned/suggested (though not in this thread), that priit left out for perfectly good reasons.

 

There is no command for billing to delete anything. Why is this good? Because everything done can quickly and easily be undone. An op goes nuts and renames hundreds of people, odds are it can be restored by going through the billing log. But an op deletes tons of people, then a back up is the only choice, and who knows if there are any consistent back ups of the biller. And even so, you could lose a few hundred more accounts, bans, etc. depending on how long it takes to restore a back up.

 

Having BanG and Billing seperate was a good idea also. Keeps seperation of powers, and makes giving higher level bang less risk.

 

The lack of a biller wide alias commmand, also very good. Far too many times do alias bots (though yes, less reliable) connect too many people to aliases they don't own. I know Myself and Swift alias to each other, and to a name trader whos aliases he confiscated after he stole them a few years back. So of course we now alias to multiple other name traders, etc. etc. Imagine having this biller wide, just not in a single zone. You could alias 1 person, but connect them to 300 other people who they may never have known. That and so many common macids... this i'll never understand (except macid 1).

 

As for limiting accounts. You can try, but it won't be successful. Name traders have nothing better to do with their lives than find ways around the system to keep hundreds of aliases. I know 1 TW player who has 384 active aliases. Granted that is just the limit of what I could pull. So who knows how many more he has.

 

A lot of suggestions here user function wise are nice. But just thought I'd mention a few others brought up elsewhere.

[Samapico]

A simple limit of usernames would reduce the name hoarding a lot, imo... Anyone could make 384 aliases. But would anyone really be willing to register 384 email addresses just to make himself some continuum aliases? Maybe... but then it's their problem

[rootbear75]

maybe make registration require an active email... that would limit the names... also put a limit on the number of names PER email.

[»Lynx]

Ehrm, to begin rambling...

 

One thing that is puzzling me is who is going to design and code a new biller? Is there talks of getting the source for the current biller (if there is any), or has there been new hope placed in PriitK? My personal opinion is that if there is going to ever be a new biller, it needs to be thoroughly tested before it can ever be put into place (and tested using the current billers schematics, to allow for the current db to be used) - also, if a new biller was ever established would the source be readily available for developers?

 

Also, I recall Dr Brain talking about other ways of managing the server side of things in total (an authorization server etcetera) which to me made a lot more sense.

 

fx:

Login/Authorization Server (handles user logins and passes users off to zone servers)

Login Database Server (stores user names and passwords and all other data)

Zone Server (for gameplay)

banG Server (to handle bans)

Alias Server (that can be refreshed, and reads from DB server)

 

Also, when designing a new billing server, I think that the security on bans should be increased, although it would require client side edits too. For example, the following things can all be checked quite easily:

• System Volume
  
• MAC Hash
  
• User Name Hash
  
• Processor Info Hash
  
• Registry Keys
  
• Hidden Files
  
• Windows Install Key
  
• Machine GUID
  
• Motherboard Serial
  
• CD Rom Serial
  
• IP
  
• NetBIOS Name Hash
  
• Name
  
• Password Hash
  

There are many other things that can be checked, too - although this all requires editing the client. Some of these things are very hard to change (and then should each only account by chance) for example, if a user has a password, registry and files hash match on all three, it's a 95% chance that it's the same person - it should then be down to the moderators prerogative whether to ban said player, or a server op can decide whether users can play with whatever % likeliness that they've actually been banned.

 

This also all requires a lot more coding, a lot more planning, and a lot more testing. All of which are hard to find in Subspace in general...

[L.C.]

A simple limit of usernames would reduce the name hoarding a lot, imo... Anyone could make 384 aliases. But would anyone really be willing to register 384 email addresses just to make himself some continuum aliases? Maybe... but then it's their problem

http://www.10minutemail.com/

 

gg.

 

babble booble

I like your ideas and points. ;\

 

EDIT: Honestly not trying to be a jerk or sarcastic. Just taking on Grav's suggestion for long posts.

Edited February 3, 2010 by L.C.

[»doc flabby]

It would probably be worth fixing the long username bug

[Gravitron]

Wouldn't limit the names for anyone with a webhost. I'd set a limit of 10 per (shared) IP.

[JoWie]

Would be nice if the "You have X unread messages." message repeated every hour.

I rarely disconnect so I usually do not notice a message until after a few days.

[MikeTheNose]

maybe make registration require an active email... that would limit the names... also put a limit on the number of names PER email.

 

Eventual plan that requires some more thought. I don't believe one should create an account using the game but instead a website.

 

 

A simple limit of usernames would reduce the name hoarding a lot, imo... Anyone could make 384 aliases. But would anyone really be willing to register 384 email addresses just to make himself some continuum aliases? Maybe... but then it's their problem

http://www.10minutemail.com/

 

Easy to filter. Though hotmail and yahoo wouldn't be worth it. If you wish to make so many aliases by creating lots of email addresses, go ahead. Name traders isn't the only reason for this change. A lot of the time players put in incorrect info into the application that you get when creating a username. When they loose their password to their account that info is effectively useless to us. Forcing a user to register their name via email makes them have to enter a correct email address.

 

 

It would probably be worth fixing the long username bug

 

What bug?

 

 

 

bool InvalidUsername(char * Username)
{
if ( (Username[0] > 47 && Username[0] < 58) ||
	 (Username[0] > 64 && Username[0] < 91) ||
	 (Username[0] > 96 && Username[0] < 123) )		// The first character is alphanumeric
{
	int i = 1;
	while (Username[i])
	{
		if (Username[i] < 32 || Username[i] > 127 || Username[i] == ':' || Username[i] == '%' || Username[i] == ',')	// Other characters are printable
			return true;

		i++;
	}
}
else
{
	return true;
}

return false;
}

 

 

 

Would be nice if the "You have X unread messages." message repeated every hour.

I rarely disconnect so I usually do not notice a message until after a few days.

 

Easily done.

[Hakaku]

What bug?

Both Continuum and the SSC biller allow names to be created up to 23 characters. However, the game protocol only handles some 18 characters, meaning that two players with similar long names will seem to be the same person. This is bad for bots (aliasing, banning, etc), since two players will appear to be the same.

 

ASSS chooses to handle this by cutting all usernames down to 18 characters; meaning that a player with over 18 characters from a Subgame zone will be prompted a new registration. This could potentially block some users from logging in since it may impede on a different player's account.

 

Ideally, the biller should reject any username over 18 characters until the protocol restrictions are revamped.

For reference: http://forums.minegoboom.com/viewtopic.php?p=81328#81328

 

Edit: On a similar note, make sure this new biller rejects usernames with the character %, to avoid the entire macro name fiasco.

[L.C.]

Mike, where did you pull that source code material from?

[MikeTheNose]

Mike, where did you pull that source code material from?

 

 

Take a guess. And no I don't intend to have 32 chars. (Twas a spoiler afterall)

[MikeTheNose]

What bug?

Both Continuum and the SSC biller allow names to be created up to 23 characters. However, the game protocol only handles some 18 characters, meaning that two players with similar long names will seem to be the same person. This is bad for bots (aliasing, banning, etc), since two players will appear to be the same.

 

ASSS chooses to handle this by cutting all usernames down to 18 characters; meaning that a player with over 18 characters from a Subgame zone will be prompted a new registration. This could potentially block some users from logging in since it may impede on a different player's account.

 

 

Continuum doesn't support it as it doesn't list the whole name

Banning isn't prevented (the last part of the name is assumed and ignored). Bots? Well seems like 2 players with the same name could confuse them. How does a long name function over chat channels?

[rootbear75]

another thing with the emails: Add all of those disposable email sites to the invalid email list (bugmenot, 10minutemail, mailinator, etc.)

 

I was helping running a forum and after a bad spam rampage from people using those sites, i banned all emails from those sites.

[MikeTheNose]

another thing with the emails: Add all of those disposable email sites to the invalid email list (bugmenot, 10minutemail, mailinator, etc.)

 

I was helping running a forum and after a bad spam rampage from people using those sites, i banned all emails from those sites.

 

http://www.ssforum.net/index.php?showtopic=24328&view=findpost&p=261535

[rootbear75]

another thing with the emails: Add all of those disposable email sites to the invalid email list (bugmenot, 10minutemail, mailinator, etc.)

 

I was helping running a forum and after a bad spam rampage from people using those sites, i banned all emails from those sites.

 

http://www.ssforum.net/index.php?showtopic=24328&view=findpost&p=261535

i read that. implement that idea USING the website.