Please! No More Spam

[edwin]

As you may have noticed we have a more than normal amount of spam on our forum.
We apologize for this and we are working on a way to prevent this. It's driving us nuts.
So untill we find a nice solution bear with us, suggestions in how to fight Russion porn and alike are welcome.

[gpvillamil]

Oh, those were spam?

I thought they were new footage announcements, and had been using the video clips from the sites in my VJ sets, with generally positive results.



(just kidding)

I suppose using ReCaptcha during the registration phase might be good.

[GeeEs]

I agree, some form of captcha and/or e-mail verification mail with the registration should do it...

[bart]

There already is a capcha AND an email that needs to be confirmed to register for the forum but that does not stop all spammers apparently ;-(

[gpvillamil]

Could the code for the discussion board be compromised? Are these spammers actually entering the captcha and getting the registration mail?

It happened to me on a Wordpress install, a single security hole was used to install a backdoor that allowed automated registration...

[GeeEs]

There already is a capcha AND an email that needs to be confirmed to register for the forum but that does not stop all spammers apparently ;-(

I see there is indeed... mmmmm ... then probably what gpvillamil says is more plausible.
The forum is running the latest phpBB version ??
Based on my personal experience as a user on this forum (regarding "new/true" users).. isnt it possible to put the automatic account activation off ?? (This is also one of the most common mods to prevent spammers, but also the worst regarding new/true users! and you have to check all new registrations now and then to activate the true ones...) but probably this also won't work if the code is compromised after all

Anyway.. as i'm not a phpBB wizard, on this page are some good tips (but you probably had a look here i guess ?!)
http://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=427852

Especially this one seems a good one to me for this forum...

Registration Auth Code (RAC) MOD
What is it? This very simple MOD will require users to enter a code into a textbox during registration. The code is chosen by the administrator and can be placed just about anywhere for users to find (right on the registration page, in the description of the first forum, a separate topic, or just about anywhere else). The MOD can also be easily modified to ask a simple question, if you prefer that approach. Here are two examples:
Image Image
Target: Bots
Pros: The MOD is extremely simple and takes less than 3 minutes to install. If spam bots are adapted to enter the correct code, all you need to do is change the code and/or the location where it is displayed to throw them off again.
Cons: The MOD only targets bots; human spammers will be able to locate the code and register.
Bottom line: As the majority of spam comes from bots, I strongly recommend this MOD. Assuming that you have taken the steps mentioned above, this should be the only anti-bot MOD you will need to install.
Download: viewtopic.php?f=16&t=552845

Changing the way users can register seems to be a good way to get te most recent spambots out for a while ...

[GeeEs]

This morning was horrible... I deleted 10+ users and about 100 spam posts... (posted in the last 8 Hours... )

[GeeEs]

and again it's full of spam... can't work/click against this ... (deleted everything 30 minutes ago)

It's getting worse and worse last days....

[GeeEs]

ok.. For today I give up.... Did 3 rounds of deleting acounts and posts, but it isnt'working anymore.. every 15 minutes it's full again...

It's like the bastards see I deleted all posts again... Can't fight these bots ...

[bart]

Yeah Edwin and I have also removed shit loads of crap this weekand and today. Now signups now need to be approved by an admin, hoeflly that will stop it for now.