SPAMBOTS - how can we stop them - read FIRST post.

[pietpetoors]

I recently upgraded to 3.0.4 and the past month I have been receiving a lot of users registering probably for spam purposes. They have all these funny usernames in and most of the custom fields I added at registration they just enter "test". I spend more time deleting these accounts than enjoying my forum. It feels like way back in the days of version 2 when we were swamped with spammers.

Since I added compulsory custom fields I think that these must all be manual registrations.

Is there anything I can do to stop this?

The relevant forums are http://www.hilux4x4.co.za/views where I added some custom fields and http://www.passive-income.co.za/community where I have not yet added custom fields

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Edit below by Moderators and admins.

ChrisRLG : 5th February 2009 : I have changed this into our talking about spammers topic - below are the main suggested ways of combating them. It will be updated from time to time by other admins/moderators.

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1.
Make sure you are using the GD CAPTCHA not the older version - check your adminCP > Visual confirmation settings >
GD CAPTCHA = Yes
GD CAPTCHA foreground noise = yes/no
GD CAPTCHA background noise x-axis = nnn
GD CAPTCHA background noise y-axis = nnn
Change those to suit - you can see the example/preview below of how it will look. Try not to use the default settings, if they break this system it is the default settings which will get broken.

2.
Knowledge Base - Custom Profile Fields as an Anti-Spammer Tool

3.
Consider one of the mods which are available. Please note due to phpBB.com's main forum being down it may well be that some of these MODs may not be validated, they may be Beta or developement versions. You would use at your own risk. If you can, please wait till the main site is back active, so you can check for a validated MOD.

Automatic Spammer Detection This MOD uses Stop Forums Spam to check username, email and IP for potential spammer. If anything is returned, all the founders receive a PM notify them about the user.

AntiBotQuestion Provides a configerable question for the registering user to answer.

Well thanks for changing the title of the topics here are a few other Mods.
You can add to that post.
Prime Anti-Bot [Primehalo]
http://www.absoluteanime.com/admin/mods.htm#anti-bot
Prime Birthdate Require.
http://www.absoluteanime.com/admin/mods.htm#birthdate
Anti-Spam ACP-EXreaction
http://www.lithiumstudios.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=941
Thks
COD3M4ST3R-X

3Di's AntiSpamBot by Timezone for phpBB3

[oldlock]

I'm seeing these too, half a dozen in 1 day on one forum, and a smattering across other related sites. Some with quite involved custom profile fields.

[onehundredandtwo]

Have you enabled CAPTCHA? You can enable it through the ACP > General > CAPTCHA Settings and make more foreground / background noise.

[pietpetoors]

I did and I even changed the setting to make it more difficult to read. It has not effect

[rleeden]

I too have been seeing a lot of fairly sophisticated spammy users signing up over the last few days. I don't think it's related to 3.0.4 though, as upgraded quite some time ago.

I also have captcha enabled and have always had it enabled with the current settings and not seen as much spam as I am now. Settings are:

GD CAPTCHA: Yes
GD CAPTCHA foreground noise: No
GD CAPTCHA background noise x-axis: 25
GD CAPTCHA background noise y-axis: 25

These users never seem to get round to registering their accounts so it's not a big deal. I might try increasing the noise a bit, but don't want to turn on foreground noise as that makes it too hard to read in my opinion.

[rotorrian]

Were in the same boat.

Have been receiving SPAM since 3.0.4

Gonna lock down the forum till its sorted

[pietpetoors]

Hi rleeden, I agree with too much noise. If one ads too much noise you make it too difficult for real users to register.

[James N]

Try the Prime Anti spam mod (mirrored on my website) and/or set a moderation queue so that all new members first post(s) have to be approved.

[trixom]

Hi,

I have not upgraded to 3.0.4 (still on 3.0.2) and the spam has gone nuts since this weekend, I get
about 20 spam registrations per day.

Not sure what to do.

I set the noise on X and Y to 15 this morning, but still got 5 new registrations (spam) an hour ago.

T.

[James N]

Try the Prime Anti spam mod (mirrored on my website) and/or set a moderation queue so that all new members first post(s) have to be approved.