How are you fighting with spammers?

RedZambala

How are you fighting with spammers on your forums? - I am getting more and more tired with them...Yes, I have installed honeypot database, but it doesn't help much....On average every 2-3 hours there are several new spammers....I changed settings to "approve new applicants", still - they sign aup, and are able to throw their link in their profiles....It's crazy, I should always be near and remember every 2-3 hours to ban new applicants; it is going on for several months; no clean users yet, just spammers; Also, may be there is an option somehow to ban hotmail and outlook mail registrants - these are the most spread among them;

x00

@RedZambala

Some measures;

Make profiles private. Private profile mean their effort will be in vain. Also double check guest and confirm email permissions.

Personally I uses two captcha. The key to understanding captcha is understanding the maths. Many people put capatcha that look to be challenging but don't have the maths in their favour. I have solved some in a matter in minutes. They simply don't have a large enough data pool, or possible variation answers.

Despite what people say about reCaptcha, it does work. Sometimes it does solved but rarely cracked, and updates are constant. I also recommend ASIRRA. It is not about the cuteness of it is about the maths. Other solutions that look similar but don't have the maths will be weaker.

At the end of the day I can make these changes becuase I have technical skills, but if people want them they have to be funded. It take time/money to develop a solution for general use.

peregrine

@RedZambala

I changed settings to "approve new applicants", still - they sign aup,

is it mostly automated bots?

various solutions discussed here in this link.

http://vanillaforums.org/discussion/24785/poll-which-registration-method-and-plugins-do-you-use-to-deter-spammers-and-their-efficacy

some people have had success with akismet or botstop paired with
http://vanillaforums.org/addon/registrationrestrictlogger-plugin

able to throw their link in their profiles.

sounds like you need to fix what is displayed, and adjust what applicants can do.
do you have wrong permissions ??

it would be great if you added your bit to the poll too as well as other people who respond to this poll in the link below ... then people would find it in one place.

http://vanillaforums.org/discussion/24785/poll-which-registration-method-and-plugins-do-you-use-to-deter-spammers-and-their-efficacy

@x00. At the end of the day I can make these changes becuase I have technical skills, but if people want them they have to be funded. It take time/money to develop a solution for general use.

and if enough people pledged money, I bet x00 would write a great plugin.

hbf

stopforumspam plugin
paired with ban list entries that block common garbage e-mail sources and blocks of IPs from swine infested regions of the world.
paired with modified roles and permissions which remove ALL permissions from confirm email role.

this combination keeps the spam to a very manageable level. not nil, but manageable.

peregrine

@RedZambala said:
How are you fighting with spammers on your forums? - I am getting more and more tired with them...Yes, I have installed honeypot database, but it doesn't help much....On average every 2-3 hours there are several new spammers....I changed settings to "approve new applicants", still - they sign aup, and are able to throw their link in their profiles....It's crazy, I should always be near and remember every 2-3 hours to ban new applicants; it is going on for several months; no clean users yet, just spammers;

.

Also, may be there is an option somehow to ban hotmail and outlook mail registrants - these are the most spread among them;

I think ban ip applicants plugin has this option. if it doesn't you could easily add it to your site via custom plugin or a mod to existing plugin.

you still haven't said what plugins you use.
under what role do you get the spam?
the pattern that they use to spam (web links, same type of application discovery text). etc.
do you have the correct permissions on applicant (do you block viewing activity, etc).
once again,

I bid you too enter info in part B of poll if you have trouble with spammers.

or part A, when you have success

http://vanillaforums.org/discussion/24785/poll-which-registration-method-and-plugins-do-you-use-to-deter-spammers-and-their-efficacy

RedZambala

@peregrine I use StopForumSpam , but it is far from perfect ;
is it bots or not - I don't know, but rather it might seem so, at least not reasonable people:(
Permissions - I am now studying this and I think the main problem was to Disable them From Viewing Activity page - probably this is where they could put their links;
But when I disabled Activity - clicking on that link gives no-page , some green cpanel page telling 'you have no permissions to view' ....Let's see...

peregrine

quid pro quo. never mind.

whu606

If you haven't tried BotStop (with registration approval mod) and Registration Logger, then I really suggest you do.

In combination, they have ended almost all Bot applicants on my forum.

Add a site specific question in place of 'Why do you want to join' and you can easily spot any bot that might still get through.

peregrine

good luck.