Please upgrade here. These earlier versions are no longer being updated and have security issues.
HackerOne users: Testing against this community violates our program's Terms of Service and will result in your bounty being denied.

The best way to prevent spam board!

I would like to know the best way to prevent spam board. Please suggest. Thank you very much.

Comments

  • I would upgrade to vanilla 2.1.5 first off. since vanilla 2.0 is going away soon.

    then do a search for spam on the forum numerous suggestions and plugins have been mentioned.

    there is no best way... it all depends what your problem is.

    I may not provide the completed solution you might desire, but I do try to provide honest suggestions to help you solve your issue.

  • hgtonighthgtonight ∞ · New Moderator

    The single best thing you can do, imo, is enable Akismet anti-spam.

    Search first

    Check out the Documentation! We are always looking for new content and pull requests.

    Click on insightful, awesome, and funny reactions to thank community volunteers for their valuable posts.

  • What is imo? How to enable Akismet anti-spam?
    Thank you very much.

  • peregrineperegrine MVP
    edited November 2014

    in my opnion - imo

    vs.

    in my humble opinion = imho

    I don't have an opinion = idhao

    other opinions....

    http://vanillaforums.org/discussion/25403/spam-attack-how-to-deal-with-spammers

    http://vanillaforums.org/discussion/comment/210126/#Comment_210126

    still think you need a solution to problem, but first determine your problem and solve accordingly.

    you failed to mention where and what kind of spam you get. - each has an appropriate counter-measure.

    I may not provide the completed solution you might desire, but I do try to provide honest suggestions to help you solve your issue.

  • businessdadbusinessdad Stealth contributor MVP
    edited November 2014

    @peregrine said:
    I don't have an opinion = idhao

    not evaluated virtually all different alternatives = nevada
    don't accept kind offers to administrators = dakota

    and so on...

  • @businessdad

    you left the most important one off = yltmioo

    and so on = aso

    I may not provide the completed solution you might desire, but I do try to provide honest suggestions to help you solve your issue.

  • Within the past week spam has started making it through both the StopForumSpam and the Akismet filters at: http://www.obamacareforums.com. Any ideas?

  • peregrineperegrine MVP
    edited November 2014

    you failed to mention where and what kind of spam you get and you dindn't mention your version of vanilla.. - each type of spam has an appropriate counter-measure.

    other ideas two comments up or three depending upon if you start count from 0 or 1.

    @businessdad said:

    @peregrine said: I don't have an opinion = idhao

    not evaluated virtually all different alternatives = nevada
    don't accept kind offers to administrators = dakota

    and so on...

    now I get your joke but it is Idaho not Idhao

    I may not provide the completed solution you might desire, but I do try to provide honest suggestions to help you solve your issue.

  • whu606whu606 I'm not a SuperHero; I just like wearing tights... MVP

    now I get your joke but it is Idaho not Idhao

    yoda.gif 119.3K
  • peregrineperegrine MVP
    edited November 2014

    @whu606 said:
    Yoda said - What your point is?

    BusinessDad was making a play on acronym words Idaho is a state in the U.S. and so is Nevada and Dakota is one of two States North Dakota and South Dakota.

    in http://vanillaforums.org/discussion/comment/218745/#Comment_218745

    At least that's the point I got. It is very profound. Which at this point is a point that has nothing to do with the discussion.

    Bottom line for the op and other posters asking questions about spam prevention and deterrence:

    Akismet anti-spam or

    http://vanillaforums.org/discussion/25403/spam-attack-how-to-deal-with-spammers

    http://vanillaforums.org/discussion/comment/210126/#Comment_210126

    still think you need a solution to problem, but first determine your problem and solve accordingly.

    you failed to mention where and what kind of spam you get. - each has an appropriate counter-measure.

    I may not provide the completed solution you might desire, but I do try to provide honest suggestions to help you solve your issue.

  • I installed the Add Registration Question plugin and enabled it but when I test register a new account I don't see the question. How should I do?

  • peregrineperegrine MVP
    edited November 2014

    what other plugins are you using? - some other older plugins change the views (to old vanilla 2.0 views and have not been updated and thus break other plugins that use vanilla 2.1.x views).

    what theme are you using?

    settings are available and see the readme as well.

    also see the vanilla version requirements for the plugin in the description

    I may not provide the completed solution you might desire, but I do try to provide honest suggestions to help you solve your issue.

  • I enabled 14 plugins: Add Registration Question V.1.3, Emotify , Facebook, FileUpload, Gravatar, IndexPhotos, Liked, Signatures, Stop Forum Spam, Tagging, Vanilla Statistics, Voting, WhosOnline, and WYLSIWYG (CLEditor). And use vanilla forums V.2.0.18.10.

  • whu606whu606 I'm not a SuperHero; I just like wearing tights... MVP

    Sorry, @peregrine, seems my joke fell flat.

    Yoda known is for mixing up words in a sentence.

    I was suggesting that, from his point of view, 'I don't an opinion have' would have sounded fine.

    Sorry, it wasn't a pop at you, just a throwaway gag (although, clearly not a very good one...)

  • peregrineperegrine MVP
    edited November 2014

    @plawansai said:
    I enabled 14 plugins: Add Registration Question V.1.3, Emotify , Facebook, FileUpload, Gravatar, IndexPhotos, Liked, Signatures, Stop Forum Spam, Tagging, Vanilla Statistics, Voting, WhosOnline, and WYLSIWYG (CLEditor). And use vanilla forums V.2.0.18.10.

    two easy choices.

    addregistrationquestion - requires vanilla 2.1.x or higher as shown in the description details.

    http://vanillaforums.org/addon/addregistrationquestion-plugin

    for vanilla 2.0 - you can use the original botstop plugin, provided you use the registration methods that work with it. If you have vanilla 2.1, I would not use the original botstop, since it alters views and uses older vanilla 2.0.18.x views.

    personally, I would upgrade to vanilla 2.1.5 as soon as possible, since you are open to security holes with your version of vanilla and then you can use new and improved plugins that require vanilla 2.1.x or higher.

    got you @whu606 - it was hard enough getting businessdad's joke, and yoda (and you) have a much deeper understanding of the universe.

    I may not provide the completed solution you might desire, but I do try to provide honest suggestions to help you solve your issue.

  • Two weeks ago "all of a sudden" I started getting lots of spam at http://www.obamacareforums.com and http://www.popefrancisforums.com (hosted at same IP).

    I'm running StopForumSpam and Akismet.

    The spam is all over the board advertising "self improvement" , pills, skateboard lessons, patches, interior design advice, etc.

    I'm running 2.0.18.4 (I know it's "old" but I don't think that's the issue, ya?).

    The spammers are validating their emails to become "Members" or perhaps have automated the validation process. The usernames are often two valid words with a number or a valid name then random letters with a number, like "GabriellaLandon234" , "Janelwwdwdlh192" , etc. The source IPs are registered to ISPs geographically dispersed, from Amsterdam to Atlanta, GA to Washington D.C. , etc.

    Any idea?

    Thank you!

  • hgtonighthgtonight ∞ · New Moderator

    @ObamaCare_Forums said:

    I'm running 2.0.18.4 (I know it's "old" but I don't think that's the issue, ya?).

    ...

    Any idea?

    Your old version may very well be the reason your forum is being compromised. Update to the latest version of 2.0 as soon as possible (currently 2.0.18.14). Link here: http://vanillaforums.org/addon/vanilla-core-2.0.18.14

    Then start looking to upgrade to Vanilla 2.1 since 2.0 will no longer be supported after December.

    Search first

    Check out the Documentation! We are always looking for new content and pull requests.

    Click on insightful, awesome, and funny reactions to thank community volunteers for their valuable posts.

  • peregrineperegrine MVP
    edited November 2014

    @ObamaCare_Forums

    I would skip 2.0.18.x period and upgrade directly to 2.1.5

    I would also use registration method approval without confirm email, and use registration restrictlogger and add registration question plugins, as suggested before , as soon as you move to vanilla 2.1.5

    I've had numerous comments from people that these have helped them. The worst that could happen is you give them a try.

    I may not provide the completed solution you might desire, but I do try to provide honest suggestions to help you solve your issue.

Sign In or Register to comment.