Another bot:

http://www.google.pl...lient=firefox-a

<_<

Had that one come on today, luckily banned them a few days ago. I think humans are registering the accounts and the bots are just coming back later to spam. :unsure:

Applied latest patch and left with default settings but have been hit again, this time by Angelikzusa. Have turned off PM until this gets resolved.

Wouldn't it be easier to have new members end up in a probationary group that has no PM rights and require Moderation for posts and once they have made 3-5 proper posts they are promoted to full members automaticly?

Wouldn't it be easier to have new members end up in a probationary group that has no PM rights and require Moderation for posts and once they have made 3-5 proper posts they are promoted to full members automaticly?

Define "proper posts"?

This kind of thing may work for a few hours/days after the feature is implemented, then then bots will be programmed to make 5 forum posts first...

Or a human paid to make the posts of course. Sadly the bottom line is there is no solution.

Define "proper posts"?

This kind of thing may work for a few hours/days after the feature is implemented, then then bots will be programmed to make 5 forum posts first...

Or a human [b]paid[/b] to make the posts of course. Sadly the bottom line is there is [b]no[/b] solution.

With proper posts I mean posts that actually contribute to the community. Its usually pretty easy to spot a spammer trying to "act" as a real member when they try to post actual content and not spamming posts with their crap. If a spammer is making 5 perfectly ok posts and then start to spam it will cost them way to much time to be worth it. Since they will not move to the next group until their 5 posts have been screened and cleared it should prove effectful. If not, then you should get 5-500 perfectly legit posts a day/week/month for the trouble :)

I seem to recall that I have a mod that will PM staff and unapprove posts made from new members if they contain links so they can be checked for spam as well...

With proper posts I mean posts that actually contribute to the community. Its usually pretty easy to spot a spammer trying to "act" as a real member when they try to post actual content and not spamming posts with their crap. If a spammer is making 5 perfectly ok posts and then start to spam it will cost them way to much time to be worth it. Since they will not move to the next group until their 5 posts have been screened and cleared it should prove effectful. If not, then you should get 5-500 perfectly legit posts a day/week/month for the trouble :)

I seem to recall that I have a mod that will PM staff and unapprove posts made from new members if they contain links so they can be checked for spam as well...

Yeah I see what you mean, you are right.

only way to rid of the spambots is make a manual registration question/custom profile that only a human could know. some random question like

"whats the surname of Darth Vader's son " ;)

no bot is gonna know that !!

yeah, but how do you know every human will know that too?

Trivia can't be used since there are plenty of humans who never saw whatever the trivia is from. Anyways, a sophisticated spambot could just google it and find the answer. I've seen it done

The 5 new posts idea should work, and since there is no standard system implemented, no bot could figure out that it needs to make 5 relevant posts.

What do you think about that?
In .htaccess make:

order allow,deny

deny from *.ru

deny from *.cn

allow from all

I keep trying to ban gmail and it doesn't work. Is anyone else having trouble banning registrations through the ban filter?

yeah, but how do you know every human will know that too?

Trivia can't be used since there are plenty of humans who never saw whatever the trivia is from. Anyways, a sophisticated spambot could just google it and find the answer. I've seen it done

The 5 new posts idea should work, and since there is no standard system implemented, no bot could figure out that it needs to make 5 relevant posts.

erhhm you just list the answer along with the question !!

I keep trying to ban gmail and it doesn't work. Is anyone else having trouble banning registrations through the ban filter?

Banning gmail accounts only affects future registrations and future email address changes. It does not affect those members that currently have gmail accounts.

another one keeps attempting to sign up on my two boards
LevitraES

the IP addresses that come up for these clowns:
194.8.75.151
194.8.75.109

appears to be the same loser from Germany

another one keeps attempting to sign up on my two boards

LevitraES

the IP addresses that come up for these clowns:

194.8.75.151

194.8.75.109

appears to be the same loser from Germany

I've had that one attempt to sign up twice so far.

..Al

The original "feature suggestion" has been implemented to an extent via a patch we released. I'm afraid this topic is getting off track and should likely be continued in the miscellaneous similar topics in the customer forums. :)