Spam is rampant

[trunkadelic]

Hi,

Spam is rampant on my self-hosted forums, upgraded to latest IPB (4.7.14).

Worst of all, my users are getting spam emails and want to delete their accounts, because they turned on "new topic email notification".

I'm using Invisible reCAPTCHA, and Spam defense (screenshot attached).

I also use a custom Question and Answer, is there a way to see what these spambots have replied to my question?
I can't seem to find it when I go to their profile...

And my main question is — can I do anything else to stop the spam that's destroying my community? :(

 

Thanks!

 

[Jim M]

Would recommend switching to hCAPTCHA as it currently the best when increasing their Passing Threshold to Difficult. You may also wish to change your Question & Answers up to something closer related to your niche rather than a mathematics question which bots are able to answer these days.

[trunkadelic]

Ok, I'll try with hCAPTCHA, thanks.

[Clover13]

Using CF with WAF rules blocking known spamming countries helped knock a ton of spam out for me.  Depends your audience, mine is US only so this was an acceptable approach. 

[Marc]

Ensure when you use hCAPTCHA, you take a look at the sensitivity levels there, as you can increase as needed

[opentype]

 

19 hours ago, trunkadelic said:

can I do anything else to stop the spam that's destroying my community?

Turn on the group setting to moderate new posts from new members and approve them manually. 

Automatic methods to detect spam will always be limited. 

Edited November 6, 2023 by opentype