Spam
Tim (2009-06-15 20:06:26 +0000)
Is there something that can be done to prevent spam? There's a lot of it these days...
Is it possible to set it so that Ron or someone has to verify new users on the forum? Make them write a little blurb about who they are to prove that they're not a spambot?
blade740 (2009-06-16 03:20:01 +0000)
It really wouldn't be too much of a problem if someone would just ban the users that have posted spam so far and delete all their posts. I think the problem is that the moderators don't actually check this forum.
jbcm627 (2009-06-16 23:04:00 +0000)
Perhaps add another admin to the forum too.
Tim (2009-06-25 15:28:09 +0000)
Another idea (somewhat related): Only admins can create topics in WCA announcements. Right now the announcements forum is overrun by spam, so maybe this would help a bit. I don't see why everyone needs to be able to post topics in WCA announcements--if the WCA has something to say, that an admin like Ron will say it, not average joe cuber (or joe spambot)
EDIT: whoops, it's renamed WCA organisation. In that case this suggestion doesn't really apply. Never mind.
Ron (2009-07-01 07:22:41 +0000)
I think I solved the spam issue.
What I did is remove the automatic registration with CAPTCHA, because CAPTCHA has been cracked.
Consequence is that I have to accept all new registrations. This means around 40 new members per day, 99.9% of them being spambots.
Any suggestions are welcome on how to make this easier.
Thanks,
Ron
![Sad :-(]({SMILIES_PATH}/icon_sad.gif)
unscarred (2009-07-17 04:09:19 +0000)
Ron,
I assume this board is phpBB using the latest version, so you may try this one it worked very well in our forum.
[b:ivm1x9ay]Open: includes/ucp/ucp_register.php[/b:ivm1x9ay]
[b:ivm1x9ay]
Find[/b:ivm1x9ay]
$agreed = (!empty($_POST['agreed'])) ? 1 : 0;
[b:ivm1x9ay]Replace With[/b:ivm1x9ay]
$agreed = (!empty($_POST['confirmed'])) ? 1 : 0;
[b:ivm1x9ay]
Find[/b:ivm1x9ay]
'agreed' => 'true',
[b:ivm1x9ay]
Replace With[/b:ivm1x9ay]
'confirmed' => 'true',
Note:
Backup first of course before doing this mod just in case. The 'confirmed' can be replaced by any word you can come up with, basically bots are spamming your registration so you must replace the "agreed" to any word that is hard to be guessed by bots. Then if something might went wrong just check all "agreed" codes are replaced with "confirmed" or any of your choice. Hope this helps.
[b:ivm1x9ay]
I think this mod is needed ASAP its flooding the site with Spam Bot Registration.[/b:ivm1x9ay]
![Razz :P]({SMILIES_PATH}/icon_razz.gif)
jbcm627 (2009-07-29 01:43:57 +0000)
There is also a module to tie in phpbb to drupal. This means drupal can handle all of the users.
I'm not that familiar with phpbb, but I believe drupal provides you with quite a few more options for handling user registrations, plus you can download numerous modules to aid in preventing spam.
unscarred (2009-08-06 07:48:38 +0000)
[quote="jbcm627":84mfjlrk]There is also a module to tie in phpbb to drupal. This means drupal can handle all of the users.
I'm not that familiar with phpbb, but I believe drupal provides you with quite a few more options for handling user registrations, plus you can download numerous modules to aid in preventing spam.[/quote:84mfjlrk]
Yes your right, actually we are using that in our site. There are two type of modules, first module convert your phpbb forum to drupal forum and the second you can port phpbb activity only at your drupal page. In drupal there are many ways to handle user registration and most of them are fairly secured.
Ron (2010-01-07 13:20:28 +0000)
Last week I installed a new CAPTCHA module on the WCA server.
I haven't received any fake registrations since then.
Have fun,
Ron