An Idea to stop spam..

[Luciel]

Lately we had huge spam problems on cd-2-dvd.com, i found this script that basically irradicated ALL spam, stupid as it may be, got rid of the bots, it´s a simple page when registering and posting that asks "Are you human?", bots don´t know how to fill it in, real people just have to reply yes and it goes on as usual, if you want, Empire, i can send it to you.

[Joe Forster/STA]

At criticalmass.hu, there's a question "how much is X + Y?", with varying X and Y, you have to calculate the sum manually and enter it into an input field. Also very simple but not as simple as a question with a static good answer.

[EMPiRE]

I've looked for the moderated posting but this is not a default option within vB (most likely it can be done with an plugin, I've to check)
The only problem I got with moderating posts is that you give yourself A LOT of extra work checking these posts as only about 1% will be spam, is that worth the effort as most spam is removed & an ip ban is added

The current implemented "Image Verification" should stop most bots but it is something that already been defeated by some of them (as they get in)

The "human" check is a good idea as it will stop the bots, but this will not stop the new trend of having actual people behind the screen who get paid to spam forums & forms. And this will also be defeated in no time...

I will check for some more plugins for vB

@ Luciel: I think you are not using vB so this script will not work as I only use the official plugin model else updating vB will be quite hard to manage

[Joe Forster/STA]

Originally Posted by EMPiRE

The only problem I got with moderating posts is that you give yourself A LOT of extra work checking these posts as only about 1% will be spam, is that worth the effort as most spam is removed & an ip ban is added

Yes, I think it's worth the effort if it is enabled only for users with less than X posts. Anyway, let's try it - if it's possible with the current board software and configuration - for a week or so and we'll see...

[Luciel]

@ Empire

You´re right i use phpbb but it doesn´t matter it´s a generic php script, all you have to figure out is where to add the required 2 lines (on phpbb it was at the top of one file and that was it), i dunno, can´t hurt to have a look?, pm me your e-mail addie and i will send it to you if you want.

[EMPiRE]

I did not find a post moderation plugin with a selectable post number

But I installed another plugin which uses Stop Forum Spam. When a new user registers his ip or email is tested against the database @ stopforumspam.com and rejected when it exists

It's active now but I did not check it yet...