How Do I Prevent Forum Spammers on VB?

[Italian Hawk]

Okay, so I mean before this scrapeboard came out it was basically just this one site that would be constantly spamming me, thankfully, I was on somebodys list of sites who didn't sell or share it. They blasted me like 3 days a week with maybe 10 posts/accounts TOPS.

Then scrapeboard came out and I'm getting at least that every few hours. I mean, comon, these are IDIOTS running scrapeboard. Who posts 42 times via scrapeboard on the same blog with the same account? I wish this tool were $1,000 just so this stuff wouldn't be happening with kids who don't know how to use a tool.

Can somebody recommend something for me to do short of personally activating accounts and approving posts? Like, is there some sort of legit captcha that isn't going to work on these sites? I noticed when I was using scrapeboard myself that some captchas claimed to have been downloaded but were simply a white box.

 

[trafficsource]

yeah that sucks. unfortunately it seems that the only solution is to buy out all the xRumer and scrapeboard licenses.

 

[webmast]

1. Some vBulletin forums use Akismet. I wasn't able to register today because Scrapebox was running in the background

2. Disable links in signatures and profiles for new users (less than 20 posts / 1 month). Mention it during the registration process. If the webmasters get zero SEO value from your forum they will remove it from their list.

3. Change default paths and field names. This will block some tools.

4. Block accounts created in less than 5 sec. The real users are slow.

5. Filter bad keywords and maybe even ban accounts automatically. Genuine users don't use words like vi4gra or pr0n in their bio, signature, etc.

 

[Italian Hawk]

1. Some vBulletin forums use Akismet. I wasn't able to register today because Scrapebox was running in the background

2. Disable links in signatures and profiles for new users (less than 20 posts / 1 month). Mention it during the registration process. If the webmasters get zero SEO value from your forum they will remove it from their list.

3. Change default paths and field names. This will block some tools.

4. Block accounts created in less than 5 sec. The real users are slow.

5. Filter bad keywords and maybe even ban accounts automatically. Genuine users don't use words like vi4gra or pr0n in their bio, signature, etc.

Definitely putting some bans on words, and I'll look into changing the default paths and field names. Might as well disable those links as well. I'll just turn off sigs for the first 10 posts or something. Some great ideas.

If anybody has another suggestion hopefully in relation to a fairly effective captcha. Like what about those picture ones where it's like 9 pictures, 8 dogs and a cat, and you need to pick out the cat. Those aren't going to be solved via traditional software are they?

 

[Bostoncab]

What about using CAPTCHA like how many legs does a cat have? I thought none of the software could overcome those yet?

 

[mataff]

Okay, so I mean before this scrapeboard came out it was basically just this one site that would be constantly spamming me, thankfully, I was on somebodys list of sites who didn't sell or share it. They blasted me like 3 days a week with maybe 10 posts/accounts TOPS.

Then scrapeboard came out and I'm getting at least that every few hours. I mean, comon, these are IDIOTS running scrapeboard. Who posts 42 times via scrapeboard on the same blog with the same account? I wish this tool were $1,000 just so this stuff wouldn't be happening with kids who don't know how to use a tool.

Can somebody recommend something for me to do short of personally activating accounts and approving posts? Like, is there some sort of legit captcha that isn't going to work on these sites? I noticed when I was using scrapeboard myself that some captchas claimed to have been downloaded but were simply a white box.

For one of my forums (sports related) I used a question with an answer that was so obvious anyone even remotely interested in the sport would know. Don't put the answer anywhere on the registration page either otherwise xrumer will probably pick that up.

This reduced the registration spam down to nothing. Any spam we do receive is manual so we ban the few and move on.

 

[GreenGoblin]

For one of my forums (sports related) I used a question with an answer that was so obvious anyone even remotely interested in the sport would know. Don't put the answer anywhere on the registration page either otherwise xrumer will probably pick that up.

This reduced the registration spam down to nothing. Any spam we do receive is manual so we ban the few and move on.

exactly same thing I do

 

[JacobBeasley]

stopforumspam VB plugin.

It stops the biggest idiots, but those who actually know how to use the tools will not be deterred for long. Captcha doesn't work. Targeted questions that legitimate users will know but bots won't are quite effective.

 

[mataff]

exactly same thing I do

It's such a simple idea that I kicked myself for not thinking of it earlier.

Another one is using an image and asking the person what the image is.

For example, if it's a basketball forum:

(Picture of Michael Jordan)
Who is this?

Bots wont be able to answer the question and you weed out the tards as well. Kill two birds with one stone. :lew:

You can rotate the picture and question every week or two weeks, or until spam starts again.

 

[jerra]

I am getting a new user registering on my VBulletin site about every 5 minutes an it's seriously annoying! The user identification module is switched on. IF this is scrapeboard, then it's a good advert for it, annoying as a forum owner.

 

[Qokaine]

make signups require email opt in

and also do a question on signup not captcha

 

[blazen]

That is the problem when software is sold cheaply, even the biggest idiots and noobs can buy it.

 

[bhaffil]

I was using non-VB forum software that was not nearly as configurable and had the same problems. VB gives you lots of good solutions as others have mentioned.

 

[Deleted member 135917]

I am an admin of forums with thousands of users and never had a problem with spam ever since I installed a text security question... Of course everyone in those forums know the answer because its related to the forum area

Never EVER had 1 single spam message since this