Lately I've been getting a ton of registrations from spammers that have a very specific naming scheme.
The usernames are all lowercase, and generally have a firstnamelastname scheme, and sometimes have a firstnamelastname#### or firstname##lastname scheme where there may be a few numbers in there.
They are generally registered with generic yahoo or gmail accounts (so I cant block them on email domain), and their hostnames are generally either an IP, or a DNS name from somewhere in asia that almost invariably lead back to hosted server sites.
I have reCAPTCHA and Stop Spammer installed, but somehow they're getting around both of them.
Is there any way I can stop this? I have hundreds of them registered already, and at least 10 or 20 show up every day.
The odd thing is very few of them actually post spam, maybe 5 out of the hundreds have posted.
Any ideas?
EDIT: I'm running 1.1.11
I installed Anti-Bot as well: http://custom.simplemachines.org/mods/index.php?mod=999
Is there any registration verification that allows me to enter my own questions? The one that I found was deprecated and doesnt work with 1.1.11
I normally advised people to upgrade to SMF 2.0 (now RC3 and coming to RC4).
This is the mod you need http://custom.simplemachines.org/mods/index.php?mod=1516
It is the same as what is built into 2.0.xx
Upgrading to 2.0.xx will NOT stop spammers, especially if they are not an automated attack !
Quote from: Mattydiah on September 24, 2010, 11:17:44 AM
The usernames are all lowercase, and generally have a firstnamelastname scheme, and sometimes have a firstnamelastname#### or firstname##lastname scheme where there may be a few numbers in there.
Even being able to block such name formats would block a lot of legitimate users. That's probably why they're used. At the least, do you require that the user respond to an email to confirm they've signed up, which would weed out those using a fake email address?
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They are generally registered with generic yahoo or gmail accounts (so I cant block them on email domain), and their hostnames are generally either an IP, or a DNS name from somewhere in asia that almost invariably lead back to hosted server sites.
Maybe you can ban offending countries by IP address ranges? Of course, you will lose legitimate members from those countries, but it may be worth the tradeoff.
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I have reCAPTCHA and Stop Spammer installed, but somehow they're getting around both of them.
Spammers use farms of live Third-World humans to do the signup. They can get around visual puzzles quite easily, and can even answer (relatively easy) questions.
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The odd thing is very few of them actually post spam, maybe 5 out of the hundreds have posted.
Oh, don't worry -- they're just stocking up on accounts to get around to spamming... :-(
Quote from: Paul_Pauline on September 24, 2010, 01:17:31 PM
This is the mod you need http://custom.simplemachines.org/mods/index.php?mod=1516
It is the same as what is built into 2.0.xx
Upgrading to 2.0.xx will NOT stop spammers, especially if they are not an automated attack !
As she noted, she got like 3 anti-spam mods. How can this one do any better?
However, I would agree with MrPhil. One thing about forum and mod, is setting and management. Do ban / blacklist certain users IP etc... Otherwise, there is no way to stop it from keep coming.
Quote from: Mattydiah on September 24, 2010, 11:32:31 AM
Is there any registration verification that allows me to enter my own questions? The one that I found was deprecated and doesnt work with 1.1.11
It was what the OP asked for, I didn't say it would solve the problem ;)
Yup... You right thre Pauline
Will that work with 1.1.11? It says it is for 1.1.7 and 1.1.11 is not listed in the manuals.
I am having an awful time with spammers and the last time I tried a mod it took my forum down which was mad hell when I had a class in session. I've got a one week window to try to add a mod to fight spammers before the next class begins and really need to fix this but I don't want to play around with something that isn't for sure going to work with my version.
As with all mods, they normally do a test install and report if there are problems. Also you can sometimes parse the mod on the Mod Site (http://custom.simplemachines.org/mods/index.php) for your version to see if there will be issues. And keep in mind that it only installs on the default theme.
I use this mod
Anti-Spam Verification Questions 1.02
http://custom.simplemachines.org/mods/index.php?mod=1516
And all bot registrations stopped!
@ Mattydiah - Is this issue solved or do you still require assistance?