I tried a different php board through my hosting service once before. I had no instructions (and I'm rather clueless on what a lot of this stuff is) and no support. I was able to set up a nice board, but I was hit with thousands of computer generated spams a day. I couldn't handle that so I had to shut it down. Now my host has simple machines. I'm praying this is better. I really want a forum for my site. I need some serious help...before I link my website to my forum, I want to make sure I can protect my forum against computer generated spam. Can someone give me the "dummies" how-to version? Thanks!
The best way to cut down on spam is to give spambots as little ability as possible to spam.
My recommendation is to make sure guests cannot post, and to use image verification and member activation for account registration. This will stop 90% of attempts quickly. I've only seen two or three items get through on the many SMF boards I admin for.
Some tips.
1. Require email activation
2. Set Visual Verification to at least MEDIUM setting.
Extra mods that may help
Are you human mod? http://custom.simplemachines.org/mods/index.php?mod=999
If you plan to limit posting to registered users, SMF will suit you just fine. All you need to do is make sure the posting permissions are set to registered users. I think that is the default setup. You can enable visual verification for registration which will prevent bots from registering and if they can't register they can't post.
However, if you have your board set up to allow unregistered guest posting, SMF has no visual verification for that. You will get tons of spam. For a guest posting application, your best bet would be phpBB3.
Lainaus käyttäjältä: motumbo - tammikuu 04, 2008, 04:35:21 AP
However, if you have your board set up to allow unregistered guest posting, SMF has no visual verification for that. You will get tons of spam. For a guest posting application, your best bet would be phpBB3.
I recommend looking at the Visual Verification Options mod or the Advanced Visual Verification mod. Both allow you to require an image for guest posting. I'm using VVO on two boards with much success.
Lainaus käyttäjältä: karlbenson - tammikuu 03, 2008, 12:15:58 IP
Some tips.
1. Require email activation
...
Could you please elaborate -
How can I add an email verification to the process of registration of new user?
Thanks.
Admin => Registration
All the options are in there :)