Spam on my forum

[arreferee]

In the past few weeks, the amount of spam I've seen on my forum has greatly increased.  New members have to activate their accounts, but we are still getting some instances of spam on the forum.

Is there a mod or setting that will aid in this?  I know we can get rid of it completely, but is there anything that will help?

Also, I found a good website for spam at http://www.spamsuicide.com/.  They have a list of over 2000 e-mail addresses that have registered on their site for the purpose of spam.  They also list the most common domains that spammers use.  It has been helpful to me in that I search on this list each time a suspect member joins my forum.  Many times, I've been able to ban that user before they have been able to post or even activate their account.

[Gary]

Are you using 1.1.2? If so, enable the CAPTCHA feature in Admin > Registration... that should slow down the spam bots.

-ALM

[babjusi]

You can install this mod as well, just in case, for good measure

http://custom.simplemachines.org/mods/index.php?mod=563

[arreferee]

Thanks guys!  I've been needing to upgrade to 1.1.2...just haven't had time.  Maybe I can make the time now.

[babjusi]

Thanks guys!  I've been needing to upgrade to 1.1.2...just haven't had time.  Maybe I can make the time now.

That would be a good move

[metallica48423]

indeed, then another idea would be to install the custom profile fields mod, and create a new field thats required upon registration.

This will throw off automated registration scripts that are programmed to systematically enter data because, well, now it can't enter data its not expecting

Though i suspect in the future even this and visual verification wont even work

[arreferee]

Knowing that I'm a beginner at this and it will take me quite a bit longer to upgrade than most of you, would it be better to go ahead and upgrade to 1.1.2 now and then upgrade again to 2.0 in a few months?  Or, should I just wait and upgrade to 2.0 when it comes out?

[babjusi]

Knowing that I'm a beginner at this and it will take me quite a bit longer to upgrade than most of you, would it be better to go ahead and upgrade to 1.1.2 now and then upgrade again to 2.0 in a few months?  Or, should I just wait and upgrade to 2.0 when it comes out?

I suggest that you upgrade now at 1.1.2. The 2.0. would be available only to charter members in a few months, whereas for the public, I think it would take a bit longer

[arreferee]

Knowing that I'm a beginner at this and it will take me quite a bit longer to upgrade than most of you, would it be better to go ahead and upgrade to 1.1.2 now and then upgrade again to 2.0 in a few months?  Or, should I just wait and upgrade to 2.0 when it comes out?

I suggest that you upgrade now at 1.1.2. The 2.0. would be available only to charter members in a few months, whereas for the public, I think it would take a bit longer

Thanks.  I am currently running 1.1 RC2.  Will I need to do a "Large Upgrade" or a "Small Upgrade" from the Downloads page?

[babjusi]

You need the ''Large Upgrade'' download file