Preventing spammers, some steps I take that may be helpful:

Started by Zero_Panzer, May 25, 2009, 12:12:08 PM

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Zero_Panzer

Before you start anything, make sure you're site is up to date and EVERY DAY BACK UP YOUR DATABSE!!!111ONE1!!!

If you're like me, hopefully not, you didn't backup your database before someone hacked you and ruined your stuff, but you maybe had a backup? In addition to backing up your database I'd recommend trying  to back up your main site once a week or however often you edit it. Mine I haven't worked on in a while (>_>... Bad habit of starting without finishing) and so I back up whenever I do an update / upgrade.

BUT ANYWAY!!!! Preventing Spammers from registering :)

1) Admin approved registrations only, if they truly want to be on your site then they wont mind waiting a few hours to start posting.
2) When you see "Members waiting for activation / approval" in your ACP's member section, you should look at their email
3) First I Google the email, just to see what pops up, if its a spammer odds are they've been on other forums and you'll see their email on tons of Google pages.
4) Next I'll search the StopForumSpam(dot com obviously) database (They've been keeping records of spammer email's since 2006!!!)
5) If nothing comes up from StopForumSpam or Google then I email the member and ask them why they want to join, if it sounds like a genuine answer then probably its worth trying. If you're still suspicious (as I generally am >.<) You can ask them to get on AIM / MSN / ICQ / YAHOO / Gmail Talk / Myspace IM or whatever form of messenger you'd be accomidating with.

I'm not going to guarantee that these steps will work, but they will help in prevention.
I've been using it for a while and I'm still all right :P *Knock on wood*

~Panzer


EDIT: Perhaps SimpleMachine users might know of a good mod for MultipleBannings? (Or how to block most if not all of the users on StopForumSpam.com?)


Forum spam problem?
Wiener pill posts got ya down?
Click my signature, I posted some tips that you may find helpful.

Afro

Thats called a long process... Install the anti spam question.

or Force e mail login instead of username.

it works for me


Zero_Panzer



Forum spam problem?
Wiener pill posts got ya down?
Click my signature, I posted some tips that you may find helpful.

Zanaz

My forum is for members of my gaming team. I use strict controls including Administrator approved only registration. Guests are not allowed to post links or pictures on my forum and I have a limited number of areas that guests may visit.

Even though I have an anti-spam registration add-on, I still recieve up to 100 registrations per day from people in Russia, China, Slavocia, etc. Nothing against those people, but I know they are not on my gaming team.. so yeah.. sorry no approval.

Cheers,
Zanaz

Dzonny

Quote from: Zero_Panzer on May 26, 2009, 10:14:01 AM
Anti spam questions don't always work... :S
You can use few more mods which is really help with this problem....
If everything is ok now, feel free to mark this topic as solved....
Regards

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