Spam is driving me crazy

[advicesisters]

I am getting quite a few new "members" a day mostly from .ru and .cz,  on my forms at: hxxp:advicesisters.net/simplemachinesforum/index.php [nonactive]

I approve all new members so I can tell that these are not legit people. I could simply erase all of them, but then I'd miss those who really do want to legitimately be members.

Is there anything I can do about this that is easy?  I have read some of the descriptions about how to alter code to avoid spambots, and they are way beyond my experience to execute successfully.

Help anyone?

[Caelum]

I'd suggest installing the following mods:

reCaptcha

Stop spammer

BotBuster

Then using e-mail verification instead of approving the accounts yourself.

Works fine for me


Need any help getting them working, or...?

[Tim Russ]

If you set the visual verification to its highest level and set the activation to member activation it will block the bots and verify that a real person is registering with an actual email account.

[Caelum]

Yup, what Tim said helps too.

Personally though, with the mods I linked to, haven't had a single spam registration since I switched to SMF

[advicesisters]

I understand what Captcha is, for example, but how do I install?

[Caelum]

Admin panel > Packages > Download packages > Simple Machines Third-party Mod Site  [Browse] > Proper section (Security and moderation I think) > Download proper mod > Apply mod.

Alternatively, apply at packages (Admin panel > Packages) main page.

It should then give you a further guide on what to do/where to find settings of the particular mod.

Use ctrl + f at any time to find the proper stuff.

[kat]

You can also do what I did and ban all .ru .gmail and .cz e-mails addresses.

[Caelum]

True that. Trouble is it also bans legitimate e-mails >_<

*Cough* I use gmail *Cough*

[kat]

Trust you! 

Think about it, though.

GMail is a convenience one. We all have email addresses with our ISP.

If people want to join my forum, they don't use a convenience address. 

[Caelum]

Yeah, good point, Kat.

Then again, gmail kinda became my mail e-mail (bad excuse, I know).
.ru & .cz might also ban ISP-email-addresses from Russia & the Czech republic though. But, not sure, as I don't live in either


Also, check your PM inbox Advicesisters

[advicesisters]

Thanks to everyone who gave me suggestions and offers of assistance. I've been out of town so I didn't get a chance to check the forum.  I really appreciate all of you!!!

I am going to try the easy thing first, just banning the .ru emails.  The thing is, they use other extensions as well as .ru but we'll see how it goes.  IF that doesn't work, I'll be taking you up on those technical IM assistance offers.

[Aleksi "Lex" Kilpinen]

Hi, any update on this? Did the advice provided above help you with your spam problem?