Topic: What does "Banned" really mean?

[Siirist]

Hi,

I have verified spammers that are applying for membership which is only by Administrator approval.

I have banned them on Name, Email address, and IP address.

I have the Anti-Spam set to "High-Angled letters, considerable noise/lines" and I have the following four (4) questions:

"Enter the last three numbers seen in dg7564gh"
"Write the first two letters seen in 56kdgt"
"Write the numbers seen in no597spam"
"Write the uppercase letters seen in dfsGHFuyt"

So why am I getting this email;
"Arthurgory has just signed up as a new member of your forum. Click the link below to view their profile. hxxp://www.example.net/forum1/index.php?action=profile;u=142"

See attached screenshot

Thanks in advance.

Be Well,
Siirist

[Sir Osis of Liver]

You can either not approve them, or approve and ban them.  Don't know what will happen if you ban a member without first approving the account, but looks like that's what you've done.

[Kindred]

First and foremost ....   4 questions, especially if you ask all of them each time, are not enough.   I have 20 questions, but only ask 2 for any one user.

If those are your only questions, I can guarantee that the have been catalogued and are in the spammer database, so they can be answered by bots.

Second, banning spammers is basically useless. Delete the user and prevent them from registering I. The future with better/more questions.

Also, I suggest using bad behavior + httpbl

[Sir Osis of Liver]

Ok, just tested it, and that's what you've done.  If new member is in approval queue and you ban them without approving the account first, the ban takes effect and member is removed from approval queue.  If you look in their profile, you have options to approve the account or view the ban.  If member tries to login, they get message 'Your account is still awaiting admin approval'. 

[Siirist]

Thank you "Sir" and Kindred for your suggestions.

. . . or approve and ban them.  Don't know what will happen if you ban a member without first approving the account, but looks like that's what you've done.

That is exactly what I have done

If those are your only questions, I can guarantee that the have been catalogued and are in the spammer database, so they can be answered by bots.
Second, banning spammers is basically useless. Delete the user and prevent them from registering.

So as I understand it, I am to add many more questions, and ask that only 2 or 3 be answered.

Further, I should delete the 100 "banned" members that were NOT approved before "banning" (so, they are not banned?)

As always, be well,
Siirist

[Kindred]

Yes, I would suggest just deleting them...   Banning a spammer is basically pointless, at this point, since they will just use a new ip, email and host...

[Siirist]

Thanks Kindred, 

I will delete them and add more questions to the group of questions.   

Be Well,
Siirist

[Thread Killer]

I know this is an old thread, but I want to say thank you.  I have had 1 question for over a year, and I wondered why I had 25 sign-ups and 1 was ligit!  Lets see how 15 do, and they have to anser 2 questions...Should be quite interesting over the next 2-3 weeks!

First and foremost ....   4 questions, especially if you ask all of them each time, are not enough.   I have 20 questions, but only ask 2 for any one user.

If those are your only questions, I can guarantee that the have been catalogued and are in the spammer database, so they can be answered by bots.

Second, banning spammers is basically useless. Delete the user and prevent them from registering I. The future with better/more questions.

Also, I suggest using bad behavior + httpbl

[Irisado]

Thanks for the information, however, as this topic is two years old and the original question was answered, it can be left to rest now.