Spam Members-Help Needed

www.anglingonline.net · Tue May 02, 2006 6:44 pm

Hiya,

Weve got a problem on a phpBB board, we are suffering alot of members coming onto the forum and joining up, giving a false e-mail and then putting a link up to a blog of some sort which either quotes a saying, or says, 'why are you spamming our forum?'

It is getting quiite annoying now, and we are deleting 'members' by the dozen per day on some occasions!

Any help on how we could put a stop to this would be much appreciated!

Thanks Ross

www.anglingonline.net · Tue May 02, 2006 7:00 pm

could this be an automatic sign up ?

Post by **KevC** » Tue May 02, 2006 7:08 pm

Almost certainly.

Look in your admin panel > configuration and turn on visual confirmation. That will stop a reasonable number of them.

Also if you have some kind of account activation (user or admin) so a valid email address is needed to turn the account on, that can help too.

www.anglingonline.net · Tue May 02, 2006 8:25 pm

Cheers Kev, so far havent had another signup!!

uw168 · Post by **uw168** » Tue May 02, 2006 8:25 pm

I used to get the same problem. but after I turn on the visual confirmation option, it works for my forum now. No more spamming on my forum.

slammers · Post by **slammers** » Tue May 02, 2006 9:13 pm

I have viual confirmation AND user account activation turned on and I still get 1 or 2 SPAM post every week. Is it possible that this is being caused by automatic posters?

I guess an automated system could sign up and automaticllay look for the activation emails.

Retro King · Post by **Retro King** » Tue May 02, 2006 9:54 pm

I have at least 2 -3 a day even though visual admin etc is turned on, its a major concern now as the web links that are included with the automated sign ups are totally unacceptable

Dave Bean · Post by **Dave Bean** » Tue May 02, 2006 10:01 pm

I have visual confirmation on and that helps, but still getting a few new member spam and some posting spam each day. I'm going to be unavailable for a few days, so I turned admin activation on, and I guess I won't activate for a few days - in theory, spam should go to zero, but admin activation may not be the best long-term option.

Also, I'm not sure what admin activation does for me other than alert me we may have a new member, since I don't know much about the member. I will however, check any website links.

Post by **KevC** » Wed May 03, 2006 9:29 am

Dave Bean wrote: Also, I'm not sure what admin activation does for me other than alert me we may have a new member, since I don't know much about the member. I will however, check any website links.

But it allows you to see their info (email and www/sig etc) from the memberlist or looking them up in user management before you turn the account on. The bots are pretty easy to spot usually from the www link in the profile. Without the account on, they can't post anything.

Dave Bean · Post by **Dave Bean** » Wed May 03, 2006 12:31 pm

Thanks. One phpbb admin requests more info in their activation email - things like phone number and name. I'm thinking about having them say a little about their business.

cloudbrk · Post by **cloudbrk** » Wed May 03, 2006 1:15 pm

I dont have the option of Visual Confirmation under configuration. Where is it that I am not seeing it?

Post by **KevC** » Wed May 03, 2006 1:19 pm

There are MODs to make certain bits compulsory. I dunno whether the bot programs are able to simply add nonsense into those fields anyway though. Worth a try.

Dave Bean · Post by **Dave Bean** » Wed May 03, 2006 1:26 pm

I'm not sure when it started, but under configuration in 2.0.19 we have:

Enable Visual Confirmation
Requires users enter a code defined by an image when registering.

now I'm looking for a mode for visual confirmation when posting.

Post by **KevC** » Wed May 03, 2006 1:33 pm

cloudbrk wrote: I dont have the option of Visual Confirmation under configuration. Where is it that I am not seeing it?

VC appeared around about 2.0.13 I think.

So either you're very out of date, or your template doesn't have that code in it to display in the admin panel/registration.

If it's the latter, you can add the code with this
http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.ph ... ght=visual

If it's the former, update... today!

cloudbrk · Post by **cloudbrk** » Wed May 03, 2006 1:41 pm

how do I tell what version I am running?

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