Preventing Spam in phpBB 3.0.6 and Above [*Read First Post*]

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LAUOR G
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Re: Preventing Spam in phpBB 3.0.6 and Above [*Read First Po

Post by LAUOR G »

this may have been covered before. I delete up to 50 spammers on a daily basis. I wondered whether phpBB have considered a system of deleting spammers from one screen rather than individually. It's easy to work out spammers and i'd rather tick a box and delete in a group than delete all individually because it would free up my time considerably. Is this something that can be done?
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Martin Truckenbrodt
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Re: Preventing Spam in phpBB 3.0.6 and Above [*Read First Po

Post by Martin Truckenbrodt »

Hello Lauor G,
  • Block the spammers before they can fill out the registration form. You can use Advanced Block MOD for this job.
  • Set Account Activation to User or use Double Activation (User+Admin) to force the use and the confirmation of real email addresses and to have a chance to delete the last ones of the spammers before they can be active on your board. For this job you can use the Advanced Double Activation Pack.
  • Purge your user database automatically to prune deactivated users (most of them are spammers with not existing email addresses). For this job you can use Advanced Double Activation Pack, too.
These three steps will decrease your spare time spending in user administration to the minimum (nearly to Zero).

Bye Martin
Last edited by Martin Truckenbrodt on Fri Dec 10, 2010 3:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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jsebean
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Re: Preventing Spam in phpBB 3.0.6 and Above [*Read First Po

Post by jsebean »

the problem i have with DNSBL is that you can have false positives. I instead am using the Q&A captcha and seems to be 100% effective against the spam bots, and the question is quite easy. So far so good for me (*knock on wood*) lets hope it stays that way.
-Jonah
:lol:
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Martin Truckenbrodt
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Re: Preventing Spam in phpBB 3.0.6 and Above [*Read First Po

Post by Martin Truckenbrodt »

Hello jsbean,
it's related to the way you are using the DNSBLs if you will have false positives, or not.

Bye Martin
Free tutorial: Installing MODs in phpBB 3.0
Advanced Block MOD - Prevent spam on your phpBB 3.0 board with Stop Forum Spam, BotScout, Akismet, Project Honey Pot and several IP-RBL and Domain-RBL DNS blacklists!
My MODs
Use the official phpBB Ideas to vote missing core features!!!
Lunesse
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Re: Preventing Spam in phpBB 3.0.6 and Above [*Read First Po

Post by Lunesse »

I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to use the QnA captcha, but I can't. I put questions in and everything, but the registration page still asks for the "code" below. Not the question. I am running 3.0.8 on a sanctioned style (shadow lite) so I have no idea what to do to get QnA running. Spammers get past the newly registered thing somehow, their first post just shows up posted...so I need to try changing the captcha....and anything else I can do.

any ideas why 1. QnA won't work and 2. Why Newly Registered isn't stopping spammers?
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Martin Truckenbrodt
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Re: Preventing Spam in phpBB 3.0.6 and Above [*Read First Po

Post by Martin Truckenbrodt »

Hello Lunesse,
1. It seems that your style is not compatible with phpBB 3.0.8. Although human spammers are able to get the Q&A CAPTCHAs.
2. Newly registered users feature doesn't prevent spammers. It just makes it a little bit more difficult for them.

What's your setting for Account Activation? Use at least "User" or better "User+Admin".

Bye Martin
BTW: You can have a look to my signature if you are interested in alternative ways to prevent forum spam.
Free tutorial: Installing MODs in phpBB 3.0
Advanced Block MOD - Prevent spam on your phpBB 3.0 board with Stop Forum Spam, BotScout, Akismet, Project Honey Pot and several IP-RBL and Domain-RBL DNS blacklists!
My MODs
Use the official phpBB Ideas to vote missing core features!!!
Lunesse
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Re: Preventing Spam in phpBB 3.0.6 and Above [*Read First Po

Post by Lunesse »

Hi!

Thanks for responding.

It is user reg right now for account activation.right now. If it were User/admin I would be swamped. It's a popular board and spammers LOVE it, but up until recently, the newly registered group stopped them from posting live, I'd just kill their spam and ban them.

Why doesn't new register work for me all the time anymore? I thought the point of it was to put messages in a moderation queue before posting them. I don't mind taking care of those one by one, since supposedly the point is to keep a new user post from showing up until I clear it. I have it set right now so two posts need to be verified before a user can post freely....but somehow, this is sometimes being circumvented, a new user (spammer) makes their very first post and it is live for all to see without going through the moderation queue.

I don't get why that is happening, and if this worked as well as it did a few months ago, I'd be a happy camper. Somehow newly registered isn't keeping things in the moderation queue until I get a look at it for everyone.

Do you know the guidelines for what styles work? I had Acid Tech Red until yesterday, very old, trying to find a new one now (that the users don't beat me over the head for) that will allow for it. I will definitely check your signature.
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Martin Truckenbrodt
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Re: Preventing Spam in phpBB 3.0.6 and Above [*Read First Po

Post by Martin Truckenbrodt »

Hello Lunesse,
I only know the styles Prosilver and Subsilver2.

Double Activation (User+Admin) is available with the Advanced Double Activation Pack. It's not a phpBB3 default feature.

For me the Newly registered users feature is not a good feature. So I'm not using it.

Bye Martin
Free tutorial: Installing MODs in phpBB 3.0
Advanced Block MOD - Prevent spam on your phpBB 3.0 board with Stop Forum Spam, BotScout, Akismet, Project Honey Pot and several IP-RBL and Domain-RBL DNS blacklists!
My MODs
Use the official phpBB Ideas to vote missing core features!!!
liquidtroll
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Re: Preventing Spam in phpBB 3.0.6 and Above [*Read First Po

Post by liquidtroll »

really nice nfo m8 , i have a lot of robots comeing , and i have the e-mail activation so they can not come in , but lately , i guess they break this safety tooo ,, why phpbb doesn t put a new strong CPTCHA in the new phpbb version so robosts can t go in!!! i think everyone needs this and it will be very nice to have 1 MOD less to install , have a good day pppl =))))
Pony99CA
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Re: Preventing Spam in phpBB 3.0.6 and Above [*Read First Po

Post by Pony99CA »

liquidtroll wrote:why phpbb doesn t put a new strong CPTCHA in the new phpbb version so robosts can t go in!!! i think everyone needs this and it will be very nice to have 1 MOD less to install
Are you just being a "troll"? :D phpBB supports a number of CAPTCHAs, including Q&A which has proven to be very effective.

Steve
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Creator of manage_bots and spoof_user (ask me)
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Lunesse
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Re: Preventing Spam in phpBB 3.0.6 and Above [*Read First Po

Post by Lunesse »

Newly registered DID work for awhile, and still does most of the time. Hm. =) I will try the double activation and see how that goes. I did manage to get a template that holds the QnA captcha....will use that too for variety.

Thanks for the responses.
ronled
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Re: Preventing Spam in phpBB 3.0.6 and Above [*Read First Po

Post by ronled »

Advanced Block Mod
Advanced Double Activation Pack
by Martin Truckenbrodt

Well supported and works like a charm. Thanks Martin.

Within moments of installing this using AutoMod... you could see things tighten up and the forum is better protected. This should be included in the next release of PHPBB.

Ron
Ozo
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Re: Preventing Spam in phpBB 3.0.6 and Above [*Read First Po

Post by Ozo »

Where are the instructions to install reCpatcha to our phpbb forum?
I went to the site and I cant even find the download for it. I don't see it mentioning anything about isntalling it for phpbb nor do I see it on this site..
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/a3
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Re: Preventing Spam in phpBB 3.0.6 and Above [*Read First Po

Post by /a3 »

If you are using phpBB 3.0.6 or later then reCAPTCHA will be installed by default, so you won't need to download anything.

If you go to www.google.com/recaptcha and sign-up to reCAPTCHA you should be given a public and private key. Then go to your phpBB forum, go to the Admin CP, go to CAPTCHA modules, select reCAPTCHA and click Configure. You will then be able to enter your public and private keys. Once this is done, reCAPTCHA will no longer be grey in the CAPTCHA modules page, and you will be able to select it as your CAPTCHA module.

Unless your host has disabled networks connections through PHP then it should work fine. :)
Ozo
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Re: Preventing Spam in phpBB 3.0.6 and Above [*Read First Po

Post by Ozo »

Oh... I didn't realize i can select the grey'd out options. geez that makes no sense.

Anyway, thanks for the help. :)
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