Forum spam is driving me nuts..What to do?

[nikkii30]

I was wondering if anyone can give me suggestions how to stop forum spam or maybe just bring it down to a minimum. I just put up my vbulletin forum just maybe a few weeks ago, which I haven't even promoted as yet, already I had to delete over 150 spam registrations. Any suggestions? Lisa? Thanks!!!!

[lisa]

I FEEL your pain! LOL Here are some things you can do...

1) In the vBulletin Options page you can block domains. So look at your spammy registrations and block some of the common domains that spam tends to originate from. Obviously you don't want to block the popular ones like gmail, hotmail, etc. but there are some domains that are more often spam than not (@mail.ru, @fulldownloadworld, etc.)

In your Admin panel go to vBulletin Options -> User Banner Options -> and enter the domains.

2) Download the Check4Spam plugin.
http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=173490 This will allow you to not allow links for a member's first X number of posts. It will also scan each message and if it believes it's spam, it will go in the moderation queue for you to review.

Doing these two things this has helped with spam TREMENDOUSLY. Of course there's almost no way to get rid of it altogether but you can minimize it by doing the above. I would say this has cut my spam by about 80%.

[nikkii30]

Thanks a BUNCH!!! I will try what u suggested!!

[DotComBot]

I prefer hot spam myself.


Ummm, what was that?

Welcome to the forum, by the way. I think . . .

[lisa]

Originally Posted by DotComBot

I prefer hot spam myself.


Ummm, what was that?

Welcome to the forum, by the way. I think . . .

Right... and that's why I deleted it. That had to be one of the oddest messages I've seen on here in a while. What in the world??? LOL!

[lisa]

I don't know if anyone is getting notifications of updates on this thread or have been keeping up with it but how odd that it keeps getting hit with what appears to be bot spam. I've deleted three spammy messages from here. I just thought it's kind of funny/ironic that it's a thread that discusses getting rid of forum spam. Must be something in this thread that triggers the bots.

[Android]

I think it is being done on behalf of irony. But, I guess all spammers think alike.

[MayaLocke]

You can move the registration feeds around to which will sometimes trip up bots. Also are you using captcha codes? That too will help.

[lisa]

Yeah I'm using captcha, anti spam plugins, you name it. But overall things have improved tremendously compared to when I first launched this form. I just keep my spam shield out at all times.

[Donk]

An interesting idea for a site is a forum spam database.

You create a plugin for the major boards vbulletin phpbb etc. This would add a "spam check" icon on the admin/ mod screen next to the scales and report posts button. On clicking this the Username, IP address and the message would be sent to your site and compared against the database. If those details were already in the database the post would automatically be shown to be spam.

This is similar to the way hotmail / gmail and spamasassin trap a lot of spam emails but I don't think it has been done with forum posts and would have highlighted a few recent posts on this forum. For instance this one and this one

The only question remains how to monetize it??

Regards

Bob

[lisa]

Yes, now this would be nice!! I have my fingers crossed for vBulletin 4.0 and hope there are some major anti-spam fighting tools/plugins available. But a smart plugin like you described would be ideal.

[dylanbowman]

spammers get smarter too. dont you just hate it?

[James]

Perhaps, but perhaps just more devious and "educated" in their craft. If they were really getting smarter they would get a life.

[rodrico101]

I use SMF forum software on a site I have built. Since I have been promoting this site and using it as a signature in some forums I have been hit with a load of spam. I personally activate all members, so at least I can keep them from writing on the board, but am averaging 10-20 new members per day, with most if not all spammers.

Yikes,

Rod

[PaulDouglas]

We have a new spammer in Kaihlashfd. PM'ed me some kung fu stuff for $50 if I act right away :-) Didn't know where else to report this....