1. Advertising
    y u no do it?

    Advertising (learn more)

    Advertise virtually anything here, with CPM banner ads, CPM email ads and CPC contextual links. You can target relevant areas of the site and show ads based on geographical location of the user if you wish.

    Starts at just $1 per CPM or $0.10 per CPC.

Auto forum spammers

Discussion in 'Link Development' started by arxidakas, Mar 21, 2007.

  1. #1
    Hello

    Recently all my forums have started being spammed by various bots. I get 5-6 bots every day registering.They even bypass the letter-protection thingy that is required when registering ! I use phpbb.

    These bots have a link in theirs status page and sometimes make various posts with links to various sites.

    So i was wondering if any of you know such a program ...
     
    arxidakas, Mar 21, 2007 IP
  2. tnd

    tnd Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    92
    Likes Received:
    1
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    123
    #2
    If you already set for captcha or image verification to block spam then you have to check if it work or not.

    You can test by post without enter code from image verification and see if it show any error or it can post sucessful. You also check if image show in random or show same very time when open or refresh the page.

    I don't think that spammer has good tools to extract code from image automatic.
     
    tnd, Mar 21, 2007 IP
  3. scisoft

    scisoft Peon

    Messages:
    22
    Likes Received:
    0
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #3
    No despite popular believe, captcha is note secure and there are algos around capable to crack it in a now time.

    As a first option. you can make captcha more difficult to read for bots, but it also mean that some humans will not enter it properly.

    You may pay somebody to make small enhancement to the forum engine. The simplest one is to check for human action in the OnClick javascript event. Humans will click the submit button, and the OnCLick event can set the value of a hidden input. In the next step, a script will verify that the value was set properly. Bots will generally submit the form without firing the OnCLick event.

    Other possibility is replacing the captcha by a question and answer system most humans will easily answer etc.
     
    scisoft, Mar 21, 2007 IP
  4. Mahumba

    Mahumba Peon

    Messages:
    72
    Likes Received:
    3
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #4
    I use a birthday date pattern. Seemed to have solved my problem.

    Roger
     
    Mahumba, Mar 21, 2007 IP
  5. ThreeGuineaWatch

    ThreeGuineaWatch Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    1,489
    Likes Received:
    69
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    140
    #5
    One thing I have noticed is that 999 times out of a 1000 the bots will fill out one or more of the extended fields in the signup form (for example the homepage field.) One thing you can do is add a line to your sign up form stating "Please do not fill out the extended form fields as these are used to catch bots." That way, genuine signups will not fill those fields and those that have it filled out will be bots. Then run a cron job overnight to remove the accounts with the extended forms filled out ;) Works great for me.
     
    ThreeGuineaWatch, Mar 21, 2007 IP
  6. good-seller

    good-seller Peon

    Messages:
    7
    Likes Received:
    1
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #6
    i hate spamer
     
    good-seller, Mar 21, 2007 IP
  7. boyponga

    boyponga Banned

    Messages:
    1,013
    Likes Received:
    11
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #7
    I saw that kind of bots, they are amateur spammers who never receive any traffic or links from their site because they are easily banned
     
    boyponga, Mar 21, 2007 IP
  8. mightyb

    mightyb Banned

    Messages:
    6,566
    Likes Received:
    405
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #8
    I believe he is looking for the spam software and not the solution... lol i hope im wrong :D
     
    mightyb, Mar 21, 2007 IP
  9. arxidakas

    arxidakas Peon

    Messages:
    313
    Likes Received:
    1
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #9
    yes i am looking for a program as i say in the last line of my post
     
    arxidakas, Mar 21, 2007 IP
  10. Jasonb

    Jasonb Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    4,486
    Likes Received:
    151
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    195
    #10
    iv seen these sorts of bots loads of times, what i did on my forums was to just employ lots more mods and have them remove spammy threads and delete spam members. That was the only idea i could come up with at the time. I hate spammey bots there really annoying.
     
    Jasonb, Mar 21, 2007 IP
  11. mightyb

    mightyb Banned

    Messages:
    6,566
    Likes Received:
    405
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #11
    Even if i knew where to find it i would not tell you. My forum gets hit by this crap every day. If i knew the person who wrote that program id go and blowtorch his feet... Well... May be not so extreme... Just slap em with a wet fish a few times and unload a lorry full of junk mail into his back garden...
     
    mightyb, Mar 21, 2007 IP
  12. Jasonb

    Jasonb Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    4,486
    Likes Received:
    151
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    195
    #12
    I think blow torching feet is a much deserved punishment :cool: some peaples forums have been effected more than others some are full of porn bots posts like a few of myne. :eek:
     
    Jasonb, Mar 21, 2007 IP
  13. AfterHim.com

    AfterHim.com Peon

    Messages:
    1,923
    Likes Received:
    51
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #13
    We ban about 99.99 % of all .ru domains...that solves most of it for us.
     
    AfterHim.com, Mar 21, 2007 IP
  14. TorchedSEO

    TorchedSEO Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    369
    Likes Received:
    13
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    108
    #14
    yep I know the site of the software, but don't ask i won't tell you where to get it but it is from a russian. Just block all .ru emails and russian ips, you might lose a member or two but your spam will be cut down by at least 90%.
     
    TorchedSEO, Mar 21, 2007 IP
  15. ThreeGuineaWatch

    ThreeGuineaWatch Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    1,489
    Likes Received:
    69
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    140
    #15
    There's a sweet irony in us all responding to this thread with suggestions on how to overcome what the OP is requesting :D

    To the OP: there's a PHP class called Snoopy that you can use to create auto-sign up scripts. I've used it for other purposes, and it works admirably.
     
    ThreeGuineaWatch, Mar 21, 2007 IP
  16. Lpspider

    Lpspider Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    2,216
    Likes Received:
    56
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    160
    #16
    I have a system where instead of the letter images they have to answer a question with images.

    i.e.: select the butterfly. The user must click on the butterfly, otherwise the signup is flagged as a spammer.
     
    Lpspider, Mar 21, 2007 IP
  17. ninjashoes

    ninjashoes Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    1,401
    Likes Received:
    35
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    138
    #17
    dependig on your forum software their should be a mod for alternate image verification, one that the spammers wont bother to crack since everyone uses the default
     
    ninjashoes, Mar 21, 2007 IP
  18. Olney

    Olney Berserker

    Messages:
    234
    Likes Received:
    6
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #18
    Everything doesn't always seem to be bots. There are people posting legit questions that actually fit with the Forum category. If the question is good actually I leave it.
     
    Olney, Mar 21, 2007 IP