Thats the question really, I set one up before and it got spammed to death and I don't want to moderate it 24/7, is there a way to cut it as much as possible. Paul
Email verification, captcha, removed obvious categories that bots spam to. Just see what categories your getting spammed on and rename them. Thats a few things to get started.
It is tough when you have REAL people spamming though. Spammers with a good proxy system are hard to get rid of. I cant really help ya here, what aaron mentioned should hopefully be enough as long as it is not real humans coming in to spam.
this is what I've implemented ALL at registration first 1. are you human? -yes = safe - no = cancel reg -not sure = cancel reg 2. what is: ask questions example 2+2, 4+5, what color, etc... 3. Capture it cut down spammers so far completely As for registered real members spamming your forum, it'll be hard to get rid off. however you can embed a code or edit for spammy posts with more than 2 links or so to appear as juberish.. as in "go to site.com and do this and that" will be changed into "dhfjhdhgdjgh" or "you own provided message"
Neticule made a very good point. When it comes to dealing with real people and spammers you'll need to bring in moderators to watch your forum.
I had a problem with “Member Registration Link Spammers†and found a mod (Anti-Spam ACP) to install on my phpBB forum to take away their incentive to even register... and also kept their shitty links off my domain... which will be good for my site's SEO value. I then found most new registrations were coming from .CN domains... which I don't believe any legit user would be using at my forum... so I banned them in the forum's admin panel with this: That stopped me from having to deal with 150 bogus regs everyday I posted more on this problem on my blog: http://www.scoopy.us/news/32
I totally agree. Find some users on your forum that would be interested in helping administer the place and you will be on your way to solving your spamming problems.
Right thanks for the advice, it will be invite only as I have many people asking me to create a forum and I will take on board what is said and yes getting others to help moderate looks the safest way, that was the problem i Don't want to be there myself 24/7. Thanks Paul
First, put no-follow tags Second, I've put a message on my forum - WARNING: Do not waste your time. Improper entries, SPAM links and URLs will be deleted, so don't even think about it! Research Papers Community Should work There are also some mods for forum like Nospam, nospamguests, simply check it and install.
captcha with multiple answers will be a good one... and unique email verification, plus after posting time limit for new members...
captcha sux, i work with a small semi automated spamm program, so guests and forums are not a problem just build a better forum engine, like this one for example! PS - who wants to know more about spamilka, pls PM
Wordpress uses akismet, which works surprisingly well to fight comment spam. SMF (simple machine forum) has a version of akismet you can add to your forum. I haven't implemented it yet, but I just got my forum up yesterday, so I doubt I'll be getting too much spam right away. Anyway, if you're using SMF, look into akismet.
The best solution is a combo of what everyone is suggesting. A rock solid registration process and some real live human mods. We also go one step further and allow any established member to use our mods tools for flagging spam, etc. You would be amazed at how many users take great pride in keeping the forums clean.
^ that's a really good point. if members are really invested in the community, they hate spam as much as you do.
The same thing happens here. Your best bet is to find people on the forum that are legitimate and productive members of the community and make them moderators. Chances are they hate the spam as much as you do and want the forums cleaned up. Just make your choices wisely and give them limited responsibility at the beginning until they slowly show themselves trustworthy.
phbb gets spammed the most I think. SMF has been better and vbulletin is good, too. I block ip addresses. But one of my forums is so active a spammer doesn't have a prayer. They post and with in seconds I have 5 emails reporting the spammer. The moderators are good as well.