I am getting too much spam

I haven't really done any research on that one, mainly because I just tested SMF for an hour or so, are the spam issues worse than phpBB2?

 

PhpBB2 as a virgin site, i would agree has spam troubles. However a couple of mods and bear in mind i have developed a fully modded phpBB2 suite wipes out the spam. SMF has problems with multiple mods as they use an install/uininstall procedure for mods. These invariably interact with each other and leave parts of mods behind causing dbase and php horros at times. I have been involved on many occasions in then manually removing the php coding for people to clean up their SMF installations.#

Spamming on SMF is easy if you know how and there are a lot of people who do know how unfortunately

 

there are also IP blacklists for forums which can update your IP deny lists automatically with a CRON event. Not sure who can supply you with that info, but I have been considering starting an automated registry for them

 

I say human verification fields, such as questions and answers are the best and most efficient way to eliminate spam, don't you agree?

- Meti

 

I have just launched this week Forum Watch. http://www.forumwatch.info.

The site will serve numerous means such as

Forum Watch has been designed to allow you to promote your forum as a means of easy reference.
As well as allowing internet users to find your site with ease, for a nominal fee Forum Watch also provides services specifically available to you, as forum operators. These services include access to:


The Admin Room - where Admins from forums can discuss any current issues or problems they are experiencing.


Banned User List - has been created, in which forum Admins can provide details of users who have been banned from their forum in order to inform others of potential troubles. We will also inform all subscribed forum operators by email of the current up to date banned listings which will include email addresses and I.P. addresses. We feel that this is an important tool to combat and stamp out ever increasing forum abuse.


SEO Service - We will carry out a comprehensive search engine optimization procedure using the latest proffesional SEO software on your behalf to ensure your site can be easily indexed and fully optimized for high placing in the search engines. We will provide this service three times per year to ensure your site remains at the peak of optimization.

Mod Service (to be added) We will install forum modifications for forum operators to take the hassle out doing it yourself and causing forum crashing.

Once a member of forum watch you will be given the option of displaying the Forum Watch logo. In time this should ward off trouble makers and make the world of forums a much happier place. A lot of potential forum members are put off airing there views on forums due the hassle that they may get. We hope to make this a thing of the past with this service.

Regards

 

are you using any special mods? if so, what are they?
thanks

 

Hi

Yes there are over 200 mods with 30 specialist mods written by myself to serve the required functionality.
These have not been released anywhere

 

Yep, I have had one of these installed for a month or so now and haven't had a SINGLE bot signup, despite many many attempts every day.

 

I had the same problem with phpBB. It took me ages to figure out how to tie it down - make sure that you have the captcha option enabled so that the bots can't register - I also put in lots of domains that were banned... also try the word filter that means most of the spammers will get bored if they can't put smut or 'paris hilton' links on your site

Good luck - it's worth the struggle

Cheers, p.

 

The fields are unbreakable; but always remember to make sure you have a unique question, if you use the same question as other web sites you may convince spammers; but that's doubtful.

- Meti

 

Watchout..not sure when you last tested Mybb but the 1.2x series is excellent. I have had the priviledge to test the upcoming 1.4 beta which will hopefully be released soon (not by phpbb standards of 6 years but within 6 months).

And even if Captcha gets broken...mybb has an Akismet plugin to seriously kill spam.
http://mods.mybboard.net/view/akismet-(spam-protection)

As for a lack of plugins and themes..I also disagree. One reason you might think there is a lack of plugins is because it has most of the features of phpbb that you add as a module already built in. Mybb is feature rich.

http://mods.mybboard.net <-- Official mybb mods and themes site
http://mybbthemes.8ez.com <-- Unofficial mybb theme resource
http://www.mybbcentral.com <-- Unofficial mybb plugin and theme resource

Go look for yourself.

If you think a security question added to signup form makes bot protection unbreakable (which it ain't) then you can use this mybb plugin:

http://community.mybboard.net/showthread.php?tid=23776

 

I think it was the release made before the 1.2x series, not very sure though.

I see myBB has developed some nice features and that's good to hear, seems to be more modifications & themes available than it used to.

- Meti

 

Thanks for your Wonderful answer! I always wanted to go with mybb

 

In our case these guys come manually and sign up and fill in all details and then spam. We have email verification, captcha, Q/A + min 5 replies to other post etc etc yet i get spam. Not sure where i am going wrong.

 

Start IP banning.

 

i use smf. phpbb is rubbish at stopping spam. although, the new phpbb looks nice

 

I finally switched to mybb and haven't received any spam up to now!

 

That is good, share your experience with myBB after you've used it a while, I think I'm going to give it a shot once the new release is available.

- Meti

 

Arent U Using Image Verification ?? i guess bots cannot register .. only some register am telling because when i was running a forum i had disabled Image Verification And many bots and spammers were there .. then i added this and it reduced and if u want more advanced then try email verification that might help

 

bots still register and they are Human Bots!!