Hi everyone Ive noticed there is a LOT of indian traffic going to my directory and submitting links. After a recent investigation into the large amount of indian traffic i have found that the majority - 95% are using auto-submitters - They are also submitting to a larger number of directories. I have since blocked a large range of indian IP's to stop this auto-submission happening, as the auto-submissions are not email verified, they are really not " true " directory users. They are taking advantage of a free backlink... Who else blocks indian IP's to stop auto-submit abuse? Thanks.
Have you checked that your verification emails are not going in spam mailboxes? Even people submitting with auto-submitters can easily click on emails. As far as Indian IP addresses are concerned, it's primarily because a lot of submissions are outsourced to India (auto as well as manual submissions). Rather than blocking IPs, I will recommend that you confirm that email verification works and have a good anti-spam system.
I agree with jitendraag. You may be cutting off your biggest source of traffic. Some of these may be manually submitting paid listings.
Make your directory paid and that will make your problem easier to manage. You will also see a change in the source of your traffic.
Yes. This is outsourcing. With this trffic you cannot eran any money. If you will put too many restrictions the number of submissions will drop.
Will captcha really stop this as i have also noticed this on my site. If captcha can stop it then its better than restricting ips.