What is the fix for this, i don't have time to read things around the net as i'm very busy right now, so could anyone that has had this problem & knows how to solve it let me know thanks...
There are tons of phpbb hacks for spam...None of them are really too effective.. If your forum allows guest post, get rid of it, ban the IP address it's coming from...and then after that there isn't much you can do with phpbb...expect you could install a moderation hack so all messages have to be approved by you before appearing. (which isn't practical for big forums) Make sure you have email validation required for sign ups to curb spam
Enable email validation // CAPTCHA validation, also disable guest posting. Banning IP's might not help since they are probably using proxies, but try that to.
when you enable the email validation, you always have a lot of bots. So I think the solution is to put a random number to ckeck...
I manage a big phpbb forum, this problem solved when i removed permission from visitors to start new topic. You might not need CAPTCHA (though its an ultimate fix). Email Validation and Registration before 'New Topic creation' will work..
Hi, everyone thanks for the advice, i really can't enable image verification as i had problems with it once & i just don't like it, with email validation i had problems with people not getting validation emails, regarding guest posting i don't let guests post... I think i've solved it though as i have not been spammed since i changed all default language from my register page & all some aspects of the registration URL, it seems to have worked
I don't care what kind of forum software you're using, spambots are a problem for everyone, not just phpbb. For phpbb, I've learned these specifics make spam manageable: 1. Don't allow unregistered folks to post anywhere. 2. Remove the website link from the registration form. What they want is the hard coded link. By removing that option in the registration, they go away. Members can still add it to their profile AFTER they successfully register. But a bot will simply give up when the field simply isn't there. 3. Use Starfox's toolkit to manage memberships lists. 4. Have a strong mod team empowered to delete posts at will. I manage several active PHPBB forums and using these things as well as keeping phpbb current makes spam merely an occasional annoyance.
just add some random field to the posting page, like "check this box if you want to post as a guest or register here", solved the problem for me.
spam bots are a problem indeed but you can quit this posts by using an image validation system. if you search google for that system you can find serious systems that can handle your problem. Thx. Irmak
Edzachary: where can I find the registration form in phpBB? I think it's a great idea to remove the website link.
See this thread: http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=375262 -- that's the link to the mod you need to modify it. Better to use the mod than to merely mess with the register.php page. Also, make sure your phpbb install is up to date.