Spammer Blocking Utility

[Solecord]

So I installed this module to the site that will query a database of known spammers to prevent them from registering an account on the site. It's not 100% foolproof so there may be ones that slip through or valid users who are not allowed to register. I'm going to try this out for a few days to see how it goes. Hopefully we'll see fewer spammer accounts registering.

[Solecord]

Installed less than 10 minutes ago and already blocked 2 spammers from registering

[Phenom]

Thanks Sole!

[bta.monster]

Spammers always seem drawn to this site... good to see new methods of eliminating them

Sole, I sent you a PM a few weeks ago about getting NewDM a DNS, not sure if you had seen it or not. Hope you aren't too busy. I want to get the ball rolling on this pretty soon.

[Solecord]

Spammers always seem drawn to this site... good to see new methods of eliminating them

Sole, I sent you a PM a few weeks ago about getting NewDM a DNS, not sure if you had seen it or not. Hope you aren't too busy. I want to get the ball rolling on this pretty soon.

I got it and then forgot about it. Sorry. I'll take care of it tonight or tomorrow. I'll PM you back when its done.

[Baker]

I got it and then forgot about it. Sorry. I'll take care of it tonight or tomorrow. I'll PM you back when its done.

Don't do it, it's a trap!

[bta.monster]

Thanks Sole!

How could this be a trap...?! Servers actually been up for over a month now with little to no activity

[LambentHammerBurst]

Think it may need to be updated. I informed Phenom of 4 alone today and as I am posting this I see more already online:
QuakeOne - Quake 1 Resurrection - View Profile: iphonecase5
QuakeOne - Quake 1 Resurrection - View Profile: SamuelM12
QuakeOne - Quake 1 Resurrection - View Profile: studearrings
http://quakeone.com/members/chinseomit2011/

Can easily pick them out by their signature or they leave a visitor message on their own profile.

[Solecord]

I just deleted about 200+ users from the database (all spammers). I also modified the settings for the program but spammers are still getting in as I'm doing all this. Oh well

[LambentHammerBurst]

Only suggestion I can think of is a page inbetween the main page and registration. Basically when they click register - a page comes up to confirm they are human and if they pass - it goes onto the normal register page.
Perhaps a basic 2 part thing.
A random image of a commor/iconic monster appears (grunt, enforcer, rottweiler, shambler) and a checkbox below with options with all or most of the monsters available.
Then a question that asks: What game does this site focus on? Which they have to type in.
I am assuming most of these are automatic spammers, so this would break that part of it - wouldn't bypass the human registration of spammers.

[Phenom]

ooppee beat me to my idea!

Don't "OH WELL" the situation Sole! Get vigilant! You have the power to end all spam!

[Solecord]

The "oh well" meant it was time for bed haha. I'll be back at it looking at further options when I get home tonight

[Baker]

ooppee beat me to my idea!

Don't "OH WELL" the situation Sole! Get vigilant! You have the power to end all spam!

Many of the spammers are humans. Like servers and such, you always need administrators. You can make it harder on spammers, but if you have a website that gets respectable traffic you will have spammers trying to spam.

The only site that doesn't get spammers is one with low traffic.

[Solecord]

The current wave of spammers seem to be bots that are registering, putting URL's in their signatures, and the posting a spam-ridden message on their own profile page (the visitor message section).

[LambentHammerBurst]

Yeah they appear to be as they will sit for hours on "Viewing Member Profile" then it seems they pick a topic at random. A human (most likely) would choose a popular topic. I know we have some human spammers - every site gets those.
However since these forums use vBulletin a automated bot is highly possible as it's commonly used. Why I made my suggestion (and Phen guess had same idea lol) as it should break the automation as the bots are not programmed to do that. They don't know what a Shambler is or know this is a "Quake" site - just it's forums.
With the idea I suggested though the default registration url as they would just go there instantly.