Large number of forum sign-ups

[Mike Hughes]

Ouch. That is a lot of spammers.

I know there's spam software around now that will automatically create an account and spam a post.

Are we using a captcha form on sign up? That should stop the auto spammers in their track.

Mike

PS. Signature links in the members area are still live even once posts are deleted. I wonder if that's one of the reasons they're doing it.

[leehack]

I'm not sure exactly how the addon works, but it runs on time, new members and links in some sort of combination. I presume as it's a generic addon that persistent spammers know how to work round it. I'd say that 90-95% of spammers don't actually get to write a post, they are intercepted manually, often as they fill their signature with a load of links before they do their first post.

There is also at least one bot doing auto sign ups.

There's something particularly satisfying watching someone faff around filling out their profile and signature, then start to write a new post and as they press send, find out they've been banned in the middle of the process so it won't get posted. Appeals to my sense of humour that does i'm afraid .

[TraceyHand]

There's something particularly satisfying watching someone faff around filling out their profile and signature, then start to write a new post and as they press send, find out they've been banned in the middle of the process so it won't get posted. Appeals to my sense of humour that does i'm afraid .

why am I not surprised?

[leehack]

There is a captcha yes and the sign up process has just been beefed up. There are some forum upgrades due shortly too to try and counter this attack.

[leehack]

why am I not surprised?

Oh you know me so well i'm afraid....

[Darren B]

There is a captcha yes and the sign up process has just been beefed up. There are some forum upgrades due shortly too to try and counter this attack.

I was going to mention this, this version is outdated, especially considering v4 is in beta at the moment. (vbulletin versions work v3.6.x so v3.7.x so the small version change normally contains major bug fixes)

i dont know if this version has recaptcha?

[Darren B]

Ouch. That is a lot of spammers.

I know there's spam software around now that will automatically create an account and spam a post.

Are we using a captcha form on sign up? That should stop the auto spammers in their track.

Mike

PS. Signature links in the members area are still live even once posts are deleted. I wonder if that's one of the reasons they're doing it.

I would delete the user outright, not just the post

[cbarling]

Just for information, there have been regular spammers whose posts have been caught for several years now. I would say in the last few months I've personally averaged deleting a spammer a day and their (usually pre-moderated) posts. There are some poeple who keep on coming back with new registrations and the same spam material. I monitored the IP addresses for a while but they came from different places so I eventually gave up. It suggests quite a bit of sophistication.

There have also been a couple of times when there has been a wave of spam posts. I think there were 27 similar ones all in one day two or three months ago. None made it through so people generally weren't aware of it. As Steve mentions, we banned a whole load of IP ranges a year or so ago.

Since things seem to be ticking up we will probably need to protect registration more fully. I have always wanted to avoid that as all of the measures to do that make the community less open.

Chris

[Golf Tee Warehouse]

Is it possible to only allow signature links once the user has posted a set number of post.

Is there actually an increase in new sign-ups or were the Actinic team deleting 60+ members completely each day and therefore wouldn't show in the members list, as it seems to have increased since the new moderators were assigned, although is probably just coincidental.

[Rich Brady]

You my find that the increase in recent spammers has coincide with more and more of us linking to the community via Twitter. That place is full of useless spamming *****!

[pinbrook]

i see no issue with moderated signups.

my own behaviour on other forums is such that if you cant post immediately it just means you have to search more

[cbarling]

The increase in sign ups corresponding with the new mods os just a co-incidence. We haven't seen this level of sign ups for a long time as far as I'm aware.

Chris

[Mike Hughes]

i see no issue with moderated signups.

But doesn't that just move the moderation earlier in the cycle and disavantage newcomers?

I like Google's approach. Work on an automatic solution to do the bulk of the work so only the occasional exception needs manual intervention.

I'm sure there are lots of forums suffering much worse than us (due to the excellent moderation) so I'm sure vbulletin are looking at it.

Mike

[Rich Brady]

due to the excellent moderation

What are you after Mike?

[Mike Hughes]

due to the excellent moderation

Taken back for not noticing the cheeky intruder ^^^^^

Mike