How do i get rid of Forum Spam ?

I have some Problems with some of the forums i had created...the are being spamed. and the Wordpress Blog too

What can i do to get rid of the spam ?


Its a PhpBB forum

phpBB is the worst software in terms of spam. I used to have a forum in phpbb which I finally stoped because of the spam and the security issues.

Anyway I guess that's not a solution for you :)

First find a CAPTCHA validation modification and be sure that you have enabled the email verification upon registration. I guess that will slow down the spammers.

get off phpBB and go to SMF..

ive tested and compared many different forum softwares, and SMF is by far now my favorite, its also the easiest to modify; the most secure; and the most spam-proof :P

Should I say that I strongly agree to what meth0d said? :)

yeah there is also akismet for SMF (that forum soft rules)

Akismet is available for phpbb too (I haven't tested the mod...) and since I installed Better-CAPTCHA I almost got rid of all spam. I still get some spam from kids trying to be creative :( but that's hard to get rid of.

/Andreas

I guess the only way to deal with human spammers, is to dissallow new users to post links, but that would cost you a lot of active users....

And also the spammers don't know they can't post links until they have posted....

/Andreas

Switch to version 3. I've got a ton of bots right now at ChristNet Forums, and am going to do that (besides switch the main part of ChristNet to phpHaze, then they won't find the forum so easily :D ).

after filtering the first 50-100 IP addresses on my WP blog its only 10 spam posts a day (after more then 100 on a day)

since most of the spammers using often the same IP address it looks to me like a good action

Maybe you should post the list of the ips. I think most of the spammers use web based proxies to spam

don't know but most of them are posted via the RPC interface...

sure I will publish the list soon (maybe I post them here, this way the angry spammer will try hack your server and not mine lol)

I would recommend a move to vbulletin - there are mods for the software which are very effective at stopping spam from reaching your boards.

what most of the forum administrators now do is validate each post.. this keeps their forums clean. but quite time consuming and takes a long time for each post to appear.

thats how we do it:)

I don't think this is a solution. Some people use forums to chat with others, plus there are forums with thousands of daily posts....

I know I am bumping an old thread but I think this is important information regarding forum spam.

If you are using vbulletin, you should definitely check the no spam plugin. It is very easy to install and works great :)

http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=124828

how about moderating a user's first post?

How about put a report button to let the memebr to help u to get rid of the spammers, and u can award them for it.

i suggest you write a script for people to flag posts like on craigslist. makes it easier to spot them and delete it.

and intstall some captcha and other anti-spem scripts

There is already an option to report a post for spam

hire moderators, spam cleaners :)

Great information. Thank you

This is just the thread I've been looking for! I am planning a forum, and want to plan properly. Many thanks to all the contributors to the thread.

I will look at SMF. (No funds for vB!) Can anyone comment on MyBB regarding anti-spam? I'm asking about MyBB because I already know a little about it, and was thinking of using it for that reason.

You can moderate it manually or use anti-spam scripts.

Close your signature section.. nobuddy can spam again

The problem with that is genuine users will feel insulted if a forum treats everybody as suspected spammers. Admin cannot afford to upset members; it is so easy for them to go elsewhere.

You could moderate, espcially new comers to the forum and definitely set a minimum requirement of posts for links.

CAPTHA will help but not enough. Moderate the forum wisely and if can't, hire some moderators to help you!

Have moderators there to help you clean up your spam.  And then maybe have each post validated before it can be added to the site.  This should help you out a lot.

Hmmm... 2 pieces of spam are now on this thread about polo shirts... rather cheeky, given the theme of the thread!

Yeah, not sure if it's funny or sad...

You can disable signature option and make some active moderator

If you'll hire  moderators or spam cleaners will it cause you that much? Is this an effective way to avoid spamming?

Moderators will work for free. Some people will do anything for a badge.

Maybe random question as captcha can be bypassed