Best spam prevention / add-on?

[John Diver]

Hey,

My site is getting serious spam on 3.8 by registrations and posts, there are nearly 3000 threads in a few weeks because I had to start moderating them - I had to revert a database because of a HUGE amount of spam.

I have the normal vb spam prevention but it isnt working at all

[greigeh]

<a href="https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=315964&highlight=reCAPTCHA+v2" target="_blank">https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showt...t=reCAPTCHA+v2</a>

will help you.

[Dr.CustUmz]

hands down
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=248470

[Max Taxable]

Good read here. (http://ozzmodz.com/showthread.php/506-The-Era-Of-Big-Spam-Is-Over)

I recommend you adroitly AVOID SoM and any other anti-spam mod that blocks legitimate humans. SoM has even banned board admins.

[John Diver]

Thanks for the replies - Quite confused now after everything I have read.

I really think this should be something vB should be managing rather than having to find a plugin to install with so many conflicting opinions.

vb.org seems to do very well with spam, I dont think I have seen any, unless the admin / mod team are constantly deleting there must be some good mods available that can do the work.

I know I cant keep up with the spam at all.

Anything at this stage would help but if SoM also blocks real users Id rather not use that..

I really think spam should be one of the main focuses for vB, its causing me more problems than anything and has been for years.

[Max Taxable]

vb.org seems to do very well with spam, I dont think I have seen any, unless the admin / mod team are constantly deleting there must be some good mods available that can do the work.vBorg gets lots and lots of spam. But as you've already surmised, the crew here deletes it pretty fast.

[steviewonder44]

recaptcha 2 as well as register timer mod seems to stop them all for me.it doesn't block any humans

[Dr.CustUmz]

w/e you decide to do, don't take that advice ^^

spam is something that exist, there are ways to combat it, and a lof of methods have been shared here for you. Fighting spam can get annoying, but putting the proper measures in place to combat it helps A LOT, and having a good staff (like here) is key.

One of the best routes to take when fighting spam is not a plugin at all, but go straight to your server firewall, but thats not vb related and there are plenty of tutorials on how you can go about this on the web.

But unless you plan on being the only member of your site, dont block free email. Shoot I even use freemail (GMail) as my business email, because its ultra reliable.

Spam is not something just vbulletin related and you dont see absolute solutions as far as plugins because in fact no matter what type of site you run, you're bound to get spam users and posts, and most people i presume, fight it server side. vBulletin is just one of the favorited by auto posting/registering bots, because it is one of the most common.

you asked for the best addon, you're going to get various replies on peoples opinion. As far as a product goes though I have never experienced any issues with SoM https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=248470, if you are from america and dont really care if anyone other than americans see your site, its your goto product. Other contries often share IPs (im not sure exactly how all this works) but most americans have their own IP.

SoM uses a database of submitted known spam addresses (IPs, email, ect..) and based on the number of reports they get on that ip or email they add it to everyones spam list. someone said admins have been known to be banned because of using this product.... those admins probally share ips or have ran a spam bot for shi*s and giggles (there's always a valid reason an IP or email is on that list)

occasionally a spammer slips through, or a valid user is denied cause they share an ip with a spammer or their email is suspicious, but all that can be viewed in the log, and you can quick ban and submit those bots that slip through.

now if a legit user can't create an account (this doesn't happen often), and they really want to join there is always the contact us page. then you can easily create them an account. but the odds of that happening are slim to none.

this is all based on my experiences and recommendations, I just felt one person shot down SoM and it didnt get it's fighting chance, it truly is a beast spam decimator.

since it doesnt provide any pictures, heres a small example of what it does, and wow that was my first time noticing that lmao, you know what im talking about

[TheLastSuperman]

BAM like magic it appears, a link!
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=276547

Edit: Ohh and if anyone has a mod not listed in my article please post in the article and I will add it or simply pm me the link and I will add :cool:.

[TheLastSuperman]

Thread cleaned up, no more running off on a tangent related to opinions simply link to mods or give solid feedback to John Diver!

[In Omnibus]

Admittedly, I got off on a tangent there.

OK:

1) Verify e-mail addresses. Do not allow duplicate e-mail or IP registrations.
2) Require PCRE regular expression usernames.
3) Utilize the Question And Answer registration feature. Use questions and answers only someone with some level of knowledge about your forum specifically would know without having to look it up. Like who or what or how many of something or what colors appear in your site banner. Bots can't answer that.
4) For new users, make any post with more than 0 URL links go into moderation. No user should be linking to anything in their first post. You can also create another usergroup and promote new users to that group after x number of posts if you want to give users the ability to post links after enough posts to know they are not a spammer.

All of the above can be done without installing a single modification.

[Max Taxable]

4) For new users, make any post with more than 0 URL links go into moderation. No user should be linking to anything in their first post. Many noobies first posts are youtube music videos, perfectly legitimate stuff and it really does irritate new users to get that notice that their posts are moderated. Same way it really irritates people for their account to be moderated, has to be approved by the admins before they can post. I don't recommend either of these, personally.

[Dr.CustUmz]

Many noobies first posts are youtube music videos, perfectly legitimate stuff and it really does irritate new users to get that notice that their posts are moderated. Same way it really irritates people for their account to be moderated, has to be approved by the admins before they can post. I don't recommend either of these, personally.

from personal experience, agree 100% and for a forum with no or limited staff this can be exhausting. All the other recommendations are good ones though :)

I still stand behind Spam O Matic though ;) (sorry guys, it saved my forum got to rep it lol)

[In Omnibus]

Many noobies first posts are youtube music videos, perfectly legitimate stuff and it really does irritate new users to get that notice that their posts are moderated. Same way it really irritates people for their account to be moderated, has to be approved by the admins before they can post. I don't recommend either of these, personally.

My personal preference is that users post a "Hello" thread as their first post.

But to each forum it's own.