Open forums and spam issues
 

Hi,

I have one section that used to be open for non-member postings (vB 2.2.9). However, due to huge amounts of automated spam, I have had to restrict access to members only.

Is there a mod available that would be likely to solve this problem, so that that particular forum could once again be opened up for guest postings? When reading through some of the other spambot related threads here, it seems many are having enuogh trouble getting rid of spam even in member-only forums; due to signups and postings by spambots...

Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks,

TMM

I make all first posts on our forums moderated by making the Registered Users a moderated group. After a day, or after one post, the users get moved to an Unmoderated Registered Users group - I do this through Usergroup > Promotions. This keeps most of the spam from actually getting posted on the site. Occassionally, some spammer sets up and account and comes back in a few days when he is no longer moderated and then posts his stuff, but I'd say 99.9% of these guys get stopped by this method.

I use a combination of these two mods...

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=131568
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=124828

one allows you to set a list of keywords that will automatically trigger any post or thread with those words to be moderated (unless the member has more than the amount of posts you set in the mod)

the other is a replacement i use for the captcha system...because i don't like those stupid pictures...to hard to read and turn some people away...so instead guests that want to post have to answer a really simple question (which a spam bot can't do) before they are allowed to post...

it works well for me :D

Hi,

Thanks a lot for your input, these seem like very interesting solutions.

One thing though - on my forum the spam problem really only applies to guest postings (there is one forum that allows for this). Is there any way to discard the rather large volume of spam postings here without having to moderate them manually?

Ideally, one would be able to use the keyword mod that Irisfire mentioned, and create a rule that automatically rejects postings where 1) the post comes from a non registered user and 2) keywords match one or more on the list...

Thanks,

TMM

TMM,

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