Question(s) Pt. 2
 

I've recently been informed that a number of automated bots scamper around cyberspace joining whatever forums they damn well please.

My questions relating to these bots are:

1. Should these bots be spanked from member lists, and why (refer (3.))?

2. Is the image code verification feature upon signing up to a forum designed to block these bots and/or something else?

3. Do these bot 'members' in anyway advance a forum up search engine lists (refer (1.))?

4. Can someone please give me some info about the origins of these bots?

5. I welcome any elaboration on the subject of bots..............not spankings.........I'm well versed in their nature :D.

Please people, these are genuine questions from someone who signed up to their first E-Mail account a few months ago, and is now genuinely interested in purchasing a vBulletin forum.

For those who are inclined to attempt to take the piss out of BUZAgain............well........It'd be good if you could just help a brother out :up:.

Cheers,

BUZ.

Before you worry about BOTS, have you tried this?

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthrea...ghlight=noSpam

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthrea...ghlight=noSpam

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthrea...ighlight=vmail

Thanks for the heads-up io :).

I'm not experienced enough to get the gist yet of the info in the 1st and 3rd links you gave me, however the 2nd link has been very helpful :up:.

Any chance of expanding for me on the nature (catalyst) of these bots, and should they be excluded from forum 'membership' :confused: :o? I'm not worried about them (bots), I would just like to understand more about them.

Once again,

Cheers for the heads up.................appreciated...........

BUZ.

These bots are automated registrations (done by a computer). These bots are mainly used to post SPAM messages. There are several ways within vBulletin to catch and attempt to stop these bots, so we could show you more after you purchase a license.

For such general information on bots etc... i suggest you use a site like wikipedia.org.

I will purchase a license at a later date...........however ATM my skills using a computer (compared to you folk) are negligible.

I've recently been upgraded to a Super Moderator on a vBulletin forum where our license holder is rarely, if ever, involved (IMO he has done some exceptional work in getting the forum off the ground.............but he's just not there anymore).

Our current (3) Admins are not able to put in a lot of effort to enhance our site.

Myself and one other are trying to do our best to keep our forum alive and thriving.

I thought that coming to the source would be the most effective way of learning how to achieve this.

I trust that those of you who read this understand my position......................i.e........We've got hundreds and hundreds of bots as 'members'......And I would like to know how to effectively deal with them....................'Cause nobody else will!

Cheers.

Most communities will ban them. This will cause them to not show within the members list.

The best way to deal with bots;

1) Keep them out in the first place with the information/tools found on this website. Because you're not a licensed user I can't go into much detail about this. You're a supermod anyway so there is little you can do in the way of installing modifications to deal with the problem.

2) Ban on sight. Many bots will post spam so just deal with them when you notice 'em. They aren't too hard to pick out as they use horrible english and scripted replies.

3) Prune in-active accounts every so often. This means delete accounts that have not posted, accounts that have not verified their status..etc.

4) Install a "post filter" that will automatically moderate posts that look like spam. I'm not sure if one is released here or not...I know we coded one for ourselves on a forum I used to admin and it worked well.

5) Go over to www.theadminzone.com and read their forums. They have a lot of good information on the subject. TAZ deals more with running a forum (unlike here, we're all about "hacking" and customizing forums) so you'll probably get a better response. They are also more friendly when it comes to dealing with non-admins/mods. ;)

also, register to http://akismet.com, have your akismet key and activate it in vB... so when you hit a spam, you just have to "delete as spam"... and tada, that spammer will be filtered on your site and globally.

there's nothing better than Akismet?