Dealing with spam
 

My forum is no older than about a month old, I haven't done any advertising or anything that will bring traffic to the site, but already it's gathering spam posts. Also, becuase there aren't many posts on it, the spam messages stand out.

What sort of mods are available to deal with this, if there aren't any, what sort of effective methods can be used?

<i>You don't needs mods. Moderate new registrations, and don't allow guests to post.</i>

Good suggestion. I have already done it, yet spammers are showing up and registering. Shhesh!

EB

The username on some registrations seem genuine, so it's hard to know they are spammers until they actually post. Is there any way to approve of the post of new registrations? And then once I establish they are not spammers I can make them proper users.

My settings don't allow guests to post.

That is exactly my problem. I like idea to have sort of "quarantine" for new registrants posts. :)

EB

First steps that help to combat this (does not stop it) is to have email verification enabled at registration.

In the ACP -> vBulletin Options -> vBulletin Options ->Human Verification Options -> Verify at Registration = Yes
Now go to -> vBulletin Options -> vBulletin Options ->User Registration Options -> Verify Email address in Registration = Yes

Now in the ACP -> vBulletin Options -> Human Verification Manager
Set your verification options for -> Image verification

Consider turning off the Memberlist for all until you get things settled.

You can strengthen this by adding a question at Registration.
http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=205214

These thing only help to deter spammers, they do not stop them.
Applying the above will almost certainly reduce the amount of spammers, however Moderators who quickly delete spam posts will send a message to all.

After applying above, you can find MOD's that restrict members from posting links and the likes in the MOD section.

Indeed, first follow what "Agitated" stated above. We then use two usergroups for users who have already been verified by return e-mail:

1) Registered Users - Moderated
2) Registered Users - Unmoderated

All users in the first category have ALL of their messages moderated by someone until its decided they are not spammers and then they are moved into the 2nd category where they are no longer moderated.

Most spammers "hit and run." After the first post you no longer see them. They won't sit there waiting for you to approve their first and likely only post. After all, most are automated bots.

On top of the above, you can run a mod like CHECK4SPAM available on vbulletin.org that will prevent new users from posting messages containing e-mail addresses or URLs anyway. -- Rik

Thanks for those tips, I have those options set already though. By the way, are those for 3.7.x? I'm running 3.6, but still have the options set for the user to verify his email address before he can go ahead and post.

--------------- Added [DATE]1220111302[/DATE] at [TIME]1220111302[/TIME] ---------------

Right, I have made the new Registered Users - Moderated usergroup, but how can I tell vB to send all new members to this usergroup first?

I believe there isn't any difference (I'm using 3.7.x).
Make the moderated usergroup your default usergroup after the user is confirmed by e-mail. You just change the permissions for the default usergroup so that all messages are moderated.

After new users prove themselves to be good users, then promote them to the unmoderated usergroup. We promote them to unmoderated status manually, but you can also do it in automated ways (I hope others will advise here) via a promotion system.

Hope that helps! -- Rik

I appear to be having trouble finding the option for creating certain usergroups as default ones...

Where are they?