Looking for a pro-active solution against registrations from specific countries
 

I've got a problem and am looking for a viable solution.

My forum is constantly being assaulted by spammers (of course... who isn't). Almost all of them come from a few select countries. Enough is enough and I want to prevent any registrations from these countries, period (sure , some may use proxies but the mod staff knows how to handle the few that try). I tried just adding an IP list to htaccess but that proved almost disastrous as the server was being pounded by Chinese bots to the point that it was crawling.

My thought was to create a folder and add the htaccess list to it. I would add deny from <their IP address> to the list, of course. once that tested out OK I would move the registration page into that folder.

My questions are: Would this work, why or why not? Is it even possible to move the registration page like that? Is there a better way to handle this situation (besides nuking said countries)?

I've thought of that too. If the registration page could be put into a separate folder that would work. I think I've asked this too in the past and it would have to be a custom script.

A custom script wouldn't be a problem as I know a bit about writing them and have a guy who is a whiz. The main thing is whether it is possible to move the page without breaking something/everything. I haven't got to actually do this yet (making the folder and testing it), mainly because i don't want to screw anything up. As a side note, I will be testing it on a sandbox first.

Please pardon my impatience, but this is one of the few places to come to in order to possibly get an informed answer.

I need to know "it is possible to move the registration page without breaking something/everything in vB4?"

Has anyone did this? Has anyone tried? I am going into this blind and would really like some input...

anyone know if you can do a file include on a vB page?

like in php, required()

if so, how do you do it?
thanks!