[BlueNinjaGo]

I'm in the process of writing an article on spam... here's what I got so far... (if a mod thinks it's too long, feel free to delete it)

It's not perfect, so feel free to help me improve it.

How to Stop Spam?
by BlueNinjaGo

A major issue that every forum webmaster will eventually run into is spam. It comes in all shapes and sizes, and hits both smaller and larger forums. With every problem, there is a solution. Luckily, with regards to spammers, we have several. I will cover both default options you can utilize, and modifications you can install to help you handle it.

Spotting a spammer can be difficult at times. E-mail addresses and usernames are important. Look for anything out of the ordinary. Most of the time, look for anything that indicates it's from a country/region of the world that is not your target audience. Also look for people registering with online company e-mail addresses. If several users from @carbuyingonline.com register, be suspicious. Also look at their posting history. Most spam bots do not spam right away, to avoid detection. But they do not post in the introduction section, or anywhere for that matter.

Using Default Options

User Registration Options

Get started:

1. Go into the Admin Control Panel.
2. Click on vBulletin Options category.
3. Click on vBulletin Options.
4. Find and open "User Registration Options"

Ok, there are several things we can do here to make it harder for spammers. The first option you should consider is the "Moderate New Members" option. Now, I personally do not like to do this. I would only turn this on if you're in the middle of a spammer attack. This option, if enabled, makes all new registered users "moderated", and need to be individually approved by staff. Let's face it, we have enough to do already. But the option is here, so use it if you feel it's necessary.

The other options to check out are "Verify Email address in Registration" and "Require Unique Email Addresses" options. Just put these to "yes" and they will make users verify their account with an e-mail that's automatically sent to them. Granted, most spam bots will have ways around this, but it helps.


Human Verification

Get started:

1. Go into the Admin Control Panel.
2. Click on vBulletin Options category.
3. Click on Human Verification Manager.

There are 3 options here.

• Image Verification
• Question and Answer Verification
• reCAPTCHA™ Verification

Image Verification is "An image consisting of letters in varying fonts/shapes/sizes will be shown to the user. The appearance of this image is dictated by several options that you may control."

You have several options you can choose from.

• Random Font
• Random Font Size
• Random Slant
• Random Color
• Random Shapes

I'd recommend checking them all to increase the difficulty.

Question and Answer Verification are "Questions provided by you that must be answered appropriately for verification."

This is the question I use, and I've had no problems with it so far.

Question
What is the fifth word in this question? (no punctuation)

Regular Expression
^[A-Z]{1,10}$

Answers
word
WORD
Word

reCAPTCHA™ Verification is "An image containing two words will be shown to the user. This verification supports audio, allowing blind users to register."

Currently, I have not experimented with reCAPTCHA™ since the Question and Answer method has worked for me completely. I will update this once I have time to test it, or someone provides me with more information.


Block E-Mail Addresses

One effective way of stopping spammers is blocking e-mail addresses. I've noticed most of the spam that I received came from Russia, Ukraine, or locations near there. If you get spammers coming from similar e-mail address, go ahead and cut them off from registering. Just be careful not to block potential members.

1. Go into the Admin Control Panel.
2. Find the "vBulletin Options" category and click on the "vBulletin Options" option.
3. Find "User Banning Options" and click on it.
4. Enter the e-mail address (ex: @mail.ru) and click save.

Site Name / URL / Contact Details

Sometimes you'll get people spam your e-mail account via the "Contact Us" link. A way to stop this is by stopping unregistered users from being allowed to use it. The downside of this is potential users facing registration issues will not be able to contact you. Just something to keep in mind.

Get started:

1. Go into the Admin Control Panel.
2. Click on vBulletin Options category.
3. Click on vBulletin Options.
4. Find and open "Site Name / URL / Contact Details"

Where it says "Allow Unregistered Users to use 'Contact Us'", choose "No."


Usergroups

A common and fairly effective method of preventing spammers is to use different usergroups. Basically, you will have all new members start off in a usergroup with restricted permissions. Having their post moderated is a good start. It's up to you what you want to have happen.

You will also need to create a promotion system, that will allow the users to be promoted to a regular member, based on your criteria. This is up to you, but you have two options. Post counts and reputation. I suggest having it based on post count, to verify their posts are real.

To create a promotion:

1. Go into the Admin Control Panel.
2. Click on Usergroups category.
3. Click on Promotions .
4. Click on New Promotion.

Useful Modifications

One-touch Spam Ban and Cleanup Valid for 3.6, 3.7, and 3.8. I highly recommend reading through the last few pages of comments before installing.

Spam Decimator Valid for 3.6, 3.7, and 3.8. I highly recommend reading through the last few pages of comments before installing.

Is Bot: Registration Time Check
Valid for 3.6, 3.7, and 3.8.