[MikeLac]

Originally Posted by Revvin

Before you go crazy installing mods a few simple steps can help stop forums spammers. Create a new usergroup based on the default 'Registered Users' group and this new group will be the group for your regular users. The 'Registered Users' group will then become a kind of holding group for potential spammers. Edit the rights of the 'Registered Users' group so they are not allowed to use the private message system, can't have signatures etc. Set up a promotion then for the 'Registered Users' group so when they hit the required number of posts they get put into your regular users usergroup automatically.

Also enable 'reCAPTCHA' in your Human Verification Manager in the settings tab. Its not perfect but it will stop enough to make life easier to catch the ones that do get through.

Lastly in your settings tab under 'Spam Management' think about enabling Akismet or Typepad Antispam Beta. Again still not perfect but combined with the other settings will further stem the flow of spammers.

Keep adding any spammers email's to the Banned Email Addresses list in the settings menu.

You can of course install the mods but ones that connect to remote databases can fail without you knowing but still worth having a look at.

Those are some great tips!

I will do exactly that! I will also try out the Mod and I can always uninstall it if I find that it is blocking some legitimate users.

Too bad this Forum does not use the Thank You mod. I`d be clicking the "Thanks" button right now.

I am not sure if I will add Spammers Email addresses. Is it effective? Email addresses are a dime a dozen. On my server, I can create as many Email addresses as I choose. If you block my Email address for example, then I would just create a new one and sign up to your site again. If you block my IP, then I would have to use a different Computer. Makes it more work for me. Or I would go through a Proxy to access your site. But I am sure that most of the Proxy IPs are on that Mods banned list because most Spammers probably use Proxys because they do not want their real IPs revealed. IMHO