Where can I find a top-dowIn thumbnail sketch of anti-spam techniques?

[Pithecanthropus]

Hello all,

I am one of a dozen or so mods on a very heavily trafficked messageboard. Of late we've noticed a very considerable increase in spam, and are currently discussing possible countermeasures. I have a considerable amount of IT experience, although not with messageboard functions in particular (except as a member, and more recently as a moderator). I have some notions of what might be effective approaches, but I don't know enough about how vB works in order to know if my ideas make sense or nonsense. BTW we are only at vB 3.7.

We already are using Akismet, but a lot of spammers have been registering and posting anyhow. The posts come either as new threads, or as replies to existing threads. In the latter case they are often, but not exclusively, zombies revived by the spammer.

The most notable feature of spammers' posts is that they almost invariably provide one or more URLs--in fact, the posts often consist of little more than that. I would like to know if it's feasible to automatically do something like the following, perhaps on a nightly basis:

1. Check whether any new users have posted any OPs or threads that include URLs. The quality of being new is determined by a configurable post count threshold for that user.
2. For any such posts found, disappear the posts to a moderation area or spam queue.
3. Ban the offending users, and send them emails explaining why this was done.

Usually a registered user who is banned will email somebody to find out why they were banned, or in an attempt to ingratiate their way back in, promising to abide by the rules in future. But I can't imagine that very many genuine spammers would do this. This means, then, that anyone who does contact the administration to be let back in probably wasn't a spammer, and they probably just overlooked a clause in the registration agreement that says you can't post URLs until you pass the threshold.

So, is something like this easy to set up? Difficult? Impossible? Does this idea make any sense at all?

[Lynne]

If I signed up on your site today and then got banned, I don't know that I would know somebody to email about why I was banned, so I'd never go back to the site. There are so many other modifications to use to stop the spammers from signing up in the first place (and other default vbulletin settings to use), that I don't know that your method would be any better than any of the existing ones.

You should ask your admin to add your email to the priority support list for his license so you can look around at the mods here and post in the appropriate forums for any help. We can't give help at all in this forum. And, in fact, this thread doesn't even belong in this feedback forum.

[Pithecanthropus]

Originally Posted by Lynne

And, in fact, this thread doesn't even belong in this feedback forum.

My apologies.

I suspected as much, but couldn't find anywhere else I was allowed to post. I don't have the vB license information pertaining to our installation. I've broached my proposal in our mod loop, but had hoped to be able to find out elsewhere how feasible it is. That way, I'd have a better idea of whether I should try to push this along and persuade the others, or else to forget about it and think of another way.

Is there an area here where non-licensees can ask about technical issues? I assume it isn't typical best practice to pass out the license ID to all the moderators on a message board, so there must be others in a similar situation.

[Lynne]

No, there is no area for non-licensed users to ask specific vbulletin questions. Only licensed members can get technical help. It is very easy for the admin to add an email for priority support. I'd suggest you ask them to do this so you may post here in the appropriate forum. They do not need to give you any information about the license - all they need to do is login to the members area and add your email address - that's it.

(Moving to pre-sales since it really shouldn't be in here.)

[Digital Jedi]

Originally Posted by Pithecanthropus

My apologies.

I suspected as much, but couldn't find anywhere else I was allowed to post. I don't have the vB license information pertaining to our installation. I've broached my proposal in our mod loop, but had hoped to be able to find out elsewhere how feasible it is. That way, I'd have a better idea of whether I should try to push this along and persuade the others, or else to forget about it and think of another way.

Is there an area here where non-licensees can ask about technical issues? I assume it isn't typical best practice to pass out the license ID to all the moderators on a message board, so there must be others in a similar situation.

Everything is handled over at vbulletin.com in your members area. You don't give out any licence information to anyone here.