How do I deal with spammers?

[Paul Ward]

Apologies if this has been answered before - I have searched and not been terribly enlightened.

In response to spammers I changed the admin settings so that I had to approve new registrations. This made it easy to spot spammers from their usernames and/or email addresses and so delete them.

The problem was it was also putting off legitimate new members too as if they couldn't post immediatley they didn't bother even if approved the same day. So yesterday I turned off the admin approval and am getting new members posting immediately again - and also the spammers are back.

How do you deal with this problem? What is the best way to deal with spammers without putting off legitimate posters?

I already use the standard optical character input step at sign-up.

Does a lack of response mean there is no real way of dealing with this? or that it's been answered too many times before?

Surely everyone must have this problem? I block domains, IP addresses and emails, but still they keep on coming through

Is there a way of changing settings so that I have to moderate say the 1st 3 posts from a new member before they can go "solo".

What do other people do?