spam-whacking: how much help is banning by ip?

[XFSImperial]

I've found that banning by IP usually ends up doing very little if its an experienced or dedicated spammer. They'll use multiple proxies, and they are near limitless to attempt to block every single one. You can look into proxy blocking mods, but even then, some don't stop anonymous proxies.

You should be careful when banning IP ranges. Depending on how large you make the range, you could potentially ban users that are guilty of nothing. Just keep that in check and don't go overboard. Where possible, ban specific addresses or troublesome proxy hosts.

In my own experience, its always an uphill fight. You ban, they proxy. You proxy block and they find newer & better proxies to use. I personally think it would be more entertaining to add spam users to the "tachy goes coventry" setting whereby the account can post but no one except admins can see it.