UBB.threads PHP Forum Software Community Forums Resources and Customizing Admin Zone Influx of spam registrations

Is the "Stop Forum Spam" option in UBBT v7.5.8 not working for you guys?

Since enabling it, I haven't seen a single spam bot pass new user validation to post. I do see a few bots sit in the registration queue with either their email or ip address marked as "SPAM" for the duration of UBBT's 24hr account validation window.
Control Panel > Primary Settings > Stop Forum Spam




Also turn on CAPTCHA Image Verification at:
Control Panel > Registration Settings > Basic Options > select either "Use ImageMagick" or "Use GD2"
ImageMagick generally produces a considerably sharper/higher-quality image. On the other hand, ImageMagick is not supported as well as GD2 by some hosting providers. If in doubt, Try ImageMagick first, then fall back to GD2 if IM is not working (displays no image) for you.

A few of my forums are hosted through BlueHost Pro, so no matter if I use ImageMagick or GD2, my Captchas always fail to load until first clicked, regardless of what browser is used (latest version of Chrome, FireFox or InternetExplorer) or what version of PHP I use (PHP 5.1 or 5.2 or 5.4)... So, I don't use Captchas at all on those sites.



On all other servers which I admin UBBT on, Captchas display exactly as intended.


And finally, YMMV for the following two "these are probably just snake-oil, but cant hurt if you try them" suggestions...

Confirm that the following registration text input field is restored to the default of "Show & Require"
Control Panel > Registration Settings > Registration Screen
Tick "Location" to "Show & Require"

In addition, you could also change your new user submit button language from "Submit" to "Create Account" for the screen reader bots.
Control Panel > Languages > Language Editor > newuser.php > BUTT_SUBMIT
Replace "Submit" with "Create Account"