I added some required fields, and the spam bots just plugged in an alpha sequence and got past.
It would be helpful if a question/answer pair were an option. Users would see a question requiring a simple answer, examples:
Enter the sum of 5 and 10:
Country north of the United States:
Add an s to the word spammer:
Something like this would be a welcome addition to the current features and would provide additional help in preventing spam bots.
Right now I can only think of one other way to use the current features to do something similar, though a lot will depend on users actually reading some form of notice upon registration to do the following:
- set up a new user group so that newly registered users with <1 post can only post replies in a certain forum
- instruct users who are registering that before using the boards they must first introduce themselves in this particular thread (in the only forum where they can post as users with 0 posts)
- use a new user group for users with 1+ posts where they have normal permissions on the board
