UBB.threads PHP Forum Software Community Forums Resources and Customizing How Do I? Overseas Spammers: How to Deal with

In the last two weeks, it seems I get at least 3 new overseas registrants to my board per day who are interested in posting useless spam (drugs, cell phones, etc.)

They're easy to spot and ban via their IP in control panel and via an .htaccess file, but is there a better way to deal with these guys?

Anyone have a good IP ban list for including in my .htaccess file?

Note: I'm still running classic and haven't made the switch to threads yet.

Thanks for any tips.

Easiest way is to have email confirmations. I get a few bounces every day from spammers, and very rarely get any spam posted.

oops sorry - just seem you are running classic. This post really needs to be on that forum to avoid confusion

If classic has email confirmation then just enable it

Thanks, sorry, I thought any tips might apply to both Classic and Threads.

Classic has these registration settings:
Enable Moderation Queue?
Send Admin Mail upon Registration?
Require Unique Email Address?
Validate User Addresses?
Enable Public Name Editing?

I have all of them selected, except for "Enable Moderation Queue" which would mean I'd have to review each new registration an approve it manually. Sometimes I do that, but I don't like to leave it turned on.

How does email confirmation work in threads? The user must click a link in a confirmation email?

yes - the user clicks a link to verify their email.

As most spammers use a false address, their account is just deleted after 24 hours.

Turn on "Validate User Addresses", it will do email verification of registration; most bots use invalid emaila ddresses so you'll never have them approved.

I've got "Validate User Addresses" turned on. These weasels actual register, get their email at an actual address, then come on to post their useless stuff. Not really a big deal, but I'm just surprised how often they surface.

Yeh, I had this happen a LOT in .C6.7.2 but i've yet to have it happen in .T7...

With the CAPTCHA features that are coming in 7.1 I expect to have hardly any automated registrations (there are ways around captcha's, but they are also done generally by your non-"everyday" spammer)

Thanks, looking forward to using Threads.