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Thread: Trying to stop the SPAM!

  1. #21
    Join Date
    Jul 2023
    Location
    Ottawa, Ontario
    Posts
    0

    Spam

    I just accepted 493 members so lets hope the ones that were spammers gave up trying, we're also going to import a new spam IP list, and upgrade to the latest vbulletin with better picture authentication.

    Thanks all!

    -M

  2. #22
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    Dallas, TX
    Posts
    490

    Possible spammer/hacker

    I just received this personal message:

    tullyamo tullyamo is offline
    Newbie

    Join Date: Oct 2008
    Posts: 0
    tullyamo is on a distinguished road
    Default Forum problems

    Hi,

    Is there a way I can get permission to post in the forums? I have made an account and cannot see pics that members have posted and I am not allowed to make threads or reply to other post. I have asked painless the same thing and got no response. I have mailed the forum admin and received a mail delivery error 3 times. I have soo many questions to ask and would love to see all the pics that members have posted. I know it is not your position to make this happen, but could you pass it along to someone that can? Thanks in advance.

    Tullyamo

  3. #23
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Location
    Oklahoma, USA
    Posts
    173

    New Members

    Thank you all for your patience and persistance. To better serve the community, we are currently working on a few things that will allow us to speed up the registration approval process as well as improve the spam banning.

    Our community is only a few months old and our staff is all volonteers so as you can imagine, there are a few typical bugs that we are working very hard to work out as quickly as we can.

    We especially appreciate the members who report spammers and foul posts as soon as they are spotted. We do what we can to eliminate the nasty stuff quickly, and you help is needed as there are so many threads.

    Please keep an eye out for an announcement VERY soon. It is in regards to new membership registration and related details.

    Thanks all!
    "You don't always have to know ALL the answers, but you do need to know where to find them."

  4. #24
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    Clearwater Florida
    Posts
    38

    ReCaptcha to end your spammers ability to register

    One of the GREAT ways to end the forum spammers dead in their tracks is to custom modify your registration page. Most of the spammers are pre-packaged spambot programs. They target the registration page then post like mad. If your registration page is different than the norm, the spambots have no way to get in.

    I did this to my forum and have been spam free ever since.
    It takes a little coding to do it, but is well worth the time.

    Try ReCapcha for the captcha image. It's very secure and easy to code into an existing registration page.
    Plus, every time a user uses it, they are helping digitalize words in old books and newspapers that OCR programs (like the spambots use to hack your existing captcha) cannot figure out.

    http://recaptcha.net/






    To see it in action, hit my custom registration page on...
    http://redneckfabrication.com

    It took me about 15 minutes to code it in.


    .

  5. #25
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    Clearwater Florida
    Posts
    38

  6. #26
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Posts
    266
    Quote Originally Posted by TeknikL View Post
    I just accepted 493 members so lets hope the ones that were spammers gave up trying, we're also going to import a new spam IP list, and upgrade to the latest vbulletin with better picture authentication.

    Thanks all!

    -M
    Not workin' so good.
    Begining at 6:09pm and ending at 6:19pm member IkrinkaSo has contributed 14 lovely porn posts.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    Andy
    HHOSportTrac
    21 Plate 3" X 7" KOH Dry Cell

  7. #27
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    Clearwater Florida
    Posts
    38
    The ReCaptcha should do the trick, but here's some insight on what you need to modify in the registration process to end the spambot programs.

    The main registration page is not what they actually attack. It's the next step in the process they exploit. I'm not sure what it is in vBulletin, so I need to explain it with SMF, which is what I use. But they are both similar enough in this case.

    Basically, my registration pages URL ends in "=register". The next step, when they click submit, shows in the statcounter logs as "=register2". The spambots have a premade program that sends their info directly to the "=register2" URL, bypassing the need to even hit the main "=register" page.

    All you have to do is figure out what that next page is in vBulletin, then change it in the code to anything else.

    In my case, I would change "=register2" to anything else, like "=register3" or "=thanks" or anything besides what it is by default. The spambots will still try to hit the "=register2" page with their info, but it would throw a 404 page not found error instead of registering them.

    Doing this is tricky, because there may be many references to that second URL where they send their register info. One mistake in the code and no-one can register. So be sure to test it well before making the change live.

    Don't bother with a pre-made vBulletin modification to do this, because the spambot program writers are wise to these mods and write new pacages to beat them fairly quickly.

    BUT, a pre-made vBulletin mod is a great place to start, as long as you custom modify it further with the info I posted above in mind. The reason I say it's a great place to start is because it will show you EVERY place in the code that needs to be changed, so a lot of the guesswork is taken out each place in the code you need to change.

    Though I changed my main registration page ("=register"), as stated above, I haven't bothered to change "=register2" since ReCaptcha works so friggin well. But the day the spammers get through ReCaptcha, "register2" will be changed immediately the same way I described above.

    I hope all this info helps.
    I see that as I posted these replies, your site was hit yet again.

    Good Luck!!
    Your Admin friend,

    Wayne Sundmacher
    BSA Skunkworks

  8. #28
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    Clearwater Florida
    Posts
    38
    Oh, and to add...
    Ever since I added ReCaptcha, new users can post directly after registering.
    I did away with email activation because I know that most new users want to post right away.

    I'm still spam free, even though ReCaptcha is the ONLY thing in place now to block spammers.

    It works that well!!

  9. #29
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Posts
    266
    Admin PLEASE do something about the
    SPAM & PORN
    This is getting a bit ridiculous. Maybe you should try ElectricSquid's solution!
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    Andy
    HHOSportTrac
    21 Plate 3" X 7" KOH Dry Cell

  10. #30
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    Ontario Canada
    Posts
    370
    Yes Please do something.
    I'm not thrilled about getting an Email telling me there is a new post I subscribed to, only to find it is B.S. spam.

    Glen
    Mother Nature educates all of us that are teachable. She's hardest on the ones who refuse to learn. Punishment is automatic, immediate, and without pity.

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