Spam Management

XenForo includes a suite of tools designed to prevent, combat, and manage spam.

Spam Management Options

  1. Log in to the Admin Control Panel.
  2. Click on the Options icon.
  3. Select the Spam Management group from the list.

There are several options on the resulting page which work in conjunction to help keep your site free of unwanted visitors and content.

  • To make the Spam Cleaner available at all times, set all three values to 0.
    The Spam Cleaner can be made available for use on members, based on message count, elapsed days since registering, and the number of Likes that member has received.
  • The default options control which checkboxes are already selected when running the Spam Cleaner. The checkboxes can be selected or deselected each time it is run, regardless of the settings here.
  • The actions to be taken with affected threads and messages include being able to permanently delete them, remove them from public view, and in the case of threads, move them to a specific forum.
  • The default email text entered here can also be edited each time the Spam Cleaner is run.
  • The IP check will return any matches from other members, for the past number of days specified.

CAPTCHA

There are two CAPTCHA systems available, only one of which can be used at any one time. They work by requiring visitors to enter text strings in the case of ReCAPTCHA, or answering specific questions for the Question & Answer CAPTCHA.

If using the XenForo Question & Answer CAPTCHA system, then you will need to define a set of questions and answers which visitors will have to answer correctly when registering or posting messages, if guest posting is allowed. This can be done by clicking on the Tools tab in the Admin Control Panel and then selecting Question and Answer from the list on the left hand side.

How to configure the XenForo Question & Answer CAPTCHA system

Spam Cleaner

To use the Spam Cleaner, the relevant permission must be enabled. This can be done by way of user group or user permissions, which are explained in detail in the Permissions section.

The Spam Cleaner itself can be run from several locations:

  • On a thread or profile post by clicking the Spam link to the right of the time and date.
  • On a member card by clicking the Spam link which overlays the avatar.
  • On a profile page by clicking the Spam Cleaner link below the member name.

Clicking any of those links will result in a Spam Cleaner overlay from where you can select the actions to be taken. This can range from a simple IP check, to a permanent ban and removal of all content.

Spam Cleaner overlay

Note that banned users do not automatically show as being banned nor do they have any specific markup applied to their user name or title. Refer to the Discouraging and Banning section for further information.

Restoring Deleted Content

If you wish to restore any deleted content as a result of using the Spam Cleaner, you can do so using the Restore option.

  1. Select the Applications tab.
  2. Click on the Spam Cleaner Log icon.

It is not possible to restore content which has been permanently deleted.

Click on the Restore link for the member in question and then the Restore Data and User Status button.

Using The Spam Cleaner

The following video demonstrates the Spam Cleaner in action: