XF 1.4 bot invasion

[Nebulous]

They are registering constantly. Even with strict settings on User Registration.

How do I keep them out?

They are bot-bot's, not humans. Getting a few per minute on a couple occasions.

 

[Paul B]

Change your Q&A regularly.

 

[Martok]

What are your spam management settings in the ACP? A screenshot of these might be useful.

 

[Mike]

Are you absolutely positive they're bots and not humans? There are certainly plenty of cases where they appear to be bots at first glance (based on the content they post), but further investigation shows that they're pretty clearly human based on their activity and some browser details. You'll find they are almost always in countries like India and Pakistan or using a VPN service.

 

[Nebulous]

 

[Nebulous]

Are you absolutely positive they're bots and not humans? There are certainly plenty of cases where they appear to be bots at first glance (based on the content they post), but further investigation shows that they're pretty clearly human based on their activity and some browser details. You'll find they are almost always in countries like India and Pakistan or using a VPN service.

They're too quick to be humans and I got about 100 in the last few hours alone.

I thought they might have been coming from tapatalk but I unstalled it, removed files from the server and they're still coming.

 

[whynot]

They're too quick to be humans and I got about 100 in the last few hours alone.

Did you try Question and Answer?

 

[Nebulous]

Did you try Question and Answer?

Is that better than any of the other captchas?

Can I use both the Q&A and captcha at the same time?

 

[Paul B]

No, only one at a time.

No captcha is human proof but with Q&A, it at least makes them spend time finding the answer if it's about your forum niche.

 

[whynot]

Is that better than any of the other captchas?

Provided the question is good, only a human can answer.

 

[Nebulous]

No, only one at a time.

No captcha is human proof but with Q&A, it at least makes them spend time finding the answer if it's about your forum niche.

Hmm, why not have the ability to have both enabled at the same time?

I'll try using that Q&A instead though. I'll update later on & let you guys know if it was effective.

 

[Mike]

I'd say KeyCaptcha may be good -- I haven't heard of bots breaking it, but that may just be because of a lack of focus on it.

Can you look up the IPs of the spammers? Do you have raw access log access? (To see if that gives any further info.)

 

[Nebulous]

Well, a more complex Q&A seems to have helped a little bit.

I'd still like the ability to have both a image captcha and a Q&A captcha functioning at the same time on the registration screen. Seems odd for that not to be an option.

 

[m1ne]

Block China and Pakistan if possible.
Are you getting spam content as well? Try my guide if so, https://xenforo.com/community/resources/block-spam-completely-with-no-addons.4065/