XF 1.5 Disallow Using Website and About Me Fields for New Users

[triforceguy1]

Hello,

A lot of spam bots which register seem to use the About Me and Website User Fields to post their spam the majority of the time. Is there a way to disable specific user fields like those two for new users who haven't posted anything yet?

Also, is it possible to use the batch update (and Spam Cleaner) to completely reset their profiles to default (to remove all signatures, avatars, About Me etc.)

Leon

 

[Chris D]

You can disable profile editing for all registered users, which should do what you want. It effectively prevents access to the "Personal Details" page.

You could then promote all users who have over X posts to a user group which does have this permission using a User Group Promotion.

 

[triforceguy1]

You can disable profile editing for all registered users, which should do what you want. It effectively prevents access to the "Personal Details" page.

You could then promote all users who have over X posts to a user group which does have this permission using a User Group Promotion.

Thing is, is that also blocks them from altering their email if they mistyped it. I suppose I could set a user group specific Notice to contact me if they need to change their email.

Also, is it possible to use the batch update (and Spam Cleaner) to completely reset their profiles to default (to remove all signatures, avatars, About Me etc.)

Thank you

 

[Chris D]

It doesn't prevent them from editing their email. That is edited on the Contact Details page. They will still have access to this page.

You can remove avatars, signatures, and home pages using the Batch Update Users tool. This isn't really the right tool for dealing with spammers, though. They should just be banned using the spam cleaner, this will prevent access to their profile.

 

[triforceguy1]

It doesn't prevent them from editing their email. That is edited on the Contact Details page. They will still have access to this page.

You can remove avatars, signatures, and home pages using the Batch Update Users tool. This isn't really the right tool for dealing with spammers, though. They should just be banned using the spam cleaner, this will prevent access to their profile.

Ah okay.

I was only asking because it is still an outbound link. A few weeks ago, I was actually emailed by some guy asking me to take down links to his site that spammers had on their about me pages even though they were banned.

 

[Chris D]

When a user is banned, normal users (i.e. non moderator/admin users) will get prevented from viewing the profile.

It is possible, however, that the content was still visible in Google's index and it might take a few days after the user is banned for that to drop from the index completely.

If you have any examples where a banned user's profile is still visible, then you should look into this.

Certainly the User Group Promotion route is the best way to prevent it happening at all.

 

[triforceguy1]

When a user is banned, normal users (i.e. non moderator/admin users) will get prevented from viewing the profile.

It is possible, however, that the content was still visible in Google's index and it might take a few days after the user is banned for that to drop from the index completely.

If you have any examples where a banned user's profile is still visible, then you should look into this.

Certainly the User Group Promotion route is the best way to prevent it happening at all.

Awesome, thanks for all the info