Not planned Do NOT create user account if SPAM detection classifies it as spammer

[Joao Prates]

Hi,

I'd like to ask for a checkbox titled "Prevent user creation" (or similar name) on the "User Registration" options "Stop Forum Spam" section.
I see no point whatsoever in letting a known spammer create a user account in the first place, even if with "rejected" status, it's user accounts trash.

TIA,
-jprates

 

[Chris D]

We have no plans to make any changes here.

The fact is that anti-spam measures can flag false positives, so it is important to be able to allow the account creation to go ahead so it can then be approved or rejected.

The benefit of their account being kept and in a rejected state is that they cannot keep trying to register with the same details over and over.

 

[Joao Prates]

You are totally entitled to your opinion of course, but you should let us end users decide what to do, it's not your role to decide for us.
The only thing I'm asking is for a checkbox to allow for this behaviour, it's up to each and every admin to decide if to activate it or not.

The way it is now we end up with potentially hundreds of spam accounts created, and if we delete them they register back.
I don't want them there, period. It's messing my user's statistics, mass emails, etc. It's garbage.

I find it very upsetting that you do not even consider and immediately dismiss one feature that was asked as an OPTION and not imposed.
Not the kind of development support I would praise. Sad and demotivating really.

 

[Chris D]

The way it is now we end up with potentially hundreds of spam accounts created, and if we delete them they register back.

Exactly my point. Hence why we wouldn't implement an option that wouldn't create the account - they would just register back.

It's messing my user's statistics, mass emails

How so?

I find it very upsetting that you do not even consider and immediately dismiss one feature that was asked as an OPTION and not imposed.
Not the kind of development support I would praise. Sad and demotivating really.

It was considered and I considered it not to be a feature we would like to pursue. I'd rather tell you that outright than giving you false hope that we would one day implement it. It's a positive thing. If it's still functionality you would like to pursue, you may prefer to research as to whether there are add-ons that already exist to provide that functionality, or perhaps even commission someone to make an add-on for you.

 

[DragonByte Tech]

If you do want this feature, you can achieve it with this excellent add-on by @Xon: https://atelieraphelion.com/products/signup-abuse-detection-and-blocking.64/

Very much Your-Mileage-May-Vary, but I have it configured so that if the email or IP address (not user name, as that's false positive central) appears in the StopForumSpam database, the registration is outright rejected and it's logged as such in the spam triggers log. I have had no reports of false positives thus far.

While I agree with you that it would be useful to have in the core software, please do bear in mind that XenForo has to be designed to not give the admins too many options that can be used to cause lasting damage to their board. How many hundreds of users could potentially be lost due to such a feature before one person submitted a complaint via Contact Us?

I strongly doubt the XF team reject features because they can't be bothered, it's likely there are reasons like the one I suggested in this post - it simply wasn't elaborated on.

 

[Joao Prates]

they would just register back.

No they would not, that's exactly the point for crying out loud, you did not understand this!?!?
They wound NEVER be able to register, this feature would not allow them to create the account at all, they would be blocked every time!

How so?

Easy, we're a small community, less than 200 users, now imagine having dozens of spammers... half or more of the total...

the registration is outright rejected

Current XF version is doing that already with no add-on, it's just a matter of configuring the spam metrics.
What I don't want is to have the account created in the first place, instead of letting the creation proceed and later mark it as rejected.

 

[Jake B.]

Easy, we're a small community, less than 200 users, now imagine having dozens of spammers... half or more of the total...

User stats only include valid users

 

[DragonByte Tech]

Current XF version is doing that already with no add-on, it's just a matter of configuring the spam metrics.
What I don't want is to have the account created in the first place, instead of letting the creation proceed and later mark it as rejected.

...?

You asked for the account to not be created, and that is what the add-on I linked to does (if you configure it to do so)

 

[Joao Prates]

User stats only include valid users

Thank you, I was not aware of that. Newbie here.
Regardless I hate having accounts in the control panel which are trash.

that is what the add-on I linked to does

Humm... apologies then, it seems I misunderstood you here:

the registration is outright rejected

I assumed it was registered and labeled as rejected, something base XF does already.

Thanks for your inputs.
I think I'll try the question and answer caption instead, as suggested by another member.