how to stop these relentless fake accounts registering? I have all stop forum spam tools going.
- Thread starter sross
- Start date
M@rc
Well-known member
Some of them usually have unusual email domains. I ban those and it's reduced spam registrations by a lot from my experience.
Rhody
Well-known member
The built in security tools that use third party databases like stopforumspam, etc work very well. You have to request free keys for most of those spam databases, per Xenforo docs. Having a Q&A question also helps. We get maybe one of those every month, with those things in place. We also have an add-on from XF2 that bans China and Russia from registering, which is the source of most.
We also have one of the XF2 add-ons set up to email our mods when someone registers, to see what their answers to the registration questions where. We added some custom fields to ask something specific about the theme of the forum that applies to them, and spammers will usually be easy to spot by their answers. We then look at any taglines they set, to see if it includes a web link to a website they are trying to promote for SEO, or some kind of spam like website. (adult, pills, get rich, etc)
If they get through all that, they'll sometimes let them sit for months. Then they will reply to a really old thread, with a nonsense generic reply.
Good luck
We also have one of the XF2 add-ons set up to email our mods when someone registers, to see what their answers to the registration questions where. We added some custom fields to ask something specific about the theme of the forum that applies to them, and spammers will usually be easy to spot by their answers. We then look at any taglines they set, to see if it includes a web link to a website they are trying to promote for SEO, or some kind of spam like website. (adult, pills, get rich, etc)
If they get through all that, they'll sometimes let them sit for months. Then they will reply to a really old thread, with a nonsense generic reply.
Good luck
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Best one:
No one gets through if properly configured
xenforo.com
No one gets through if properly configured
Signup abuse detection and blocking
From (simple) multiple accounts detection to isp/connection fingerprinting with score-based moderating/rejecting logic. These are very effective low-hanging fruit at reducing spam. Supports migration configuration from the following XF1 add-ons...
xenforo.com
Alan_SP
Well-known member
Do they have outlook.com email address? As they have at my forum. So, you can just block outlook.com for mail address.
VBX Co
Well-known member
Best one:
No one gets through if properly configured
Signup abuse detection and blocking
From (simple) multiple accounts detection to isp/connection fingerprinting with score-based moderating/rejecting logic. These are very effective low-hanging fruit at reducing spam. Supports migration configuration from the following XF1 add-ons...
We swear by this - use it on all our sites. Also put first few posts of new members into approval queue to catch the link spammers, then use usergroup promotion to allow genuine new members to post normally.
BassMan
Well-known member
On one forum of ours, we've added a manual approval of the first post. After that, a user is promoted to a different user group and they can post without approval in the future. It works for our forum and those spammers just stop registering.
We also had a problem with those outlook addresses, but we went that way. For our members, this also means a more pleasant, trusted, and moderated environment.
We also had a problem with those outlook addresses, but we went that way. For our members, this also means a more pleasant, trusted, and moderated environment.
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fionix
Well-known member
I totally agree... all our spam stopped when installed that add on. Really amazing work the developer did there.Best one:
No one gets through if properly configured
Signup abuse detection and blocking
From (simple) multiple accounts detection to isp/connection fingerprinting with score-based moderating/rejecting logic. These are very effective low-hanging fruit at reducing spam. Supports migration configuration from the following XF1 add-ons...
JustinHawk
Well-known member
you can use this addon by @Ozzy47 https://snogssite.com/threads/ozzmodz-verify-email-before-registration-paid.3679/ . its really a good addon.
Wildcat Media
Well-known member
I feel this is a better solution, and I'll be adding it to the arsenal soon. I've tried the aforementioned signup abuse addon and don't have the time or patience to sit and figure out all those various settings, scoring, etc. Stopping them before wasting server resources seems more efficient. The only feature we want from that addon is the ability to find banned members trying to return, and it's overkill for that.I went with ozzmods spaminator, which gives bots fake fields to use thus identifying them. So far it is stopping them
In our case, most spammers are stopped by preventing the posting of links in messages, as that is their primary goal. They are using spam to boost search engine rankings, not to actually sell anything to people who belong to a forum. Those posts are flagged using only XF's internal spam filtering, and sent to moderation, where staff can flag as spam and clean them up.
Wildcat Media
Well-known member
It would be done through a user group promotion. The way we did it, the "Registered" usergroup has all posts go to the moderation queue. But once a person makes two or more valid posts (you set your limits in the Promotion you configure for it), they were added to a secondary usergroup called "Verified" which removed the permission for posts being sent to the moderation queue. The queue, of course, is where you approve/reject/edit posts before they are approved and made public. Not near a computer at the moment to show how it's done, otherwise I'd post a few screenshots.
JRobert
Active member
It can be configured using groups, as Wildcat Media describes. It's in the XF manual, and it's how our forum is set up (the first five posts need moderator approval):
