XF 1.4 Increased Spam Volume...

[RoyalRumble]

We're currently receiving a volume of spam I've not seen in all my days (since 2005) of forum management...

We're on the latest stable 1.4.10 version.

Every member on our forum needs 10 approved posts before posting freely - examples of spam clogging up the moderation queue below, followed by our spam management settings.









I've tried altering the above, every CAPTCHA has been attempted, none are resisting the sheer volume of spam (avg 10 new threads an hour).

Any suggestions/feedback most welcome.

Thanks

 

[Pieman]

I'd be interested to see what happened if you add a 'custom field' that is labeled as home page or webpage. Then set up a promotion to add them to a 'possible spamor' group based on there being text in that custom field. Spamors wouldn't be able to resist filling it in while normal users could be warned via a forum post or wouldn't anyway as they tend not to. My site is not live at the moment so I can't try this out, but will when it does go live.

 

[RoyalRumble]

I also don't see shutting off or down regular forum features as a reasonable solution to combatting spam. One may as well admit that the spammers simply won the game.

Regular features?

You're telling me to deal with the spam as and when it comes in. Leave the honey pot in order to catch the spam.

I've been doing that for 10+ years...

The recent volume dictated that it wasn't practical. Moderation queue was being swamped by human spammers, and there was too many spam registrations to comb through retrospectively to look for... "clues".

And so, I needed to be proactive, rather than reactive.

Via here, the home page solution was given. Granted, allowing the use of home page URL might provide a clue as to who is a spammer and who isn't, but it's not a regular feature on my forum. Not even close. If there was an option to readily disable as a default, I would. So for me, a football forum - home page url is irrelevant.

And so I've adapted to changing spam challenges, and not admitted defeat and lost a game?...

The changes as a result of this thread has stemmed the flow - and so, now, there dormant spam accounts will no longer contain dangerous links (albeit, "clues!") and they're pruned/deleted every few months as an inactive member anyway so no immediate damaging spam, and no lingering spam accounts forever more.

 

[jauburn]

Regular features?

You're telling me to deal with the spam as and when it comes in. Leave the honey pot in order to catch the spam.

I've been doing that for 10+ years...

The recent volume dictated that it wasn't practical. Moderation queue was being swamped by human spammers, and there was too many spam registrations to comb through retrospectively to look for... "clues".

And so, I needed to be proactive, rather than reactive.

Via here, the home page solution was given. Granted, allowing the use of home page URL might provide a clue as to who is a spammer and who isn't, but it's not a regular feature on my forum. Not even close. If there was an option to readily disable as a default, I would. So for me, a football forum - home page url is irrelevant.

And so I've adapted to changing spam challenges, and not admitted defeat and lost a game?...

The changes as a result of this thread has stemmed the flow - and so, now, there dormant spam accounts will no longer contain dangerous links (albeit, "clues!") and they're pruned/deleted every few months as an inactive member anyway so no immediate damaging spam, and no lingering spam accounts forever more.

Ah, I see. For some reason I thought this plugin was removing the signature area. It removes the Home Page text box. My mistake.

Yeah, that seems like a decent idea, although wouldn't spammers just use another area to input their home page, like signature?

 

[RoyalRumble]

Ah, I see. For some reason I thought this plugin was removing the signature area. It removes the Home Page text box. My mistake.

Yeah, that seems like a decent idea, although wouldn't spammers just use another area to input their home page, like signature?

Haven't seen it yet - though we don't allow signatures until 5 approved posts