XF 2.1 Rejected for "resembling spamlike behavior"

JoyFreak

Well-known member
I had someone message me saying they can't register on the site because their registration got rejected for "resembling spamlike behavior".

Is this a default XenForo behavior or related to an add-on? I'm using @Xon Sign up and abuse detection add-on.

Anyway, what would I need to do to resolve this so the user can register on the site?
 
Solution
Indeed that is a standard phrase -- it's similar enough that I assume that's what they're referring to, but different enough to make it less obvious that's the cause.

It's used when your anti-spam rules trigger a denial, which is probably from them hitting multiple StopForumSpam flags, unless you've tuned your rules to deny more aggressively. There will be details in the spam trigger log.

Creating the account for them manually would probably be the best approach for this particular user, unless you're going to adjust the rules the user hit.
That could work, but I presume if the add-on is capable of giving false positives then the onus should be on the add-on developer to guide you on how best to avoid that situation going forward.
 
And to find precisily which addon it is, do a search for that phrase,
Good call. Although I just did a search but it didn't quite help. The phrase didn't give me any clues, I also did a search template for the phrase, nothing. Then I went out to search all phrases within the add-on in question but nothing also. Could be hard coded. The phrase is "spam_prevention_registration_rejected" I believe.
 
In which case I would do a search in your database or files for the word spamlike it isn’t a very common word
This quote "resembling spamlike behavior" is what the user sent to me. It's obviously not the right phrase but I believe that's the phrase they mean. They just didn't quote all of it and didn't place the hyphen in between.
 
This quote "resembling spamlike behavior" is what the user sent to me. It's obviously not the right phrase but I believe that's the phrase they mean. They just didn't quote all of it and didn't place the hyphen in between.
The default phrase, which I think is what you're talking about is:
Code:
Your registration has been rejected as it resembles spam-like or automated behavior. Please contact the administrator for further information or assistance.
Phrase is: spam_prevention_registration_rejected

Something about that user is triggering the anti-spam rules... Stop Forum Spam or something like that.
 
The default phrase, which I think is what you're talking about is:
Code:
Your registration has been rejected as it resembles spam-like or automated behavior. Please contact the administrator for further information or assistance.
Phrase is: spam_prevention_registration_rejected

Something about that user is triggering the anti-spam rules... Stop Forum Spam or something like that.
Yeah, that's most likely what the user who sent me that message is on about. They got that error/phrase but didn't quote all of it to me. Yeah that's probably the case but what would you do in a situation like this? Is there anything I can do? I was suggested to manually create their account for them which I will do once they email me.
 
Indeed that is a standard phrase -- it's similar enough that I assume that's what they're referring to, but different enough to make it less obvious that's the cause.

It's used when your anti-spam rules trigger a denial, which is probably from them hitting multiple StopForumSpam flags, unless you've tuned your rules to deny more aggressively. There will be details in the spam trigger log.

Creating the account for them manually would probably be the best approach for this particular user, unless you're going to adjust the rules the user hit.
 
Solution
Worth noting that we don't block by default in most cases, or at least it's difficult to trigger that if you're a legitimate user. So you may want to check your spam config options, or of course it could still be the add-on but it might be using the same phrase.

You can use the "Spam trigger log" in the Admin CP which will tell you what caused the spam rejection. If the add-on has its own log, that would be worth checking too.
 
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