Spam and Manually Approving Registrations

[Alfuzzy]

I'm trying to figure out a way to control spam. I've tried a number of things:

• Q&A Captcha
• Other Captcha's
• Turning off new registrations for a while.
• Banning keywords that spammers like to use.
• Require new account first 5 posts to be manually approved.
• etc.

I thought I would give manual approving all new registrations a try. Given the limited info you see when doing manual new account approval...I'm finding it difficult to know which new accounts are from legit-honest humans...and those from spammers.

Some of the email address's sometimes can give a spammer away (such as almost any email address that has .ru in it)...and sometimes the username chosen for the new account can give the spammer away...but these are the rare cases.

I know there are some XF pay-for anti-spam add-on's out there...but was hoping to find a solution that didn't require $$ and installing another add-on.

If I'm doing manual approval of all new registrations...is there any good way to differentiate spammers from legit humans (before approving/rejecting the new account)?

My goal of course is to prevent the spammers from registering...but at the same time allow real legit humans to register & participate in the website.

Thanks

 

[Forsaken]

There are several free add-ons that you could use to piece together similar functionality, however the paid add-ons are your best choice. I personally use Xon's Signup abuse detection and blocking and it has basically removed all spam (and about 90% of multiple account users) from my site.

Blocking common spam sources (China, Taiwan, Thailand, Pakistan, India) is one solution, but depending on your demographics it can cut down on legitimate traffic as well.

 

[Alfuzzy]

Thanks for the info & ideas. Yes I've heard of Xon's add-on...but mostly wanted to explore any XF built-in spam controls first...and any low cost/free add-on's.

This statement in the description of Xon's add-on has me a little concerned:

See the FAQ Known Issues for known limitations. This is not a turn-key solution, and each site may require customization!

I was hoping for an easy to setup spam add-on...and if I needed to do some settings tweaking...I'm not sure what I would tweak.

You mentioned several free add-ons. Could you list what they are so I could check them out please?

Thanks much

 

[Forsaken]

Thanks for the info & ideas. Yes I've heard of Xon's add-on...but mostly wanted to explore any XF built-in spam controls first...and any low cost/free add-on's.

This statement in the description of Xon's add-on has me a little concerned:

See the FAQ Known Issues for known limitations. This is not a turn-key solution, and each site may require customization!

I was hoping for an easy to setup spam add-on...and if I needed to do some settings tweaking...I'm not sure what I would tweak.

You mentioned several free add-ons. Could you list what they are so I could check them out please?

Thanks much

I don't use any of the free ones so I'm not familiar with any one specifically; I mostly only use Xon and it has stopped most of my spam (I was mostly getting hit by China, India and Pakistan).

 

[Alfuzzy]

Thanks Forsaken. Many of the spammers I'm getting hit with have .ru in their account info...I'm assuming this is Russia/Eastern Europe. I usually get about 15-20 of these each day. Most of them are the same "spam topic"...could very well be the same spammer for all I know.

Regarding Xon's add-on. Can you give me an idea of:

• How easy is it to install & setup (did you need to do much tweaking/setting adjustments)?
• Does it require any extra items be installed on the server end (with some add-on's certain PHP extensions seem to be required every now & then)?
• Is there any danger of setting up the add-on & it rejects legitimate humans?

Thanks

 

[whynot]

Many of the spammers I'm getting hit with have .ru in their account info...I'm assuming this is Russia/Eastern Europe. I usually get about 15-20 of these each day

Ban ".ru"

*.ru*

 

[Alfuzzy]

Ban ".ru"

What template do I add that to...or is it within the AdminCP somewhere?

Thanks.

 

[whynot]

or is it within the AdminCP somewhere?

ACP/Users/Banned IP addresses

 

[Alfuzzy]

Cool. Thank you!

 

[Alfuzzy]

Ban ".ru"

*.ru*

Hello whynot. When I try to enter this in the ACP/Users/BannedIP addresses:



...I get this error:



Am I doing something wrong...or entering in the wrong area?

Thanks

 

[Paul B]

Enter it in the banned email address section instead - that's not an IP address.

 

[Alfuzzy]

Excellent...thanks much Brogan...that worked.

 

[whynot]

Sorry @Alfuzzy , thanks @Brogan

 

[Alfuzzy]

No problamo whynot. Appreciate all the help!

 

[GW2]

For me at least, the free addon "Geoblock registrations" using Maxmind's Geolite 2 database is a more effective way of controlling access by specific counties. Like this:

 

[Suzanne O]

I manually approve everyone because i don't want a bunch of internet pests on my site.

 

[Suzanne O]

Don't be like https://www.theadminzone.com who ban new people who are not spammers.

 

[TPerry]

For me at least, the free addon "Geoblock registrations" using Maxmind's Geolite 2 database is a more effective way of controlling access by specific counties.

If using CloudFlare... block them even higher up the chain so they never even hit your server.



You can even block based upon continent.