Spam! Everyday

[billybatz9]

Hello,
I am getting at least 8 spam posts a day and it's becoming annoying to have to delete them everyday. I was wondering what everyone is doing to combat spam?

 

[DroidOne]

Are you running XF 1.5?

This add-on is fantastic: https://xenforo.com/community/threads/tpu-detect-and-block-spam-registrations.70418/

 

[New Joe]

Take a read here:
https://xenforo.com/community/threa...rs-posting-500-posts-a-day-on-xenforo.148480/

 

[WoodiE]

Hello,
I am getting at least 8 spam posts a day and it's becoming annoying to have to delete them everyday. I was wondering what everyone is doing to combat spam?

I would start first by updating your forum software as the version you're running will be 4 years old next month!

That said, unless you just switched your verification method to ReCAPTCHA - then none of your readers have been able to register on your forums since the version of ReCAPTCHA running on your nearly 4 old version of Xenforo was retired at the end of March of this year (updating Xenforo would have fixed that).

Then either enable ReCAPTCHA or configure you site to run the Q&A verification and make your questions related to your niche.

In addition, using the CloudFlare Anti-Spam addon by @Brent W along with Cloudflare will allow you to filter or block known spam countries.

 

[billybatz9]

Are you running XF 1.5?

This add-on is fantastic: https://xenforo.com/community/threads/tpu-detect-and-block-spam-registrations.70418/

2.0

 

[billybatz9]

I would start first by updating your forum software as the version you're running will be 4 years old next month!

That said, unless you just switched your verification method to ReCAPTCHA - then none of your readers have been able to register on your forums since the version of ReCAPTCHA running on your nearly 4 old version of Xenforo was retired at the end of March of this year (updating Xenforo would have fixed that).

Then either enable ReCAPTCHA or configure you site to run the Q&A verification and make your questions related to your niche.

In addition, using the CloudFlare Anti-Spam addon by @Brent W along with Cloudflare will allow you to filter or block known spam countries.

my site is www.nanoreefforum.com Is this the site you are talking about?

 

[WoodiE]

my site is www.nanoreefforum.com Is this the site you are talking about?

No, I'm referring to the one in your profile http://clubfauna.com/

 

[SnoSheriff]

my site is www.nanoreefforum.com Is this the site you are talking about?

I just cleaned up a bunch of spam messages that are similar to what you have on your website. I also see an increase of spam posts getting through.

I'd love to hear how Xenforo staff handles the spam posts. What does Xenforo team recommended as solution for this?

 

[RandallC]

You may want to read this:

https://xenforo.com/community/threads/is-your-forum-being-hammered-by-bots.156431/

 

[SnoSheriff]

Thanks @Deathstarr but I don't see any staff recommendations in there.

I would like to see one of the Staff members like @Brogan chime in on this topic. SPAM seems to be an issue lately.

 

[RandallC]

Thanks @Deathstarr but I don't see any staff recommendations in there.

I would like to see one of the Staff members like @Brogan chime in on this topic. SPAM seems to be an issue lately.

Correct no staff in that one. Running the recaptcha, stopforumspam, and Cloudflare as well as using the htaccess has eliminated all spam from my forum other then real people spamming. That’s is why i suggested it.

Good luck feel free to reach out to me anytime.

 

[Ozzy47]

I think the staff would recommend using the inbuilt spam tools and tweak the settings to suit your needs.

 

[alternadiv]

I have the same issue. I used to have a question and answer specific to the niche but they were getting through. So I tried the image version to no avail.

The only thing that I have found that 100% works is manual approval of users. Obviously this is inconvenient for real registrations, but I am pretty good at approving almost instantly. I spend all day long on my forum via my iPhone, so I am regularly refreshing to check approvals. I get about 25 registrations a day and this doesn’t seem to discourage new members from posting. It may not be ideal, but it is absolutely working.

You also get the satisfaction of literally deleting the spam account while they are still logged in.

 

[tafreehm]

Create your own custom captcha. If your audience knows another language than English then create captcha in that language.

It works great on my forum.

 

[Elizabeth]

The ONLY spam I am getting these days is thru my Contact Us link...Since locking that down isn't an option, I just hit the delete key when I see it.

 

[Xon]

2.0

I've got a paid add-on for XF2.0 which implements similar functionality;

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

The ONLY spam I am getting these days is thru my Contact Us link...Since locking that down isn't an option, I just hit the delete key when I see it.

My (free) 'contact us thread' add-on can do a run the XF spam checks against the Contact Us form.

[OzzModz] Contact Us Thread

When the Contact Us form is used, this add-on will create a thread in a specified forum. Associates the thread ownership with the logged in user or as a guest user, and uses a phrase to format the message contents. Notice: The Contact Us flood...

xenforo.com

 

[Elizabeth]

My (free) 'contact us thread' add-on can do a run the XF spam checks against the Contact Us form.

I will add that once I get the danged thing updated from 1.5X to 2.X

 

[Xon]

I will add that once I get the danged thing updated from 1.5X to 2.X

There is also an XF1.5.x version;

Unmaintained - Contact Us Thread

When the Contact Us form is used, this add-on will create a thread in a specified forum. Associates the thread ownership with the logged in user or as a guest user, and uses a phrase to format the message contents. Notice: The Contact Us flood...

xenforo.com

 

[Elizabeth]

There is also an XF1.5.x version;

Unmaintained - Contact Us Thread

When the Contact Us form is used, this add-on will create a thread in a specified forum. Associates the thread ownership with the logged in user or as a guest user, and uses a phrase to format the message contents. Notice: The Contact Us flood...

xenforo.com

I'm not staying on XF 1.5 much longer assuming I can get my testboard working so I can try updating there first. I want to be on 2.x by the first week of Jan

 

[Wildcat Media]

We've simply been tweaking our built-in XF spam filtering and have been catching just about all spammers.

One little trick to remember. Keep in mind that spammers are registering with only one goal in mind--they are not spamming to your forum members. They are spamming in order to plant links on your pages so they attempt to improve their search engine rankings.

That makes the answer blindingly obvious--send all posts from new members who put URLs in their messages straight into the moderation queue. True, you have to sort through the moderation queue, but from there you can delete those posts as spam, which also bans their accounts. It does require a little regex in XF's filter, but it works effectively. I recommended this to a fellow forum we are friends with and it drastically cut their spam postings as well.

I also cut down on spam registrations by keeping track of the throwaway email address domains, and banning them. One like maimobis.com was in favor for a while until I added it to the banned email address list with a wildcard. I also block email from uncommon top level domains.

On some of my sites, I have blocked many countries right in my server's firewall. I notice that fail2ban runs a lot less since I blocked countries like China, Russia, Romania, and at least a dozen others. We don't get visitors from those countries, so we lose nothing. (One time when I had ipset bork on me and my list of blocked IP address ranges wasn't installed, both fail2ban usage and my spam forum registrations jumped drastically.)

(I don't post specifics of spam filtering--I don't need spammers to read this and find ways to work around them. )