XF 1.5 Urgent: Huge Spam on XenForo 1.5.12 - Request for Support and Advice

[Gautam]

Hello XenForo Support,

I am currently running XenForo version 1.5.12 and recently encountered a massive spam influx that forced me to delete a huge number of spam threads and posts on my forum. I wanted to bring this issue to the community and support team's attention and seek guidance on managing and preventing this spam effectively.

Background:

• My forum uses XenForo 1.5.12 with minimal customizations.
• Over a short period, we experienced a surge in spam threads and posts, often containing spam links and irrelevant content.
• The built-in spam cleaner tool was utilized, but in some cases, spam deletion became challenging, such as spam threads that could not be deleted easily.
• This situation is exhausting to manage and has significantly disrupted normal forum activity.

I am using reCaptcha. Please tell me how can I address this issue.

 

[Digital Doctor]

XenForo version 1.5.12

Not supported any longer.

 

[philmckrackon]

Not supported any longer.

1.5.12 is a killer.

 

[Digital Doctor]

try this ?

[8WR] XenUtiles (Spam)

Aug 4, 2013

Find Spam in Accounts and Profile Posts

• Jaxel
• Admin tools [1.x]

Here are the resources with spam in the title, page 3/4 has 1.x compatible addons

 

[Gautam]

try this ?

[8WR] XenUtiles (Spam)

Aug 4, 2013

Find Spam in Accounts and Profile Posts

• Jaxel
• Admin tools [1.x]

Here are the resources with spam in the title, page 3/4 has 1.x compatible addons

Will go through it.

 

[Gautam]

1.5.12 is a killer.

In a good way or a bad way ?

 

[Gautam]

So is there anyway I can stop these spam registrations to begin with ?

What are the best practices I can follow to reduce spammy registrations ?

 

[zappaDPJ]

In my experience reCaptcha doesn't stop spam but it does deter new members from joining your forum.

I would try setting a question and answer, one that should be obvious to someone interested in your forum's niche. I find that to be 100% effective for months, even years year and when it does fail just set an new one. It's important to set the right question and not something too generic e.g. 'what colour is grass' e.t.c.

Failing that I would look to see what add-ons are available but you would probably need to upgrade your forum first in order to use them.

 

[Kirby]

So is there anyway I can stop these spam registrations to begin with ?

You can disable registration, this is unfortunately the only way to fully stop spam registrations.

If significantly reducing spam registrations would be sufficient to you there are multiple options.