Recent spam incidents

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[Andrew]

Some of the regular visitors to the site may have noticed that in the last few days several new accounts have been created to post only what can be described as SPAM!!

These accounts originating from Germany have now been banned from the site.  Unfortunately, these accounts are set up using software called 'robots' which scan the Internet for PHP driven sites such as this one.  Accounts are then created automatically by the software and then it can post whatever message the 'robot' has been programmed to do.  This method of spamming seems to be on the increase and it's highly likely that we'll see more incidents on the site in the future.

I'll continue to keep a watch on the site and immediately ban any accounts which look any way suspicious.

Regards

Andrew - your friendly Admin

[JRMoran]

Does the PHP control panel allow you to apply a code or email verification to all new account start ups?

I don't know much about PHP etc but a lot of forums I lurk about on have this protection feature - not sure how effective they are but I'd imagine it would cut out a lot of the opportunistic bots auto-registering...

[Andrew]

It can yes.  So far we haven't used email verification as its inconvienient for the user, but its there if we need it

Andrew

[adamjennison111]

I am just reading through the site (like you do) and found this thread, even though its a bit old I will offer my services if they are needed.  I have a bit of experience in the defeat of spam-bots and other nasties..   I can provide php scripts etc to help identify then ban them..  I use them on a few of the sites i run, some of which have been on the web since 1995 so have had many many visits from the spam-bots.

Adam...

[Andrew]

Thanks for the offer Adam, but I think everything is now under control.  We now have Admin verification in place to stop automatic signups.

Also this SMF software is excellent in the fact that you can set up you're own filters to block almost everything - its just at the time of writing that post, we didn't have many in place and a few nasties were still getting through the net

Cheers

Andrew

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