Stopping spam

IHeartGaming · 2018-03-25 23:25:12

Hello all,

I don't know about you, but I'm getting really irritated with the random spambots that sneak through and sometimes post things. At best, they clutter the user list; at worst, they spam their profiles and signatures with spam links that probably have some kind of negative effect on SEO for this site.

Back when I did a little bit of forum administration, StopForumSpam had a pretty good plugin and database. I don't know what you guys are using on the backend, but I'd like to offer a few suggestions. I don't mind working to implement these if the staff here are willing.

StopForumSpam. There seem to be a few decent mods that offer FluxBB integration with that. I always administered PunBB forums, so I can't vouch for any of them, but the service is pretty good.
Basic questions. A field that asks what the second word is on the ninth forum tab or something similar could probably work. I can't vouch for the effectiveness of this, though, as I never had any questions setup.
Pruning users. If users don't make a post within a certain time frame, they should be deleted. There is a FluxBB mod called "User Management" that looks to have this functionality that could be run periodically.

I'm interested in the staff's thoughts on this. From some of the reports that I've put in and users that I've seen be banned, someone's putting time into moderating this board that could probably be automated.

mikho · 2018-03-26 08:02:18

The forum was updated a couple of days ago and some new things were introduced.
Is it really that much that it has become a problem?

Backtogeek · 2018-03-26 08:24:11

Yep, I updated it a few days ago after giving up on waiting for FluxBB > Flarum migration, honestly I am thinking of just canning this platform and moving to vanilla or similar.

the issue with fluxbb is that a 'mod' or 'plugin' usually involved manually editing 3 different random files, adding css and all sorts, which is just a mess when it comes to updating or knowing what impact a modification will have to another add-on you may want.

It is super light weight, the forum runs on an LES box and a 64mb MySQL box it still surprises me how well it runs.

Not sure which direction to go in yet, but points dully noted.

willie · 2018-03-30 23:45:05

I notice I now have to set my browser to send a referer header before I can post here. Is that an anti-spam measure? It doesn't sound likely to stay effective, since the spam bots can easily send those headers, and it's annoying for users who normally turn off referers while browsing.

mikho · 2018-03-31 02:05:14

Must be something in the update. There has been no manual change on that by any of the staff members.

Backtogeek · 2018-03-31 08:34:16

Odd, that's not even an option and I can't find anything in the release notes, this was only a minor versions update.

Bochi · 2018-04-06 21:22:45

mikho wrote:

Is it really that much that it has become a problem?

I guess it is...looks as if a new wave just hit:

Backtogeek · 2018-04-06 22:28:31

yeah 99% of them get caught by the no URL's in your first post spam trap I have setup, every now and the akismet or some combination of things lets them through.

I am considering moving the forum to another software with better plugins to handle this sort of thing.

MM552 · 2018-04-06 22:45:19

Backtogeek wrote:

yeah 99% of them get caught by the no URL's in your first post spam trap I have setup, every now and the akismet or some combination of things lets them through.
I am considering moving the forum to another software with better plugins to handle this sort of thing.

Are you thinking vanilla forums?

Backtogeek · 2018-04-07 09:33:07

Well, I don't think vanilla would work on 128mb sadly, but something of that style

MM552 · 2018-04-07 11:03:58

Yea I never thought of that.

Backtogeek · 2018-04-07 11:52:40

considering http://flarum.org/

MM552 · 2018-04-07 12:57:29

Yea Flarum looks good. I also see there is some community import tools for FluxBB. Looks like a nice choice

multimill · 2018-04-07 18:56:52

Yeah do it. It look quite nice and modern compared to FluxBB.

willie · 2018-04-15 23:07:16

No idea about Flarum but I like how FluxBB looks, and I get scared when I see the word "modern" applied to web design. It usually means they have taken something that worked perfectly well and messed it up into uselessness.

Last edited by willie (2018-04-15 23:08:31)

LowEndSpirit Forum

#1 2018-03-25 23:25:12

Stopping spam

#2 2018-03-26 08:02:18

Re: Stopping spam

#3 2018-03-26 08:24:11

Re: Stopping spam

#4 2018-03-30 23:45:05

Re: Stopping spam

#5 2018-03-31 02:05:14

Re: Stopping spam

#6 2018-03-31 08:34:16

Re: Stopping spam

#7 2018-04-06 21:22:45

Re: Stopping spam

#8 2018-04-06 22:28:31

Re: Stopping spam

#9 2018-04-06 22:45:19

Re: Stopping spam

#10 2018-04-07 09:33:07

Re: Stopping spam

#11 2018-04-07 11:03:58

Re: Stopping spam

#12 2018-04-07 11:52:40

Re: Stopping spam

#13 2018-04-07 12:57:29

Re: Stopping spam

#14 2018-04-07 18:56:52

Re: Stopping spam

#15 2018-04-15 23:07:16

Re: Stopping spam

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