Beer Forum

My local group's forum (phpBB 3.0.8 ) has, since Friday Jan 14, been under attack by spammers (IP verified by stopforumspam.com). These do not appear to be bots as they are able to read CAPTCHA, 3DCAPTCHA and reCAPTCHA. I have deleted over 25 registration attemps since yesterday morning, and this shit is getting old! Here's is a small sample;

Papssoosums. jukenifopinp.t@gmail.com 91.201.66.89. Over 200 spam log entries.
Mownridovonom. seo-3462@o2.pl 193.105.210.161. Over 200 spam log entries.
mASHlABdOKTORE. r.us.k.i.s.p.a.m.e.r.j.a.p.i.e.r.d.o.l.e@gmail.com. 94.142.130.31. Just 50 spam log entries.
thmstmcnee. thmstmcnee@aol.com. 79.116.141.126. Just 25 spam log entries.
mbtshoes4. haojj@chongsoft.org. 219.134.64.253. Only 65 spam log entries.
amipsemewdemy. shalmaike.sga.r@gmail.com. 91.201.66.196 Over 200 spam log entries.

I expect that TBN gets the attention of a much larger number of these clueless jerks (r.us.k.i.s.p.a.m.e.r.j.a.p.i.e.r.d.o.l.e@gmail.com indeed!), so how do you deal with them?

Do you use some sort of check tool, or is it just brute strength and awkwardness?

TIA,
Charlie (currently using brute strength and awkwardness)

for the "big name" domains like gmail and aol, they can and will shut down the email addresses if the spamers are actually sending through their servide.

Most other places contract with whitelist and or blacklist vendors.
Code can probably point you to more info.

HTH-

Well, if we sat down to a beer together, I'd be glad to tell you and even help you out. In the real world, though, spammers read forums and I'd rather not invent a new strategy next week.

I'm not cocky enough to imagine that we have a secret that no one else knows about, but it works for us.

A good strategy uses multiple tiers including RBLs, Turing challenges, email validation, human moderation, etc.

Having a very large hammer comes in handy too. All providers have TOS agreements. Use them to your advantage.

Hope that helps.

codewritinfool wrote:Well, if we sat down to a beer together, I'd be glad to tell you and even help you out.....

Cool! Yes, that does help.

Charlie

can you turn on some sort of approval requirement where an administrator must approve each new account before it can post?

I realize it's a pain, but if it's just your local club's forums, how many new members can you have a week/month?