Forum help!

[spreadz07]

Hi guys
we have our team forums and I am sick of deleting spam bots. I have a capcha on there but they still get in.
Is there anyone who knows what kind of things can be done to stop the spam?
I know how to delete them one by one and blocking their email addresses seems to do no good. I have to activate their account so there is no worry of them being able to post, itsjust anyone can look on the member list and see their profile and what they are advertising. I also end up with hundreds of spam emails through my team email on outlook express.
Let me know please.
Thanks guys
Nige

 

[Cro]

You need one of those random number/letter generator things Nige. I don't know the technical term for them but they display a pic with numbers and or letters in strange font types that you have to type in to confirm your a real person, not a puter. A lot of sites where you need to register have them these days, I'm sure someone on here knows what they're called.

 

[JTD1993]

Verification Code

 

[spreadz07]

Hey Cro
Thats a capcha mate. They seem to crack the one on our site. there are a few diferent ones about that I looked into trying but dont know how to install them
Hope you are well mate
Nige

 

[Cro]

Hey Cro
Thats a capcha mate. They seem to crack the one on our site. there are a few diferent ones about that I looked into trying but dont know how to install them
Hope you are well mate
Nige

You running VBulletin on your webby? If so I'll get the info for you m8.

 

[jocky]

html

cant u just go 2 view then source in your toolbar and replace the verifaction thingy in the body part of the html?...

if that made sense LOL

 

[Cro]

Just registered on your webby and like you say you have one of those thingies (I know all the technical terms ) I'll speak to Lee who built www.walkonzone.com see if he knows anything. We haven't had much of a problem lately but now and then we get a few come through and just delete the accounts, ban ip's etc, etc, etc.

 

[jocky]

hope this help's

Is your phpBB board being overridden by spam? Most people may recommend that you go to their support forums and install a couple modifications, but what if they don’t work? The answer to that question is simple. All common solutions will not work. If someone puts out a common solution, the spam bots will adapt to it. Spam bots have adapted to captacha images, email verification, and other common defenses. Fortunately, the answer is simple, all you have to do is be unique. I will give you one tip on how you can do that and keep the spam bots at bay.


It is my best guess that the image verifications are the hardest to crack, so in theory, if you tweak that, the bots will not be able to adapt to it.

Make sure you have the latest version of phpBB installed (given)
Enable image verification, and user activation
Open up phpbb/includes/usercp_confirm.php
Find tweakable values. Some examples are $total_width, $total_height, $img_width, $img_height, $width, (you get the idea)
Preview as you tweak to make sure the images are still readable, yet make sure you are making noticeable changes.
I tweaked the $width variable on line 87 to the point where some of the letters were getting squished together and getting cut off by a few pixels, and that was enough for me.

I tried this method on a board that was getting 10-15 spam registrations a day. It’s been spam free for almost a month now.

If you find a method that woks, post it, but generalize it. If you get too many people start copying you exactly, it will make it work the spammer’s time to adapt to it. Remember, the key is to make your board different from all the others

http://wp.pr0gr4mm3r.com/php/how-to-stop-spam-on-a-phpbb-2xx-board/red more here lol

 

[spreadz07]

You running VBulletin on your webby? If so I'll get the info for you m8.

I have no idea whats on there mate. I am old and computers freek me out Lol!

cant u just go 2 view then source in your toolbar and replace the verifaction thingy in the body part of the html?...

if that made sense LOL

No idea maye

Just registered on your webby and like you say you have one of those thingies (I know all the technical terms ) I'll speak to Lee who built www.walkonzone.com see if he knows anything. We haven't had much of a problem lately but now and then we get a few come through and just delete the accounts, ban ip's etc, etc, etc.

Cheers mate. your account is now active Lol!


The guy who runs it is in the RAF so getting him to do stuff when he is away is hard work
Nige

 

[jocky]

sorry

sorry i couldent help ill find away try and get back 2 u soon .
(this is just like helping my dad on a p.c LOL)