Spammers....

[matt walker]

well, they're kinda annoying. Any ideas on how to mitigate this? Mr. North Wind? Anyone?

[pa_friendly_guy]

I am sorry Matt, but I have no clue when it comes to stopping such things. I agree that they are a minor inconvenience, but you seem to be right on top of things and errase their posts right away. I am guessing that you ban them from the group as well. Keep up the Good Work. You get a big AT-A-Boy

[the north wind]

Sorry Matt, I got the sick right now, and am behind on my work as well. I'll take a look into this in a bit. I think there is an option to only let people into the group after they have been approved. Should be pretty easy to weed people out by looking at the info the enter for their profile, I think.

I'll do some more google research, but in the meantime, maybe some helpful stuff here ? http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=759835

[matt walker]

Thank you Mr. TNW. I did that last night, set it so that new registrations need approval. I don't mind, it's really easy to tell by the username if it's a spammer. I do worry that a real person might not get through, though. I'm gonna read up now, thanks for the link.

Get well soon. <insert emotive kitten picture here>

[matt walker]

Okay, I did some research, and changed some things about the registration process. I removed the part where I need to authorize new members, in hopes that the other changes will keep out the spam and allow real people in. If anyone hears of someone having problems registering, or sees spam that I've missed, please let me know. We'll get this board running smooth and keep it open to everyone, if possible.

[matt walker]

Well, unless I broke something and nobody can get in, I think I found the solution. If anyone cares, the answer is: Have a question and answer field in the registration process, in place of that Captcha thingy. I changed to that, and so far, no spammers. No new registrations either, so I hope I didn't mess it up!

[Lemicha]

...hmmm and maybe a note on the activation email that new members be advised to go to their control panel ASAP and personalise their details to ensure that their email address doesn't end up being used for spamming by major pains in the butt, that seem to be ...not as nice as the regulars on this site! I have read and perused many forums seeking different information, but not joined in and signed up. So I was not aware what can and cannot be accessed... BAM was hit in my emails. Different people but links to same address. I deleted and blocked these without entering the sites but since I have not had my email address anywhere new but here for a while, can only assume that there are always people ready to pounce on the unsuspecting newbies... GRRRRR to them!!
On a brighter note...doin' a great job Matt You all seem to be a nice bunch to join in with!

[matt walker]

Hey, thanks for the info and kind words Lemicha. Did you have your email in your public profile, or did they get it through this site some way I'm not aware of? I know that the spam bots are crazy aggressive these days, if there's an address publicly visible it will get spammed mercilessly. I'll see if I can put that detail in the sign up email. Thanks again.

[Lemicha]

Hi Matt, I hadn't been into the user control panel at all. After activation my computer decided to behave very badly Well actually it had been on the war path for days... ...irrespective...
All the settings were at the basic start-up. As soon as I was able to get back to the site, learn my way round, I changed my "Board preference, edit global settings...
@ Users can contact me by email...from yes to no.
@ Admin can email me information...from yes to no. "
Since I did that I haven't had any more problems. *touch wood*
So all is *happy*