What's up with the latest round of spammer bots? Did our forum 'make it' to some spam list? Is this a recognition of greatness. In any case, I don't like spam bots other than myself. I feel like I'm in some competition with them.
It would seem that it has made it to a spam list somewhere. Normally I catch one or two a week, two in one day I think was our record since we changed domain names and forum software. In the last two days we have seen at least one ever other hour.
I suspect its due to XenForo becoming more popular. I'll look into it when my PC is acting stable. Getting a good number of blue screens when I try and use it.
In the last two days I've seen more spam than I have done in six months, we are banning them as they come yet we're not always there first. Someday someone might mindlessly click a phishing link or similar. So I raise the question, how can be better protect our members? Completely shut down all public forums? Not practical for diplomatic reasons nor for applications. Is there a way to make all new accounts have their first post approved by a moderator? Are there any safety plugins for xenforo which would deal with this problem? If anyone can come up with anything which might work, that would be great.
Chris is going to look into it once his computer gets working again. http://www.theskjaldborg.com/index.php?threads/bot-spam.8818/
Ok, XenForo 1.4 has some really advanced built in spam software that is way above what we have currently. The only decent anti-spam stuff for 1.3 is insanely expensive and is basically the exact same code/functions as those included in 1.4 for free... SOOO I'm just going to roll out 1.4 more quickly than I had originally intended. I will be running a full backup of the site tonight (will slow the FUCK out of the server, so I'll do it off peak hours) and run the 1.4 update tomorrow.
Ok, XenForo 1.4 has some really advanced built in spam software that is way above what we have currently. The only decent anti-spam stuff for 1.3 is insanely expensive and is basically the exact same code/functions as those included in 1.4 for free... SOOO I'm just going to roll out 1.4 more quickly than I had originally intended. I will be running a full backup of the site tonight (will slow the FUCK out of the server, so I'll do it off peak hours) and run the 1.4 update tomorrow.
Or just not let recruits/people going through the application process post outside of the application area.
That then restricts those who aren't formal members but want to hang out with us. Take, for instance, ELP members or reprentatives from other organizations. I've always been in favor of leaving general areas open, because I like the idea of people having the ability to check us out or take some time getting to know us before they apply, if they so choose. Forum software update sounds just peachy to me.
Yeah, we're pretty on top of it from the mod side of things, let's see how they fair against the new forum updates, then go from there.
Ok, site is now updated to 1.4.1 and running much more intensive anti-spammer shit. Lemme know if you see any improvements.
Ok, site is now updated to 1.4.1 and running much more intensive anti-spammer shit. Lemme know if you see any improvements. Using a spammer honey-pot system run through a 3rd party API key that is working with XenForo. Ill keep an eye on the statistics as well, since I get reporting back on how may were blocked, etc.