could somene cleanup forum ? :)

All administrators clean up the forum as time permits. I've cleaned up the spam. If it continues, then it's coming from multiple IP ranges and may require blocking by country. Since we have visitors from Russia, I don't think we'd want to do that. Does anyone know of a way of blocking specific-language posts from vBulletin?

Jeff
 
The admins here like the spam it seems.... there is an easy way to fix it but they tend to ignore it.... lol
 
The admins here like the spam it seems.... there is an easy way to fix it but they tend to ignore it.... lol

Actually I think you like the spam since you know of the way to fix it but refuse to tell the moderator how to fix it after he specifically ask for a solution.
 
Try vbStopForumStop, i prevents known spammers to register..

I'am using it for months and does his work :)
 
Hello,

Thanks for the suggestion. That mod does look promising, however they state that it's in beta testing. I'm hesitant too use beta software for this live/production forum. I'll keep an eye on it and see where they go with it.

John
 
I have sent messages to Jeff and to Direct admin itself on how to fix this issues months ago.... it's a built in feature... they didn't care to follow my advise which is ok, but it's a simple solution and takes 15 minutes or less.
 
Hello,

Thanks for the suggestion. That mod does look promising, however they state that it's in beta testing. I'm hesitant too use beta software for this live/production forum. I'll keep an eye on it and see where they go with it.

John

John if your serious this time and dont' have the time or experience to do this let me know. I will do it for free just to keep this site clean. See below.

Rhett
 
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So tell me the easy way.

Jeff

Spend 15 minutes and upgrade the forum to 3.8.4 PL2 and turn on the question and answer verification... come up with three questions that a computer can't read or figure out (only human) and your done.

The upgrade takes about 15 minutes including backup and the question and answer takes about 3 minutes to turn on and setup.


This will rid all spam on the site other then actual real people signing up, 99% of the spam here is from bots, so this will work just fine.
 
I'd like to see this, and if this were my forum, I'd look into it. It's not my forum.

It's up to DirectAdmin staff to make the decision.

Note that for every piece of spam you see, I see about ten, which I delete. I don't like spam any more than you do. I've found though, that this version vBulletin®, Version 3.7.0, is a lot better at handling spam than any other forum I've worked on.

Jeff
 
If you think that then you will love the upgrade as 3.8.4 is spammless if you set it up properly.

Again I will donate the time to do this if it's an issue, I just hate spam and seeing it on here makes me think it's a poorly ran site. I'm here and plan to stay so I would like to see this place ran first class.
 
I've installed 3.8.4. From what I understand, the new "question" feature just lets me ask anything that a human can figure out.

I'm not convinced that the image verification is actually being "beaten" by computers. It seems to me like the spammers are real people typing it in, so asking the questions, might just slow them down.. along with everyone else (which doesn't bother me too much).

In any case, I had a thought of adding a rotating code into the /clients section of DA. The code would only be visible to clients who have already purchased a license. This means, only our clients who have paid would be able to signup. This would of course require some discussion if we want to go that route, but to me, if a spammer is a person, any hoop we add for human verification isn't going to change anything, since they are human (unless they do have a program to crack the image verification)

Also, the question method will require constant changing of the questions and answers, else the same values can be leaked out... and even become automated which would be even worse.

I wouldn't mind the image verification to prevent automation AND questions to ensure they're our clients .. but it doesn't look like vb supports both at the same time, from what I can see.

Thoughts?

Edit: I now see there is an option for "TypePad AntiSpam beta" in the settings. Anyone farmiliar with it?

John
 
I would not use the anti spam as it relys on a third party server... I like to keep control on my own.

the question and answer is the best way to stop spam... there is no leaking of the questions, you simple state the question to where they can't be read by a computer. i will give you a few suggestions below that I would use. There is no need to change the questions in the future unless you make one too easy and that can be read by a bot.

And yes Captcha is being read by bots these days... this has been happening for some time now.


Question #1

What does the abbreviated letters PC stand for?

Answer #1

Personal Computer

Second Answer #1

personal computer

Question #2


what is the sum of the following, tw0 plus seven - 0ne

Answer #2
eight

Second Answer #2
Eight

Third Answer #2
8

Question #3


Wh@t color is the sky on a clear d@y

Answer #3

blue


Using the above questions and answers will remove 99% of the spam on this site.

I specialize in vBulletin and IPB so please trust me on this.. :)
 
I should also note that you also need to make sure e-mail verification is turned on as well as captcha... this will give you three preventions (steps) that the user must pass.

1. Must verify the image
2. Must be able to answer one question
3. Must verify the e-mail address.

If you want to take it one more step you can install an addon called "advanced forum permissions" with that you can set restrictions for new users, like not being able to post links or e-mail addresses until they reach a certain number of post etc... not needed really but it's another step if chosen.
 
We're now running 3.8.4 Let's see what happens over the next week. Remember I see more spam than most users.

John, I wouldn't recommend limiting membership to only registered DirectAdmin users; we do get a reasonable number of posts from end users who can't figure out or can't get information from their customers on how to use their DirectAdmin control panel; while many of their questions aren't really important to us, they are to them; I'd like them to be able to continue to post.

Is there a way to force moderation on new users, and only switch them to open posting after they've made a few posts?

Jeff
 
We're now running 3.8.4 Let's see what happens over the next week. Remember I see more spam than most users.

John, I wouldn't recommend limiting membership to only registered DirectAdmin users; we do get a reasonable number of posts from end users who can't figure out or can't get information from their customers on how to use their DirectAdmin control panel; while many of their questions aren't really important to us, they are to them; I'd like them to be able to continue to post.

Is there a way to force moderation on new users, and only switch them to open posting after they've made a few posts?

Jeff

Running 3.8.4 won't do anything by itself... it must be setup with the above features turned on.... so if John decides not to do this, you will see no difference.

This feature set was not available before 3.8.x thus why I was requesting the upgrade, but you have to use features to prevent the spam. :)
 
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