[Kibagami]

Besides MG, I frequent another forum called soshified.com/forums . It is a large fansite dedicated to the Korean girl group Girls' Generation, but that's not important right now.

They have a system - to create a new topic in the 'main' forums, 25 posts are required. Although this doesn't stop spambots from posting in other topics, it's a good way to curb rubbish topics about weiner pills and whatnot.

It might be troublesome for new human users though. I dunno if this has been suggested before, so.....?

[Ghost Cat]

Honestly, I love reading spambot posts.

The 'creative' english is always amusing.

[S13driftAZ]

Already talked about this with mum. It might still be up for consideration, but I am not sure how difficult it would be to implement it into the forum.

[Ghost Cat]

A waiting period also works.

[S13driftAZ]

Ooh, clever. I bet your one of those guys that gets a hard on while sharing such useful commentary.

This post has been edited by S13driftAZ: 26 January 2012 - 03:06 AM

[Ghost Cat]

S13driftAZ, on 25 January 2012 - 10:06 PM, said:

Ooh, clever. I bet your one of those guys that gets a hard on while sharing such useful commentary.

Fine, I'll write more.

A lot of forums I've been a member of have instituted a waiting period, after account creation and before the first post is allowed.

Alternatively limit a new user to replying in threads, or even only using certain sections of the forum.

The use of time instead of post count prevents the bot from simply spamming threads until it's allowed to create create them.

You could also attempt to create better humanity tests to block them.

Another idea- Have a newbie section that new users are required to make a legible post in before getting approved for the rest of the site. It'd be a mess in there, but making it only viewable by mod+ would limit the annoyance on the user side.

This post has been edited by Ghost Cat: 26 January 2012 - 04:04 AM

[Halcyon Dtier]

I'd be against it as it doesn't really get rid of the problem and might discourage new users from coming here.

I think something like staff approval for all new accounts would be the way to go.
There are enough of us to make it work and we know what to look for.

[S13driftAZ]

Halcyon Dtier, on 26 January 2012 - 01:52 PM, said:

I'd be against it as it doesn't really get rid of the problem and might discourage new users from coming here.

I think something like staff approval for all new accounts would be the way to go.
There are enough of us to make it work and we know what to look for.

I do like this idea. there seems to be a manageable amount of users registering, so this could be the way to go if you dudes are up to the task.

[iHena]

Halcyon Dtier, on 27 January 2012 - 04:52 AM, said:

I'd be against it as it doesn't really get rid of the problem and might discourage new users from coming here.

I think something like staff approval for all new accounts would be the way to go.
There are enough of us to make it work and we know what to look for.

I second this. Waiting periods don't really work imo since we had bots that had member numbers starting from 2000. About the time I joined, about one year ago. Nothing stops them from reviving and spamming.

[Kibagami]

I can't think of anything else. Maybe ban Russian bots? A whole load of spambots create topics in Cyrillic.

[HiddenStar]

I don't really know how all this works, but I thought these two might work.

The registration form takes you to a different URL where you make the account and then doesn't find it's way back here. I don't know if the bots are capable of navigating back here.

or

Everyone starts off banned and has to request a mod unbans them. They would be allowed into the shoutbox to request assistance/unbanning.

I don't know how practical these would be, but just trying to help out

[IamEpicFailure]

HiddenStar, on 29 January 2012 - 09:59 AM, said:

I don't really know how all this works, but I thought these two might work.The registration form takes you to a different URL where you make the account and then doesn't find it's way back here. I don't know if the bots are capable of navigating back here.or Everyone starts off banned and has to request a mod unbans them. They would be allowed into the shoutbox to request assistance/unbanning.I don't know how practical these would be, but just trying to help out

No.

Halcyon Dtier, on 27 January 2012 - 04:52 AM, said:

I think something like staff approval for all new accounts would be the way to go.There are enough of us to make it work and we know what to look for.

Yes.

[CrossXchaos]

put a random textbox in the registration and tell people under it to write "I am not a spambot." without quotations marks

[Jask]

I was looking into this and found a thread on the same topic. This tool called a "hook" was suggested http://invisionmoddi...-stopforumspam/ along with "the IPS anti-spam service free for active licenses."Another person suggested including a question related to the forum content (in this case, Monster Hunter) in the registration page.

[Kibagami]

Ah, yes, a question... I remember joining a forum that had that system. Surprisingly effective, if I say so myself.