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Can Bots Register New Users on Wordpress?

by I.M.Retired
5 replies
I have a blog that gets at least 3-5 new users a day. No comments are posted, but each and every day the new user registrations appear.

I tried uploading a index.htm file with a "Site being Updated" message and then I disabled the index.php file to see if that would have any effect.

Nothing happened. The new users were able to register anyway.

Most of the email address are from gmail or hotmail, and all have nonsense names, which makes me think it is a bot that is doing this on a regular, programmed basis.

Does anyone know how or why this is happening?
#bots #register #users #wordpress
  • Profile picture of the author KarlWarren
    There are bots that can do this, yes...

    there are even marketers selling this type of software.

    Kindest regards,
    Karl.
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    eCoverNinja - Sales Page Graphics & Layout Specialist
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  • Profile picture of the author imb
    These are spammers. I've had a similar situation on forums having massive signups perday. You should try installing captcha.
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    • Profile picture of the author Robert Plank
      Is there a reason you're even allowing user signups?

      Just let people comment without registering, enable Akismet to stop the spammers.

      ... and if you want to funnel your blog visitors into a mailing list, get an aweber account.
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    • Profile picture of the author I.M.Retired
      Many thanks for the quick replies.

      I'm just curious how the bots were able to continue to do this when jus the .html page was used. Do they do this at the server level where the Wordpress php files are stored? They must, otherwise changing the index page should have had some effect, would it not?

      Is Captcha the only way to stop this?

      Are there any special instructions on installing captcha on wordpress?

      Also, how do you get your avatar to show up? I checked all the options in the User CP, but nothing is showing in my browser.

      Edited to Ad: Thanks Robert - I didn't see your reply before I posted this. I had to require users to register as I was getting hundreds of spam comments each day. At least this way I'm only getting new user registration and no comments. In fact, I disabled the 'Post Comments' feature, but they still get through anyway, but not by the hundreds, at least.
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      • Profile picture of the author Jelasco
        If they're spammers, they're doing a bad job at it, since you said they aren't posting comments. I'm not sure how they benefit from that.

        Spam Karma is a great free plugin that has solved this problem for me:
        Dave’s Blog Spam Karma 2.3
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  • Profile picture of the author Eric12
    Banned
    [DELETED]
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