Best ways to suppress SPAM on a Forum?

Sam Rodrigo · 02-24-2009, 02:58 PM

HI Folks,

Just wondering from your experiences, what are the best ways to ‘suppress’ spam on forums? I said ‘suppress’ because as long as humans visit, there is no way to completely eliminate spam.

What do you do to hold down the fort, and manage spam? Suggestions for vBulletin methods, operations, plugins are all welcome.

Thanks,
Sam

Paul Myers · 02-24-2009, 03:04 PM

Sam,

Aggressive moderators, who know the ropes. After that, an aggressive userbase who knows what member moderation is all about.

And block Nigerian IPs as soon as they show up.

Paul

peter gibson · 02-24-2009, 03:12 PM

Aggressive and diligent mods is the only way to be sure you are getting rid of fake accounts and spammers. Minding the IP address of those you have banned - so that when they open a new account using the same IP you can ban them all over again. I'm on a forum for politics and these guys re relentless against spam. Also the forum users will normally belittle spammers so badly they fly away fast anyway.

justthinking · 02-24-2009, 03:13 PM

Instead of automatically publishing each comment, you could manually review them. Plus use askimet to flag posts with bad words in them.

mill123 · 02-24-2009, 03:17 PM

im having lots of spam that turns out to be actual humans doing the work. lots of WOW gold and lately shoes. lol wtf. its very hard to block. i have installed a question/answer thing that people outside the forum's culture would not understand unless they did some googling huhuh. that seems to stop a lot of people.

queenbuzzy · 02-24-2009, 03:36 PM

One forum that I was on manually approved your first 15 or so comments.

it was a PAIN, but that board was completely spam free. COMPLETELY. At it was in the work-at-home realm so that's pretty impressive.

I don't know exactly how its' done, but I think this forum has a similar feature, as I wasn't able to post comments in social groups until I reached a certain number.

Good luck!

Sam Rodrigo · 02-24-2009, 03:44 PM

All good advice, especially the one above about limiting the first posts to approved only until the user proves that they are "real".

Thanks, and keep them coming.
Sam

02-24-2009, 02:58 PM	#1
Sam Rodrigo Senior Warrior Member War Room Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Universe, OH & NL Posts: 3,858 Blog Entries: 3 Thanks: 22 Thanked 20 Times in 19 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	Best ways to suppress SPAM on a Forum? HI Folks, Just wondering from your experiences, what are the best ways to ‘suppress’ spam on forums? I said ‘suppress’ because as long as humans visit, there is no way to completely eliminate spam. What do you do to hold down the fort, and manage spam? Suggestions for vBulletin methods, operations, plugins are all welcome. Thanks, Sam
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02-24-2009, 03:04 PM	#2
Paul Myers Zen Redneck War Room Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Erie, PA Posts: 8,613 Blog Entries: 1 Thanks: 389 Thanked 2,715 Times in 729 Posts Social Networking	Re: Best ways to suppress SPAM on a Forum? Sam, Aggressive moderators, who know the ropes. After that, an aggressive userbase who knows what member moderation is all about. And block Nigerian IPs as soon as they show up. Paul
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02-24-2009, 03:12 PM	#3
peter gibson clikddclik War Room Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Singapore Posts: 554 Thanks: 119 Thanked 119 Times in 66 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	Re: Best ways to suppress SPAM on a Forum? Aggressive and diligent mods is the only way to be sure you are getting rid of fake accounts and spammers. Minding the IP address of those you have banned - so that when they open a new account using the same IP you can ban them all over again. I'm on a forum for politics and these guys re relentless against spam. Also the forum users will normally belittle spammers so badly they fly away fast anyway.

02-24-2009, 03:13 PM	#4
justthinking Warrior Elite Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Indiana Posts: 30 Thanks: 2 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post Contact Info	Re: Best ways to suppress SPAM on a Forum? Instead of automatically publishing each comment, you could manually review them. Plus use askimet to flag posts with bad words in them.

02-24-2009, 03:17 PM	#5
mill123 Active Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Melbourne, Aus Posts: 30 Thanks: 4 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post Social Networking Contact Info	Re: Best ways to suppress SPAM on a Forum? im having lots of spam that turns out to be actual humans doing the work. lots of WOW gold and lately shoes. lol wtf. its very hard to block. i have installed a question/answer thing that people outside the forum's culture would not understand unless they did some googling huhuh. that seems to stop a lot of people.
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02-24-2009, 03:36 PM	#6
queenbuzzy Active Warrior Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: US/CAN depending on my mood Posts: 81 Thanks: 6 Thanked 15 Times in 7 Posts Social Networking	Re: Best ways to suppress SPAM on a Forum? One forum that I was on manually approved your first 15 or so comments. it was a PAIN, but that board was completely spam free. COMPLETELY. At it was in the work-at-home realm so that's pretty impressive. I don't know exactly how its' done, but I think this forum has a similar feature, as I wasn't able to post comments in social groups until I reached a certain number. Good luck!

02-24-2009, 03:44 PM	#7
Sam Rodrigo Senior Warrior Member War Room Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Universe, OH & NL Posts: 3,858 Blog Entries: 3 Thanks: 22 Thanked 20 Times in 19 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	Re: Best ways to suppress SPAM on a Forum? All good advice, especially the one above about limiting the first posts to approved only until the user proves that they are "real". Thanks, and keep them coming. Sam
	RICH SAGE BLOG Become a Rich Sage: 2-Day FREE Trial -Only $19.95/year. NOW Launching! Worldwide Protected Locations Going FAST. Many Locations & Niches are Worth $100,000+