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How to stop spammers registering my WP site?

by cjseven
33 replies
Hi guys,

I have several WP sites. One of them recently got attention from spammers (or it was included in some kind of submitter - probably sold here ).

I've been receiving about 50 registrations per day from several ips / domains / email addresses.

I already installed Ban Hammer and a couple other plugins that help to stop this. The best results came from Sabre plugin.

Registration page has graphical captcha, mathematic random field (3 * 15 per example) and Text Captcha (user is asked to type the nth letter of a random word).

It help but it didn't solve issue. Even with this kind of barriers some spammers pass the wall...

Right now all registrations must be confirmed by me before user is allowed to insert content. However user database is getting huge and spending time everyday cleaning it up is not nice

Moreover I'm affraid spammers find my other WP sites (and that should be a big issue)

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Antonio
#registering #site #spammers #stop
  • Profile picture of the author faceblogger
    Are not you using akismet? - WordPress › Akismet « WordPress Plugins It filters more than 99% of wordpress spam!

    If you are already using it and need more options, you may use DISQUS or Instant Debate
    Signature

    no sig

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  • Profile picture of the author cjseven
    wow! that was fast! thanks

    askimet is activated but I think askimet just work for comments and that is not my issue.

    my issue is about registrations...
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  • Profile picture of the author Alex Sol
    +1 for akismet. This is the first plug-in I activate when I create a new WP site and since it's already comes with WP - it's a no brainer

    p.s. I don't remember exactly but I think there is a way to disable user registration all together, no?
    Signature
    Alex Sol, Full time online marketer since 2007
    The Extra Paycheck Blog | Extra Paycheck Podcast
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    • Profile picture of the author cjseven
      Originally Posted by Alex Sol View Post

      p.s. I don't remember exactly but I think there is a way to disable user registration all together, no?
      Forget to add that detail: My site need to have it activated. It's a ad site where people insert ads after regsitration
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      • Profile picture of the author Alex Sol
        Originally Posted by cjseven View Post

        Forget to add that detail: My site need to have it activated. It's a ad site where people insert ads after regsitration
        Oh, If you need it activated that I really can't see what can be done. You are already using captcha, you are using some other question/answer securities... and they get through all of that?

        When it comes to registration, it could be a time waster. I had to shut down a phpBB forum of mine because I was wasting too much time dealing with spam...
        Signature
        Alex Sol, Full time online marketer since 2007
        The Extra Paycheck Blog | Extra Paycheck Podcast
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  • Profile picture of the author FrancisBayne
    Yes I'm also looking for a solution for that ... Having the same issues..

    I tried to contact some people through the emailadresses they used.. that was the single solution for me.. One guy even answered and told me that he uses article marketing robot for that.

    Antonio maybe it'll help you to contact the author af AMR - but it's only useful if your wp sites are article directories
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    • Profile picture of the author cjseven
      Originally Posted by FrancisBayne View Post

      Yes I'm also looking for a solution for that ... Having the same issues..

      I tried to contact some people through the emailadresses they used.. that was the single solution for me.. One guy even answered and told me that he uses article marketing robot for that.

      Antonio maybe it'll help you to contact the author af AMR - but it's only useful if your wp sites are article directories
      That could be the answer. All the submited content are articles about severel subjects. I also investigate some domains used in registration and most are wp articles sites aka "article farms".

      I will contact that AMR to see if they have something to do with that. Maybe the owner is selling it here.

      The funny thins is my site is portuguese and has nothing to do with articles... Some automation tools are just crap...
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      • Profile picture of the author PatriciaJ
        Originally Posted by cjseven View Post

        That could be the answer. All the submited content are articles about severel subjects. I also investigate some domains used in registration and most are wp articles sites aka "article farms".

        I will contact that AMR to see if they have something to do with that. Maybe the owner is selling it here.

        The funny thins is my site is portuguese and has nothing to do with articles... Some automation tools are just crap...
        It isn't the automation tool it's the human being that enters the sites. You can contact the owner on here, I'm sure that he will remove your site from the software.
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        • Profile picture of the author cjseven
          Originally Posted by PatriciaJ View Post

          It isn't the automation tool it's the human being that enters the sites. You can contact the owner on here, I'm sure that he will remove your site from the software.
          Hi Patricia,

          I know that automation is always guided by humans but tools have also their responsability, don't you agree?

          I downloaded demo version of AMR and my site is not listed so it should another tool.

          ---

          I will check that Fernando although I think that are tips for comments spam and this is not the case.

          Nice to meet you here. How are you doing?

          ---

          @Marketing Cheetah

          I already tried 3 captchas and right now I have 3 security steps (graphical, text and math)
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          • Profile picture of the author Marketing Cheetah
            Originally Posted by cjseven View Post

            Hi Patricia,

            I know that automation is always guided by humans but tools have also their responsability, don't you agree?

            I downloaded demo version of AMR and my site is not listed so it should another tool.

            ---

            I will check that Fernando although I think that are tips for comments spam and this is not the case.

            Nice to meet you here. How are you doing?

            ---

            @Marketing Cheetah

            I already tried 3 captchas and right now I have 3 security steps (graphical, text and math)
            Although captcha should solve the problem. However you can try one of these plugins and disable wordpress own sign up form:

            WordPress › Register Plus « WordPress Plugins
            WordPress › Safe Signup Form « WordPress Plugins
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          • Profile picture of the author PatriciaJ
            Originally Posted by cjseven View Post

            I will contact that AMR to see if they have something to do with that. Maybe the owner is selling it here.
            My reply was in response to that

            Originally Posted by cjseven View Post

            Hi Patricia,

            I know that automation is always guided by humans but tools have also their responsability, don't you agree?

            I downloaded demo version of AMR and my site is not listed so it should another tool.

            @Marketing Cheetah

            I already tried 3 captchas and right now I have 3 security steps (graphical, text and math)
            With AMR sites are added on a regular basis so it might not have been listed last week but it might this week.

            For all of those who think that Captchas should stop automated sign ups think again, there are sites such as decaptcher.com that can get through them. Best to go into your general settings and uncheck the membership box for sign ups and for comments set it to automatically close comments after 1 day in the discussion settings.
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            • Profile picture of the author cjseven
              Originally Posted by PatriciaJ View Post

              With AMR sites are added on a regular basis so it might not have been listed last week but it might this week.
              Didn't know that. I will check it again. Thanks.
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          • Profile picture of the author haymanpl
            Disabling registrations will wipe out spam registrations completely
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  • Profile picture of the author Marvin Johnston
    If the registrations are all coming from the same IP block(s), you should be able to set up your .htaccess file to prevent access to the site.

    I don't know how the WF does it with bans, but maybe Paul or one of the other mods can chime in here.

    Marvin
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  • Profile picture of the author cjseven
    I also tried the ip approach but there isn't a pattern. Lot of different ips and class cs.
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  • Profile picture of the author Fernando Veloso
    Antonio, that sucks man.

    Heres an interesting read for you:

    Combating Comment Spam/Denying Access « WordPress Codex
    Signature
    People make good money selling to the rich. But the rich got rich selling to the masses.
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  • Profile picture of the author Marketing Cheetah
    get the captcha for your sign up form. It will stop everything. Those are automatic account creating spammers.
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  • Profile picture of the author LondonPaladin
    You should just turn registrations off for about a month. Most tools change thier lists each month. That should solve your problem. With all your captchas I would guess that it's actually a backlink list not an automated tool that's causing your problem. After a month of failures you will be removed from the list.
    Signature
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    • Profile picture of the author thedreamer09
      Originally Posted by LondonPaladin View Post

      You should just turn registrations off for about a month. Most tools change thier lists each month. That should solve your problem. With all your captchas I would guess that it's actually a backlink list not an automated tool that's causing your problem. After a month of failures you will be removed from the list.
      Okay, I too face the similar situations, but in a day I am getting more than 100 registrations. I am going to turn off the registrations now. Hope to get removed from these automated softwares.
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  • Profile picture of the author Michael Silvester
    Hi Mate,

    I had the same problem with one of my
    wordpress sites. I had a sh*t load of spammers
    registering.

    I installed this plugin and it all stopped.
    WordPress › Stop Spammer Registrations Plugin « WordPress Plugins

    Perfect name for this plugin LOL

    I am sure this will help you.

    Take Care,

    Michael Silvester
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  • Profile picture of the author pikeman
    Yeah, if the plugins fail then I would disable registering, then set up a page with a contact form and ask that people send their first article for review, then if it is unique and good, you sign them up.

    Probably less work on your part and you will increase quality.
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  • Profile picture of the author imfusa
    Originally Posted by cjseven View Post

    Hi guys,

    I have several WP sites. One of them recently got attention from spammers (or it was included in some kind of submitter - probably sold here ).

    I've been receiving about 50 registrations per day from several ips / domains / email addresses.

    I already installed Ban Hammer and a couple other plugins that help to stop this. The best results came from Sabre plugin.

    Registration page has graphical captcha, mathematic random field (3 * 15 per example) and Text Captcha (user is asked to type the nth letter of a random word).

    It help but it didn't solve issue. Even with this kind of barriers some spammers pass the wall...

    Right now all registrations must be confirmed by me before user is allowed to insert content. However user database is getting huge and spending time everyday cleaning it up is not nice

    Moreover I'm affraid spammers find my other WP sites (and that should be a big issue)

    Any ideas?

    Thanks,
    Antonio
    It happened to me too, just that it was for comments not fore registration, i have closed the registration. And now i have closed the comments but i still get 80-90 comments per day. How is that possible? And all are SPAM.
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    internet marketing | seo services | check pagerank | web directory
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  • Profile picture of the author pikeman
    imfusa, if you turn off comments in WP, I think any existing pages which had comments on will still accept comments, you need to turn them off individually, I think.#

    I did get one page targeted once, switched comments off on that. But been lucky mostly, 99% of comments I get are genuine (rarely a link to be seen).
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    • Profile picture of the author imfusa
      Originally Posted by pikeman View Post

      imfusa, if you turn off comments in WP, I think any existing pages which had comments on will still accept comments, you need to turn them off individually, I think.#

      I did get one page targeted once, switched comments off on that. But been lucky mostly, 99% of comments I get are genuine (rarely a link to be seen).
      OMG, i have an autoblog with rss, and i have more than 2000 posts.
      Any suggestion on this?
      Signature
      internet marketing | seo services | check pagerank | web directory
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      • Profile picture of the author Tim_Hawksworth
        I use an anti spammy registration for my forum

        Before I implemented it I was getting 30 spam regs a day.

        Now I don't get any.

        It is the typr that askes a question, the question should be something
        that can not easily be looked up with a Gooogle search cos some bots do that
        even !!!

        I asked details about an image on my registration page.
        Seems to work.



        .
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  • Profile picture of the author socialbookmark
    I think none of above plugins work perfect and closing registration as imfusa did is the best way for preventing spammers.
    Signature

    I love warriorforum. zendegiyesabz

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  • Profile picture of the author CharlieSheenSays
    I had the same problem with one of my sites. I have tried recaptch but it was still flooding with a spam registration. Then i installed a plug in called SABRE and enable their math options. And it completely blocked the spam registration. All credit to SABRE :-)
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  • Profile picture of the author thegolfer
    Why not add a password protection area and change it weekly.monthly etc send the detials only to bona fide customers,easy to do with wordpress ?
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  • Profile picture of the author poweraff
    Hello,

    You can Ban Their IP's from the htacces,
    Signature

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  • Profile picture of the author Glenn Leader
    To those who wish to close comments on existing posts in their wordpress blogs.

    you can get WP to automatically close comments after a fixed time period in the
    discussion section under the settings area. Just check the "Automatically close
    comments on articles older than" box and set it to 1 day. I've not tried to enter
    zero in that place because a lot of software uses zero to turn a feature off.

    HTH

    Glenn
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    Do you own a PLR article business?

    Click here NOW to discover how to discover how my Warrior Forum JV offer will help make more profits for your business AND add extra value
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  • Profile picture of the author RobinInTexas
    Have you tried Bad Behavior? WordPress › Bad Behavior « WordPress Plugins

    It seems to block quite a few for me.
    Signature

    Robin



    ...Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just set there.
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  • Profile picture of the author AnniePot
    I swear by WP-Ban WordPress › WP-Ban « WordPress Plugins I collect all the IP addresses of anyone spamming my blogs in a WordPad file, so that they are ALL saved, then, every week or so I update every WP-Ban installation with the file. Actually, that's what I used to do - this system has stopped all the spammers for months, so updating is now a rarety. I love this plug in!
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