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Help with php bulletin board spammers

by funkynassau
12 replies
Our forum has been spammed hundreds of times pretty much in one day. It's a php bb free bulletin board. I would like to know if there's an easy way to delete all these posts quickly or do I have to do it one by one? Also, I cant find a place in the settings where all members are on moderation until I take them off of it.

Please, someone help me.
Thanks,
Funkynassau
#board #bulletin #php #spammers
  • Profile picture of the author mekdroid
    The best way to stop the spammers is not to let them in ... one thing you might try is adding a hashcash script to the post function. All that hashcash does is force the browser to carry out some computation, but this is going to stop practically all the spammers because their automated spamming tools do not use a full browser (so they will not be able to do the hashcash computation). In fact, if I remember correctly, one of the most common spamming tools (ScrapeBox) has a plug-in to identify and exclude sites using hashcash.

    You can see the technique here:

    WP Hashcash | ProDevTips - Web Development Tutorials
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  • Profile picture of the author funkynassau
    I will read the link you posted. Can I set the board so that all potential members are on moderation from the start, until I remove them from it?

    Thanks.
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  • Profile picture of the author Lloyd Buchinski
    Originally Posted by funkynassau View Post

    Our forum has been spammed hundreds of times pretty much in one day. It's a php bb free bulletin board. I would like to know if there's an easy way to delete all these posts quickly or do I have to do it one by one? Also, I cant find a place in the settings where all members are on moderation until I take them off of it.

    Please, someone help me.
    Thanks,
    Funkynassau
    Phpbb will have their own support forum. You will get the best answers there. Personally I don't care for phpbb and haven't used it as an admin, but I do post on one of them.

    When I did have a spam problem, I just required everyone to register with a confirmed email address and that stopped it almost completely. It did cut down on registrations that were valid, but everyone needs a rest.
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  • Profile picture of the author funkynassau
    My web design person set it up for me, and so far I am not impressed with it.
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  • Profile picture of the author WillR
    You need to make the signup process harder. Either charge a small fee or move the signup form to a different url.
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    • Profile picture of the author mekdroid
      Hmm, about charging a small fee yes, just like the Warrior Forum, but not all forums are popular enough (or valuable enough, for that matter) to be able to charge for membership. Most forums would dry up altogether if they do that.
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      • Profile picture of the author minisitedevil
        Harder captcha questions that require actual knowledge of the subject at during the sign up process can reduce the number of spammers. Just make sure the questions are not too hard as to screen out legitimate new users. Also keeping on top of the ones that slip through is a deterrent as well. If the spammers know their efforts will be erased within a few hours (at most) less of them bother. Finally, I would consider manually validating accounts after e-mail verification. You can often spot the spammers by their suspicious and bogus looking e-mail accounts.
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        • Profile picture of the author WillR
          Originally Posted by minisitedevil View Post

          If the spammers know their efforts will be erased within a few hours (at most) less of them bother.
          Most of the spamming is automated so they don't care. It's not as thought they are wasting any of their time. Spammers know this forum is very quick at removing any spam but plenty still try.

          Spammers aren't the smartest people going around.
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  • Profile picture of the author redarrows
    Capcha

    The new style capcha which is not software possible, will ask you to build something or make something there and then, you move the objects to build or make that thing it asking

    your get asked one question but be moving three items.

    let say it ask make fish and chips and it shows frying pan,fish,chips,onion,sausage

    you move the frying pan,fish,chips to the bucket and that validates you as human.

    if you can afford it there sms as well.

    the user adds his mobile number and a text is sent to the user and he/her enters that text/number to validate as human.

    both methods are not software possible.
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    • Profile picture of the author kenetix
      Originally Posted by redarrows View Post

      Capcha

      The new style capcha which is not software possible, will ask you to build something or make something there and then, you move the objects to build or make that thing it asking

      your get asked one question but be moving three items.

      let say it ask make fish and chips and it shows frying pan,fish,chips,onion,sausage

      you move the frying pan,fish,chips to the bucket and that validates you as human.

      if you can afford it there sms as well.

      the user adds his mobile number and a text is sent to the user and he/her enters that text/number to validate as human.

      both methods are not software possible.
      I've heard of people using deathbycaptcha, but I doubt it'll affect your forum much. Then again, if your forum has a strong following, why not make it paid subscription? Something bots can't do
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  • Profile picture of the author funkynassau
    Thanks for the replies! This is a field I am not familiar with but I am learning! Right now our whole site is down thanks to the spammers, we cant get in to fix anything til we get some more bandwidth from the domain host, hopefully today. My web design person says there is a captcha in place, but it must be pretty easy to get by it. No site means no sales, so of course we are not pleased. Oh I hate spammers.
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  • Profile picture of the author funkynassau
    Our site is now back up and working properly. Our web design lady ramped the security up and the captcha is in place and as well I now get an email from potential members and I can accept or delete them. So far it's all deletes...it'd be nice if they gave up but they probably wont. Thanks for all of the replies.
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