  | 
11-06-2006, 10:00 PM
|
#1 | | vBulletin Owner
Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 14
| Controlling Spam(ers) in vBulletin
Hi all,
Just wondering about techniques other folks are using on their forums... mine isn't even live yet, but I have experience with a large Yahoo group, and not sure if I'm being overly paranoid and read too many horror stories, but I've set things up like this (see below) for now, as that's sort of how it was on the Yahoo group, and worked pretty well, but I also don't want to do too much to scare off users either, but spam will also drive them away, and I need to be concerned about adult content, etc, since a lot of schools use my site as a resource.
How it is now:
A user registers, does the email verify thing, then they are automatically thrown into the normal Registered Users group. I changed the Registered Users group, so that ALL posts made there are moderated. Once I see a post made by a Registered User, and verify that is is a valid post and not spam, I approve the post and move them into a new group, which is a clone of the Registered Users group, but with un-moderated posting privs. That way I believe I can catch the spam before it hits the forum publicly. It's a pretty specific topic-related group that will be connected to the website, so aside from the normal generic Spam, I can pretty much tell if they are going to be a spammer, at least that how it is on the yahoo forum. Plus, I need to control specific types of spam... the site (and new discussion) is about experimental, odd, unusual musical instruments, people/bands who make and play them, etc... so I don't mind people talking about that, or if they have a band, they can promote their new project, creation, CD, etc, but then I'll get the spammer who wants to post his 5000 CD catalog, or everything he's selling on eBay, or all the great gigs they are playing in No-place, Montana (no offense Montana), while my audience is worldwide and probably doesn't care about that.
Anyway, just wondering if I'm going too far, or if you think that might be a good approach. I inform the users that their First post is "reviewed" before it goes live, to help control spam, in many places, including the Welcome emails, the forum itself, on the redirect message after they first post, etc.
__________________
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
| 
|  | |
11-06-2006, 11:18 PM
|
#2 | | vBulletin Owner
Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: France
Posts: 1,153
| Re: Controlling Spam(ers) in vBulletin
Not bad as approach but you'll end with many reading in the beginning (I hope when many sign up). But it is best way to prevent spam with high succes ratio.
What you also could do is for example not allow links till a number of posts have been achieved. So the fellow just wanting to get his link in and then never come back ... he at least will have to be active...
There is a plug for Vbulletin that works on the Akismet filter from Word Press, when there are to many keywords and/or links known to the filter it automatically sets the post for moderation, might be a intermediate solution to your manual control on every single post.
__________________
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
| |
| | |
11-07-2006, 01:06 PM
|
#3 | | vBulletin Owner
Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 14
| Re: Controlling Spam(ers) in vBulletin
Cool, thanks for the info, I'll check it out the plugin. I'm sure things will change and get tweaked as they go once I go live... want to get it set up as clean as I think it'll be, but then again, don't want to spend forever before going live either, since I probably won't get too much action happening while the whole directory is password protected and the forum invisible 
__________________
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
| |
| | |
11-07-2006, 10:55 PM
|
#4 | | vBulletin Owner
Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Tooele, UT
Posts: 53
| Re: Controlling Spam(ers) in vBulletin
Yes, very good info. I don't get too much spam, but I still get it. Using the No links clause would be perfect.
Gracias.
__________________
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
| |
| | |
11-08-2006, 09:18 AM
|
#5 | | vBulletin Owner
Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 14
| Re: Controlling Spam(ers) in vBulletin
There's also a Mod that adds a "Contact Us" email field in the admincp so you can have that go to another email address that is different than the Webmaster email address.
If you have spam issues, one other way to help would be to use a fake email address in the Webmaster field (or one you don't check or care about) and then a real email address in the new Contact Us field. That way your email that gets sent for new Registrations would come from the fake address, so if it was a spammer who registered, they wouldn't get a real email address, but people could still contact you from the Contact Us form.
If you did go this route, be sure to add some type of "Do Not Reply to this email, please use .... " to your Registration and Verification messages.
__________________
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
| |
| | |
11-10-2006, 01:05 AM
|
#6 | | vBulletin Owner
Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Tooele, UT
Posts: 53
| Re: Controlling Spam(ers) in vBulletin
Thank you. Those are great tips.
__________________
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
| |
| | |
11-10-2006, 09:36 AM
|
#7 | | Community Manager
Supporters
vBulletin Owner
vBSetup Mods
Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Topeka, KS
Posts: 14,080
| Re: Controlling Spam(ers) in vBulletin
I'm getting so tired of the stupid cell phone spam that we get 
I just deleted 20 threads that where all cell phone spam
__________________
Brandon Sheley / vBulletinSetup Staff
Check the
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
&
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
for the latest deals.
Looking for a place to
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
?
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
and other
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
.
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
/ Read the->
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
Are you on Twitter?
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
I'm offering a few
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
& here is my
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
experiment
| |
| | |
11-10-2006, 09:49 AM
|
#8 | | vBulletin Owner
Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: France
Posts: 1,153
| Re: Controlling Spam(ers) in vBulletin
Brandon install this product and you'll be happy again, I use it. All spam stopped ilico presto (other posting too but that's another story, not due to this  )
__________________
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
| |
| | |
11-10-2006, 10:08 AM
|
#9 | | Community Manager
Supporters
vBulletin Owner
vBSetup Mods
Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Topeka, KS
Posts: 14,080
| Re: Controlling Spam(ers) in vBulletin
ah, I'll check it out.. I use something like that on some of my blogs and it catches 100's of comment spam post
Thanks Eric
__________________
Brandon Sheley / vBulletinSetup Staff
Check the
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
&
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
for the latest deals.
Looking for a place to
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
?
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
and other
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
.
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
/ Read the->
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
Are you on Twitter?
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
I'm offering a few
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
& here is my
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
experiment
| |
| | |
11-10-2006, 10:19 AM
|
#10 | | vBulletin Owner
Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: France
Posts: 1,153
| Re: Controlling Spam(ers) in vBulletin
based on Akismet which is used for WP blog if you have already an account with them, just install and use same number. I use same for blog front and forum
__________________
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
| |
| | |
11-10-2006, 10:20 AM
|
#11 | | Community Manager
Supporters
vBulletin Owner
vBSetup Mods
Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Topeka, KS
Posts: 14,080
| Re: Controlling Spam(ers) in vBulletin
yup, I used the same #..
I just installed it and have it set for the regular users..
we'll see how well it stops em
__________________
Brandon Sheley / vBulletinSetup Staff
Check the
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
&
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
for the latest deals.
Looking for a place to
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
?
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
and other
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
.
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
/ Read the->
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
Are you on Twitter?
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
I'm offering a few
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
& here is my
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
experiment
| |
| | |
Linear Mode
