We all know bots are getting more advanced everyday.
I gained about 200 bots in 2 days, I don't really care because it's making my board look better with more members, but with less threads then members, that could be a possible problem.
These bots aren't spam bots, they are simply bots that join and edit their profile with a website url and then leave.
How could I prevent this from happening? I've tried using security questions and they seem to bypass it.
Which have you tried specifically? I recommend combination of StopForumSpam (check E-mail and IP, confidence 30%, failsafe) and Registration Question with unique questions.
(2013-05-03, 09:39 PM)Destroy666 Wrote: [ -> ]Which have you tried specifically? I recommend combination of StopForumSpam (check E-mail and IP, confidence 30%, failsafe) and Registration Question with unique questions.
StopForumSpam stops some users from joining, not only bots. I've used it but none of my friends could join because the IP system is accusing them of being a spammer.
Which confidence level have you set? Needs to be at least 30% as mentioned above. Also you surely disabled checking by username? I don't think all of your friends ip/E-mails were reported to SFS database so you probably checked the Username box. I had used it on quite active clan forum for over year, only 1 person reported problem because I forgot to set Failsafe mode.
I use the require location setting and then manually approve registrants. Bots can't seem to figure out how to list a location and generally just fill in the field with garbage. A quick look tells me 99% of the time when it is a person vs bot. There are a few exception where the location looks legit, but then I also do a IP lookup using WhatsmyIp and it will map the IP location. If it matches, I allow membership. If it doesn't, I delete the account.
I figured this out, got a way to prevent them from joining, not had one single bot join in 3 days!
/close.
You could have just disabled the website user field for members with no posts and also disabled member profiles from being seen by guests... at least it would stop link spam.