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Hi! (I'm sorry if I posted this in the wrong forum, but I couldn't figure out where it should go.)

My questions is this, is anyone else having the problem with bots registering on their forums? I'm running the latest version of MyBB and I have 2 accounts that've registered on my forum but hasn't posted anything. I've Google'd the usernames and I've found that the same names appears on other MyBB forums also without posting.

So I wonder what is the point with these accounts, I mean my forums isn't private or anything so they don't have to register to view it so I see no point in registering if they don't plan to post anything. I've listed the usernames below so people here can see if they have the same accounts on their forums. And I'll update this thread if I get any more names. I've also checked their IP's and they both seem to come from the US. If you want the IP's let me know.

chasmelendez76 (First account that made me wondering.)
magnoliaharrisin (This account isn't even activated via email.)
asidota
jenniferwright
veliniporter
Spam bots are a common problem on all forums, not just MyBB forums. They often just register and don't do anything, sometimes they'll put links in the profile and sigs, sometimes they'll post.
As an SMF user, I had three of these Spam bots register on my forum in a single day. After I banned them and increased SMF security via the admin panel, I have had none (so far).

This isn't just an MyBB issue, it's everywhere. Although I admit it seems to be more common with MyBB.
Ironically, I have never had a spam bot on any of my own forums. Seen may others on other forums though.

Just increase your security, all forums will get spam bots, something which will probs happen as long as there are forums.
(2010-11-16, 02:43 PM)Isabel Wrote: [ -> ]As an SMF user, I had three of these Spam bots register on my forum in a single day. After I banned them and increased SMF security via the admin panel, I have had none (so far).

This isn't just an MyBB issue, it's everywhere. Although I admit it seems to be more common with MyBB.

I've seen it more on vBulletin, but meh, experience varies.
I installed MyBB 5 days ago and so far I have got 5 bots registering to the forum ;-/.
They all wrote a URL in the signature. Their purpose is probably to increase the backlinks for their websites and increase their search engine traffic.
Anyway, how did you increase SMF security in the admin panel?
All I could think of was to ban them permanently and to hide the signature from the member profiles.
But it is a bot, I can see it won't be so easy to get rid of it Smile


either install the plugin that sets min posts to enable signature or setup a new usergroup that mimics the registered group. then disbale sigs for registered group and use the promotion system to upgrade users after X posts, X time and/or X reputation to move users to the new group that has sig permissions
(2010-11-17, 04:11 AM)paola Wrote: [ -> ]Anyway, how did you increase SMF security in the admin panel?

In SMF you can add in security questions into the registration form such as, what is 2+2? Or "The wheels on the bus go?"
You also set the answer and people need to get the answer right in order to register. You can setup what happens if they fail the answer as well, such as "Ban for X minutes" "Ban on IP/Username/Email address/" etc...

After I did this, I had no more registrations on my board. This is through core admin cp. No mods/plugins needed. Can you not do this with MyBB?

Also, this is a good idea for you to do:

(2010-11-17, 05:03 AM)pavemen Wrote: [ -> ]setup a new usergroup that mimics the registered group. then disbale sigs for registered group and use the promotion system to upgrade users after X posts, X time and/or X reputation to move users to the new group that has sig permissions

(2010-11-17, 05:15 AM)Isabel Wrote: [ -> ]
(2010-11-17, 04:11 AM)paola Wrote: [ -> ]Anyway, how did you increase SMF security in the admin panel?

In SMF you can add in security questions into the registration form such as, what is 2+2? Or "The wheels on the bus go?"
You also set the answer and people need to get the answer right in order to register. You can setup what happens if they fail the answer as well, such as "Ban for X minutes" "Ban on IP/Username/Email address/" etc...

After I did this, I had no more registrations on my board. This is through core admin cp. No mods/plugins needed. Can you not do this with MyBB?

http://mybbcentral.com/thread-1496.html
I've noticed I have 3 more bots that have registered now and the funny thing is only 3 out of 5 have verified their account via email. I've run SMF earlier and I'v never had any bots on that. The reason I installed MyBB was because I wanted a light forum with not to much options but the basics. Another thing I've noticed is that the accounts have absolute zero info on their profile, not even anything in their signature and that made me curious on what the point of the bot is.
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