Heartland

Hi hope this isn't too much of a naff question and too far off topic but as a web developer I have been asked to set up a forum for a local gaming fraternity. I have set up a phpBB forum before for a disability rights organisation and found that the spam is crushing to say the least. I wanted to ask if this is a concern you have to constantly keep on top of? Do you have modifications that keep it at bay ? if so which? As a user of this forum I've never seen any spam here so thought I could benefit from your advice.

Thanks in advance.

Chris

In short, yes. We do have to constantly keep on top of it.

As I recall QB has installed some anti-spam mods, but they still get through from time to time.

cannon303 wrote:Hi hope this isn't too much of a naff question and too far off topic but as a web developer I have been asked to set up a forum for a local gaming fraternity. I have set up a phpBB forum before for a disability rights organisation and found that the spam is crushing to say the least. I wanted to ask if this is a concern you have to constantly keep on top of? Do you have modifications that keep it at bay ? if so which? As a user of this forum I've never seen any spam here so thought I could benefit from your advice.

Thanks in advance.

Chris

Wich version of phpBB are you using? I'd recomment to use the Q&A captcha in combination with questions/answeres that aren't too easy (like simple math problems) - this is a default feauture in phpBB3 and way better than the other captcha methods.

If that doesn't help enough (I say it should^^) you can set up the "recently registered" user group. Once activated, this will be the default group for new users until they reach a certain amount of postings. You can easily set up that you have to unlock new postings until the user is trusworthy enough to post without this limitation.

If I recall, there is some sort of Captcha on here too.

That "recently registered" group is a good idea. I think you can make it so that a person needs to have posted more than a certain number of times before they can post links too.

they use that on the teachers' forum. you wouldn't think you'd need it, would you, but it's more to protect against people than spam.

Another way is to disable auto activation of accounts.
If you stack up new users in a queue & vet them all to ensure they are indeed ACTUAL people at least before activating them, it would give you piece of mind & offer a personal touch.
It may take a bit longer to have newbies activated, but that's the trade off between having genuine members & spammers/ bots & the like

thanks for your replies. I'm using 3.07 but upgraded to 3.010. I have tried installing some mods but havent worked such as a video capcha and some anti spam mod which was so complicated I ditched it after I realised I hadn't a clue how to work it. I'll certainly try the q & a and also the recently registered group! Ta very much