Steve Machol
Wed 6th Dec '06, 1:40pm
Most people are being hit with a lot of spam these days. Some things you can do to reduce this are:
1. Moderate new registrations:Admin CP -> vBulletin Options -> User Registration Options -> Moderate New Members -> Yes2. Activate email verification:Admin CP -> vBulletin Options -> User Registration Options -> Verify Email address in Registration3. Upgrade to the latest version of 3.7. In 3.7 there are 3 separate Human Verification Options:Admin CP -> vBulletin Options -> Human Verification Manager ->
Image Verification:
This is the same Images Verification Captcha as in older versions of vB, except that this now requires both GD and Freetype 2 to be installed in PHP.
Question and Answer Verification
This allows you to set up a Question and Answer verification during registration. If done correctly it will be almost impossible for bots to enter the correct answer.
reCAPTCHA™ (http://recaptcha.net/) Verification
This uses the reCaptcha (http://recaptcha.net/) service. You will need to register with them and get both a Public and Private key. Afeter you have chosen the method you want to use and have set this up, then make sure the correct Human Verification options are set here:
Admin CP -> vBulletin Options -> Human Verification Options
And if you have chosen the Image Verification option then you need to choose either GD or ImageMagick here:Admin CP -> vBulletin Options -> Image Settings You can go back to the Human Verification Manager to make sure the image is showing correctly.
Note: Both are equivalent. These are also required if you use thumbnails for attachments or wish to automatically resize pictures that are too large.
4. Ban 'free' email domains many spammers use:Admin CP -> vBulletin Options -> User Banning Options -> Banned Email Addresses 5. Set these options to 'No' for the Unregistered, Users Awaiting and COPPA usergroups:Can Use Email to FriendCan Email Members6. Although there is a Q&A option in the Human Verification Manager, at this time these is no way to use this in conjunction with Image Verification or reCaptcha. However there is a workaround for this. You can create a required profile field to add Q&A to the registration process. To do so, follow these instructions: Add an extra question to the registration to prevent bot registrations (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=205214).
7. Some people have reported that spammers are using the 'Send Email to Friend' function to spam others from your forums. To reduce this make sure that your Unregistered, COPPA and User's Awaiting groups have the 'Can Use Email to Friend' option set to 'No'.
8. To help stop bots spamming through the Contact Us link, set this:Admin CP -> vBulletin Options -> Site Name / URL / Contact Details -> Allow Unregistered Users to use 'Contact Us' -> Yes, but Verify Image
1. Moderate new registrations:Admin CP -> vBulletin Options -> User Registration Options -> Moderate New Members -> Yes2. Activate email verification:Admin CP -> vBulletin Options -> User Registration Options -> Verify Email address in Registration3. Upgrade to the latest version of 3.7. In 3.7 there are 3 separate Human Verification Options:Admin CP -> vBulletin Options -> Human Verification Manager ->
Image Verification:
This is the same Images Verification Captcha as in older versions of vB, except that this now requires both GD and Freetype 2 to be installed in PHP.
Question and Answer Verification
This allows you to set up a Question and Answer verification during registration. If done correctly it will be almost impossible for bots to enter the correct answer.
reCAPTCHA™ (http://recaptcha.net/) Verification
This uses the reCaptcha (http://recaptcha.net/) service. You will need to register with them and get both a Public and Private key. Afeter you have chosen the method you want to use and have set this up, then make sure the correct Human Verification options are set here:
Admin CP -> vBulletin Options -> Human Verification Options
And if you have chosen the Image Verification option then you need to choose either GD or ImageMagick here:Admin CP -> vBulletin Options -> Image Settings You can go back to the Human Verification Manager to make sure the image is showing correctly.
Note: Both are equivalent. These are also required if you use thumbnails for attachments or wish to automatically resize pictures that are too large.
4. Ban 'free' email domains many spammers use:Admin CP -> vBulletin Options -> User Banning Options -> Banned Email Addresses 5. Set these options to 'No' for the Unregistered, Users Awaiting and COPPA usergroups:Can Use Email to FriendCan Email Members6. Although there is a Q&A option in the Human Verification Manager, at this time these is no way to use this in conjunction with Image Verification or reCaptcha. However there is a workaround for this. You can create a required profile field to add Q&A to the registration process. To do so, follow these instructions: Add an extra question to the registration to prevent bot registrations (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=205214).
7. Some people have reported that spammers are using the 'Send Email to Friend' function to spam others from your forums. To reduce this make sure that your Unregistered, COPPA and User's Awaiting groups have the 'Can Use Email to Friend' option set to 'No'.
8. To help stop bots spamming through the Contact Us link, set this:Admin CP -> vBulletin Options -> Site Name / URL / Contact Details -> Allow Unregistered Users to use 'Contact Us' -> Yes, but Verify Image