Overwhelmed by Spam Posts

[ComputerNinja]

No matter which human verification manager I choose, I get dozens and dozens of bogus users registering on my site every day and then going on to make 100s of spam posts. My moderators can't keep up.

What has changed in the forum landscape recently that is allowing this to occur?

Please help!

[BirdOPrey5]

We have determined the most effective "Human Verification" currently built into vBulletin is "Question and Answer" verification.

To enable this go to your Admin CP -> Settings -> Human Verification Manager. (In VB 3.x it is Admin CP -> vBulletin Options -> Human Verification Manager)

Click on this link.

On the new page choose the option for "Question & Answer Verification."

If this is the first time you are using it you will need to add one or more questions and answers. To add your first question click on the "Add New Question" near the bottom center of the page.

On the next page enter a question. Do not make this a math question (what is 2+2?)- Math questions are absolutely worthless. If your forum is about a specific topic try to make the question something someone interested in your niche would likely know. If not still make a question that requires a human to answer- creativity helps here.

An example question would be: If there are three people in a room how many total toes are likely in the room?

Leave the box for "Regular Expression" blank. Use it only if you understand Regular Expressions.

Hit "Save"

On the next page there will now be a button "Add New Answer" - Press It.

The next page is one simple box marked "Answer." Enter the answer to the question. Questions can have multiple correct answers.

Answers are NOT case sensitive so if you put "thirty" in as an answer both "Thirty" and "THIRTY" will also work.

Enter "thirty" as the answer (without quotes.)

Save.

Now you will be back on the page where you can press the "Add New Answer" again, press it.

This time add the answer: 30
And hit "Save" again.

If your forum is multi-lingual you may want to continue adding answers to cover the word "thirty" in different languages.

When you believe you have set every possible correct answer you can click on the Admin CP Menu to go back to "Human Verification Manager" and repeat the process to add additional questions.

The more questions you have the better you will be- five is a good minimum, 10 or more is better.

In general avoid any questions where the answers may be common among may sites even if the question is different- That is to say no matter how hard the question is if the answer is "3" or "Blue" avoid the question. Spam bots may try common answers even if they can't understand the question just to see if they get lucky. Avoid answers that are low or common numbers, colors, and the like.

We have found forums that implement good Q&A questions stop nearly all "bot" spam. (We have documented drops of a 90% reduction in registrations, all of which were spammers.) There will always be spam created by humans though who cannot be blocked by easy questions. If you feel you still have too much spam to handle please check out various "anti-spam" mods available on vBulletin.org:

VB 5.x Anti-Spam Mods:

http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?s=&f=258&page=1&pp=25&threadprefix=Anti-Spam+Options&sort=lastpost&order=desc&daysprune=-1

VB 4.x Anti-Spam Mods:

http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=245&page=1&pp=25&threadprefix=Anti-Spam+Options&sort=lastpost&order=desc&daysprune=-1

VB 3.8 Anti-Spam Mods:

http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=235&page=1&pp=25&threadprefix=Anti-Spam+Options&sort=lastpost&order=desc&daysprune=-1

Please note like all vBulletin modifications we do not provide official support for 3rd party mods, you will need to ask for help in the threads of the mod in question if you need help installing, configuring, or using the mod.

Overall the best defense against spam is to have an active and vigilant moderator staff able to find and delete spam quickly. Educate forum users on how to use the "Report Post" button to report spam. Do not let the forum run without a moderator or administrator making regular visits to keep an eye on things.

[TheLastSuperman]

Some sites require different methods, depends on the type of spam received imo so therefor try this article if the above does not suffice - [URL="http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=276547"]http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=276547[/URL="http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=276547"]

[yogesh]

Try and use this modification, works wonderfully and stops majority of the bots. Of course a few do make it through, but they can be reported easily.

[GHDpro]

You'll definitely need a plugin that implements StopForumSpam (like Spam-O-Matic mentioned earlier). You won't believe how many registrations are blocked by checking StopForumSpam first on my boards.

In addition, if you have a fully English language forum that should not attract visitors from China, simply block all of China at either vB level (User Banning options), firewall level or using some GeoIP plugin. A ton of spam registrations come from China on my boards.