Who changed the registration form?

[Artemiy]

Hey guys,

I wanted to ask, did one of our moderators change the registration anti-spam option? We used to have a text question there, now it's a code in an image. I wonder if the text one was better. Does someone notice if we get more spam now than back then?

Artemiy.

[Andy Keys]

1) I didn't change anything;
2) It certainly feels like we're getting more spam now than we were previously.

Andy

[Artemiy]

That's the thing, Andy, I noticed this too. I wonder how it got changed. Perhaps the new website owner updated phpBB and my changes to the forum code got deleted? I recall doing some mods to have a textual form.

[piaknowguy]

Hi Artemiy!

I changed the question form, but only because we were getting even more spam than what we are getting now!! The question form was no longer effective. Spam is a huge problem on this forum! I am on this site every day, constantly trying to delete what I can.

I also noticed that we are running an older version of the forum software which desperately needs upgrading, which may be why we are such easy targets for spammers! Please look after this!

Do you think that the reCaptcha plug-in should be set up and enabled? We are currently not using this option.

Let's get this forum healthy again!

[piaknowguy]

Any updates on the updates, Artemiy? I've noticed that it is the Fantom S and X forum that appears to be most susceptible to attack by spam bots.

[Artemiy]

I will see what I can do.

[Artemiy]

Just looked at the latest phpBB update... The issue is, I already did some mods to the source code to enable custom navigation, logo, and ads. If we'll update phpBB, some or all of this stuff will need to be re-done. Not to mention I am not the owner of this site and cannot take this responsibility anymore. So, sorry...

[piaknowguy]

I understand. Any other options? Sounds like the owner will have to hire someone to update the site code, or this forum may die! I know, as a Mod, I rarely have time to assist members anymore, as I am busy trying to keep up with spam.

Congrats on your software successes btw! =)

[Artemiy]

Thanks, man :-)

If this place is a burden for you, nobody says you should go on... I realized over a year ago that I am no longer motivated to watch after it, too much hassle and not much in return.

[Gambler]

As long as your website is even moderately popular and you use standard software with standard CAPTCHAs, you will get tons of spam. There are probably hundreds of free spam-bots built for phpBB, especially for the older versions. The simplest way to side-step the problem is to customize registration form.

For example, you could add a text field with some text and ask users to remove the text. It's simpler for humans than graphical CAPTCHA, but I'm betting this will cut down on the number of spambots registering by 90-100%. Because everyone just uses the default CAPTCHA, and that what spambots expect.

You might also want to change the name of the registration page, so that spambots can't go there directly. (Some will probably read the links, but that's more difficult.)

Not an ideal solution, but it will work well enough.

PS: Every time you see a forum spam message, say thanks to Google. Their over-reliance on links for PageRank analysis is what's really causing this mess. Ironically, this probably benefits them in the long run, because people get tired of spam and start using centralized discussion solutions and centralized login systems.

[Andy Keys]

I'm afraid I don't understand a lot of this stuff. PiaKnowGuy, is Gambler's suggestion something you would be able to try? Feel free to go to PM if you prefer.