Well, it gets no more blatant than this:

1001011001 · Post by **1001011001** » Tue Aug 15, 2006 10:19 pm

http://www.fembotcentral.com/bbs/viewto ... highlight=

Is there anything being done to keep the spambots away?

Stephaniebot · Post by **Stephaniebot** » Wed Aug 16, 2006 12:22 pm

I cant remember if it was here, or 1 of the other sites I go to, but I remember 1 of them bringing a rule that you could join, but not post for so many days.
I know its slightly hard on new members (and makes the roll call thing tricky) but maybe we need to regulate that way again at present.

Was another spam one there when I signed on tonight btw.

noidguy · Post by **noidguy** » Wed Aug 16, 2006 2:25 pm

Yeah, it's a tricky thing to keep away spammers. Take a look at the Memberlist, sorted by Join Date, Descending, and you'll see how many of the newest members include a website in their profile. Looking at the urls I assume that most, if not all of those are spam sites.

I don't know if phpBB has the option Stephaniebot mentioned, but it's a good idea. We've pretty much given up on the Roll Call. Years ago I kept up with it, deleting 50 to 150 users every month or two, but now it's too much work. Besides, 30% of those I deleted would just re-register.

Doctor Robo · Post by **Doctor Robo** » Wed Aug 16, 2006 5:38 pm

The same thing happens over at HIPComix.com. There's only so much that can be done above and beyond deleting spam messages and spammer profiles on a regular basis. I try to look at the email address in the profile for a clue. If the address is from 'cashette.com' or anything with a '.ru' then that's a dead giveaway. Another, like Noid mentioned, is the inclusion of a link to an obviously commercial website. Usually those sites are ads for porn or meds or something like that.

Anyway, I think the mod crew here at FC does a fine job. Spam doesn't get posted too often, and the ones that slip through are deleted expeditiously. Keep up the good work.