how to stop spam on PhpbB ?

There's some spam going on my new webmasters forum//
does anyone know any mod, which can stop the same ?

Thanx
Krunal

 

A good source of info is phpBBstyles. Lots of good stuff in there with links to mods you can make to your forum. Another good article is this one about how to hide registrations spam.

Hope these help

 

Your board is empty, why don't you opt for an upgraded phpbb. The version 3 (beta?) is pretty nice from what I understand. I'm using phpbb 2 right now and I put it in my site in November 2006, and it is nothing but spam every day even though I have the admin activate and the hide inactive members mods coded in. If you are keen on keeping pbpbb2 then the mod I suggest for you is the textual confirmation mod. It's where you ask a question and the person registering has to give the correct answer. I didn't use this mod myself because I don't know what the hell I'm doing in the sql table/server side. So for now, I've got my board squeezed tight, and deleting each day.

PS. I really like simple machines and my next project (if I can get it right) is going to have joomla and simple machines on the domain. I tried this once and messed it up. akk! Anyhow, goodluck to you

 

lemme see if i can update to Phpbb 3 .. bcoz i think there's no solution to stop spam in PhpBB

 

Try Anti-Spam ACP works quite well, I have been using it for a few days now and not even one spam bot till now.

 

Try visual confirmation, some anti bot modules and do not let guests to write over the forum...

 

I had CATPCHA on my phpBB board once but still someone was creating fake accounts 50 a day or so. He managed to active those accounts too =/

 

I suffer from spam on phpbb - even after around 12 different anti-spam hacks.

I switched to minibb (minibb.net) and so far, I have a couple of sites that have not had a single spam signup - these sites have been up for about a year.

Not only do you not get the spam signups, but you get a much better Forum that is easy to customise and SEO friendly as well.

 

If your board targets USA visitors you can block the main spam countries by IP address. This takes some time but is helpful. It's unfortunate that you have to do this because there are people in some of those countries that you might want to see your boards. South Korea, Russia, Brazil - etc.

Next you can install mods to block the bots.

Next you can log IP's and block the IP's.

Next you can install a mod to remove the URL field on registration.

Next you can use the words block feature to block all the spammy drug and sex post words.

And even after you do all of that the same old POS spammers will still keep trying to register.

One D*Head kept registering through proxy servers on one of my boards about a dozen times before he finally clued in.

Google will soon be filtering links from Boards, but they will keep right no spamming because they still get some traffic.

When you live in a country where $1 an hour is great pay, it's easier to spend all day spamming.

And here is the REALITY of it all. If you remove the finanacial incentive the spam stops. But who cares? Do any of the ISP's care? NO! Does the Government care? NO Who cares? No one. Spam is ramapant because it works. People buy from spammers then complain later. People get scammed in money for nothing schemes because they want something for nothing.

When you get tired of the Spam you can take your board down. Or you can purchase a supported commercial product like VBulletin. At least they have incentive to STOP spam. Open source products are just targets.

Good luck.

 

I've just found a 100% fool proof way of stopping phpBB spam.

I've stopped using phpBB

 

For spam I use these, combined they will reduce spam to virtually nothing:

Unique Registration Hash 0.1.0 Stops about 50% of spam registrations
Better CAPTCHA 1.0.1 Stops about 75% of spam registrations
Only Active Members Can Post URL's - Virtually stops all spam posts (but not registrations).

 

Hi,

Here is my advice: switch to vBulletin or if short on funds then switch to Simple Machines.

There are tools on both of these sites that would allow you to transfer your database to theirs so that you don't lose any of your members or posts.

 

phpbb3.0 is beta and not supported. Your best bet is too search phpbb's website and look for the spam mod. There's one out there and I know it works. If you do decide to run phpbb3.0 beta5 you’re not going to have support from phpbb and your will have issues upgrading to the RC1 release that’s due soon. I would suggest holding off until you can upgrade with support to the RC1 release. If you're thinking about switching to a new forums system all together you can look here for free forums scripts. http://www.yoursourceforinfo.com/forums.html

 

True it is in beta! I am using phpbb2 right now and I did install a very nice mod yesterday that prevents new users from posting links. It is a very nice addition to the board. Now I'm looking for something to fix the profile links. I spent a long time browsing that topic at the phpbb site today... haven't found exactly what I need yet.

 

the problem with patching PHPBB is that every time there is an upgrade it usually takes a lot of time to upgrade. That is one of the reasons I dislike phpBB.

You can minimise the amount of spam with 6 or 7 mods, but as soon as you mod the code maintenence becomes a nightmare.

 

Tell me about it. I have been with phpbb for a long time and this has always been my issue. To be honest I have never had a board last me more than a year. How is someone suppose to keep users wihen a board won't last more than a year Right now I'm running the may 10th release of phpbb beta 5, so far so good, but like I said I'm all alone here with no support or anything.

 

Spam was one of the main reasons I stopped using phpBB but the whole upgrade business was a major contributing factor. I wish they made the mods more..ermm..modular! The WordPress model is a great example where you can completely alter how it works but without affecting the core code.

 

I see you went with mybb great job and very nice style, has the spam stopped?

 

I dont know,, how spam stopped.. but its just i am not gettin any spam.. its default style.. only 4 MB of size and easy to install..