Spammers / Bots / Advertisers

[Celes]

Merged both topics.

[Icegryphon]

So.
Sick.
Of.
SPAMMERS!

[Oppenheimer]

You're not helping by complaining. We are doing our best to counteract them, please be patient.

[Icegryphon]

Well it's definitely not hurting. I AM sick of them.

And I already offered to help...

[LanceHeart]

Just wondering, does the report system still work with this newer installation of PHPBB? I've been spotting a few disguised spam bots (they're getting the message and trying sneakier threads now, I guess).

I guess the Captcha isn't working 100% anymore. (I forgot if you could update it on this board system like other modular ones)

[Oppenheimer]

The report system does still work and your reports are very helpful. Thank you.

[Celes]

Captcha is running and set really hard now. I personally get it right by >50%. Tell me what you think. You can test it by logging out, go to the Register page and try the Captcha (let all the other fields blank and ignore the error messages, just look for the captcha notice).

Installed a random anti-bot question as well, but that needs still some adjustments to the database so it is not online yet.

[LanceHeart]

Oppenheimer, no problem on that last bot.

CelesDestiny: I failed every single attempt, but that's likely because of my laptop's LCD monitor having problems. Color coded captcha is a bit of a pain for color blind people, so if you have a separate module for admin approved registrations that might be a good thing to implement. (I know, I know.. damned if you do, damned if you don't. It's why we resort to that same anti bot question module on the board I manage)

[Celes]

Ok. The color noise has been reduced a little again.

[Celes]

Installed an additional advanced visual antibot mod to the registration, that should prevent the optical character recognition used by bots.

[Runemaster]

I think the report sign is mostly unnoticed. Can you do something about it? That [!] may be extended to 'report user' or the like.

[LanceHeart]

Yeah.. Either these new bots registered before the change or they're REALLY good at text recognition.

There's also the other possibility of this site being specifically targeted right now... Though I've noticed PM Spam bots on my own forums. Might want to ask people if they're also getting that sort of spam.

[Runemaster]

ZOMG! I can't believe even pornographic spammers invade Suikosource!
This is alarming since wee have minors here! (including me..)

[patapi]

Porn-bots are targeting the Suikoden series now? Disgusting.

[LanceHeart]

Might be time to consider that your site's being specifically targeted. I haven't happened upon many other PHPBB boards where bots are so persistent.

Perhaps changing board software might help.