banning spammers

Thanks, Randy, for the suggestion. I've done a little research, and the software only allows those with admin access to ban users ... however, I am going to try a mod that will allow moderators to ban users. I'm downloading it now so give me a little time to get it implemented.

Keep up the good work!

Only thing you might want to check on the mod is if it bans by ip address or email.

A friend ran one forum banning on IP addresses and ran out of space to ban them, then the form filled up with bots as he couldn't ban any longer. I've been banning domain names in the admin panel. So when they register with an email address thats a spam bot I put a wild card at the start followed by the domain name so any addresses at that domain name can't sign up.

i.e.
*@spamaddress.com

:)

OK, I installed the mod ... you guys should now be able to ban users ... just look at the bottom right corner, where it says "You can ban users" -- there should be a link in this line that leads you to a page where you can enter the user name and ban him/her. Let me know if you have problems/questions.

Thanks again, Randy!

Also, do you use email confirmation? Cause spam posts with links to gay video sites are usually just bots (some bots manage to get around the captcha)

Email confirmation should help; Or maybe take a look at the mod that adds a question titled "Are you human?", just a couple of ideas to keep the spammers out before they can even come in :)

I use email confirmation for registering an account.

As for banning an IP address or domain, I can do that in the admin panel but I couldn't find a mod that could allow moderators to do so. Sorry! If you know of one, let me know.

Otherwise, feel free to post stuff here in the Admin forum and I can ban the IP addresses or domain names myself.

Thanks guys!

Are we supposed to post here when we delete a post / ban someone?

Someone called "BlackerHatter" created a spam post , deleted it and banned him.

Good job, Gerto! You can post here if you want to share it with the other moderators. I get an email when you ban someone, so you don't need to worry about notifying me. And don't worry, I trust you guys. :)

Just banned "Choice" for spam - classic cellphone spambot listing 3367 brands and their cutrate prices... :). I deleted the posts that I saw, dunno if I got them all...

Just noticed something else...

We have several members who have never posted, and have spam-type links in their profiles (porn, car insurance were the first ones I saw). Until they post, there's no way for a mod to ban them. Leo, do you want to zip thru the member list and make them go away?

They're probably all bots that will never come back and cause trouble under the same username. I'm just not comfortable with those links being there, even if they're not posting...

http://zenhabits.net/forums/profile.php?mode=viewprofile&u;=283

Wasn't sure about this one Leo :?

I thought I banned him already? He had posted a LOT of porn pics in his post, and I deleted, and I THOUGHT I had banned...

If we had a way of banning directly from the profile, it might help.

Apparently, it might make a difference if you ban before you delete, rather than the way I did it?

User "MeNeeDGolD" banned for posting links to porn.

Thanks, guys, for your continued vigilance. You guys have been doing a great job in banning the spammers ... I've done a few myself.

If you see a user your think should be deleted, feel free to post here or email me any time ... I can delete them.

For users who are banned, but not deleted, do you guys think their accounts should actually be deleted, or just left as a banned user? I'm open to suggestions here.

Thanks again for your help, guys!

I say delete them entirely. They are usually bots anyway, and you don't want the clutter in your memberlist. There will be enough valid members there soon enough, and you don't want to pad your numbers with bots.

Just make them go away. Many more will come to take their place, be certain of that.

ETA: If they are an actual member, with a posting history, that gets banned for some act of bad behavior, then they should be left on the list as "banned".

I've just asked a friend who runs a forum I used to moderate on, 35,000 users last I checked. But theres a quick and easy mod to do with some text to stop them from joining. I'll try it on my other forums first and see how it goes if it works I'll pass the details onto Leo :)

Thanks, sid ... would love to hear about the mod. :)

Maybe this is the one sid means, but something that seems quite popular nowadays on forums is a mod that adds an extra field with the question "Are you human?" , this totally confuses bots and stops them from joining.

May be interesting.

I think that's a "captcha" program, which I'm sure I can install ... what do you guys think?

And would we set it up for when people register, or for each time they comment?

I think it might be a little annoying if we had to do it every time we replied to something. I think during registration should be sufficient.