Welcome to Writers Talkback. If you are a new user, your account will have to be approved manually to prevent spam. Please bear with us in the meantime
Sorry to not be here yesterday. To answer a few points above:
I am banning every account that spam posts as soon as it posts. Yes they're obvious.
I've set new account registrations to be manually approval by an admin (me) and require email verification I've banned certain email domains from registering at all (the spam accounts tend to come from the same ones). The forum was completely unchanged in the recent redesign. This spam flood is coincidental.
I'm putting every provided hurdle in the way to prevent the spam posts but there's either bugs in the system that spambots know or the hurdles don't work at all. New accounts are still being created, and allowed to post, without my approving them, and while banning the email domains works quite well for some, others are still getting through. I've appealed to higher powers for help.
Yes unfortunately the spambots have got together and figured out that there's one email domain I haven't blocked (actually the spam accounts use at least 3 that I haven't blocked, but the others have gone quiet). And I can't as it's one that real people use too. I'll keep manually whacking those for now and hope they don't breed
I bet Webbo and Tam have wiped at a sweaty brow or two today.
Let's hope your elastoplasts work through the night and we don't all wake up to lots of little spammie bot comments tomorrow morning. If we don't we could say
"We all know this weakness of Vanilla and other forums. See if this can help you. Look at the IP adresses country origin, do also check your analytics software and try to find out if the SPAM bots are coming from a certain country. The IP adresses will likely give you an answer if so. Then block this country's IP with in your .htaccess. It happens to me once in a while that I get attacks from Chile, Kasachstan or some African states. Let us know how it goes."
Comments
To answer a few points above:
I've banned certain email domains from registering at all (the spam accounts tend to come from the same ones).
The forum was completely unchanged in the recent redesign. This spam flood is coincidental.
I'm putting every provided hurdle in the way to prevent the spam posts but there's either bugs in the system that spambots know or the hurdles don't work at all. New accounts are still being created, and allowed to post, without my approving them, and while banning the email domains works quite well for some, others are still getting through. I've appealed to higher powers for help.
Thanks Webbo.
*gobsmacked*
How shiny and clean the place looks!
I knew Webbo would look good in a pair of yellow Marigolds..
Let's hope your elastoplasts work through the night and we don't all wake up to lots of little spammie bot comments tomorrow morning.
If we don't we could say
It was all just a bad dream.
Wonder if these spammers have a topic list, so as one subject gets blocked they use the next sub-set...
"We all know this weakness of Vanilla and other forums. See if this can help you. Look at the IP adresses country origin, do also check your analytics software and try to find out if the SPAM bots are coming from a certain country. The IP adresses will likely give you an answer if so. Then block this country's IP with in your .htaccess. It happens to me once in a while that I get attacks from Chile, Kasachstan or some African states. Let us know how it goes."
On a clear day, rise and look around you ..