Anti-Spam Forum Changes
Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2009 10:13 am
I'm placing this entry here to document changes that I've made to the forum in an attempt to minimize spam attacks. It appears that over the past few days that there's been a concerted, world-wide attack on phpBB based forums. Realizing that I'll be headed off cruising later this year, I want to have 1 place where my fellow administrators can look to see what changes have been made.
First off, read the following post on the phpBB forum on preventing Spam: http://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopi ... &t=1437125
Based upon the suggestions in the 1st note, I've done the following:
-- Geoff
First off, read the following post on the phpBB forum on preventing Spam: http://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopi ... &t=1437125
Based upon the suggestions in the 1st note, I've done the following:
- Implemented a Unqiue Field in the registration form (and for reasons that I don't fully understand, on the UCP form.) If a robot has figured out how fill in this field, simply delete it and create a new one with a different name.
To access this function:- Log into the administrator account
- Go to the ACP
- Click on the Users and Groups tab
- Click on Custom Profile Fields
- You'll see a field labeled "antispam" with a type of Dropdown Box. You can click on the "gear" to edit it or the "x" to delete it.
- If you need to create a new one with a different name, note what all of the settings are before deleting it.
- I enabled queuing of posts until the user has 3 posts. A moderator has to approve the posts until the user has hit 3 posts. To access the functions which control this:
- Log into the administrator account
- Go to the ACP
- Click on "Board Configuration"/"Post Settings"
- Under "Posting" you'll see "Enable Queued Posts". This controls the queuing of posts.
- Under "Posting" you'll see a field labeled "Maximum post count for queued posts". This controls the number of posts necessary before the user is allowed to freely post.
- Limited the rate at which one can create new posts. I have this set at 120 seconds right now.
- Log into the administrator account
- Go to the ACP
- Click on "Board Configuration"/"Post Settings"
- Under "Posting" you'll see "Flood Interval". This controls the time between posts.
- Limited the number of links in a message. Right now this is set to 2, but may need to be expanded.
- Log into the administrator account
- Go to the ACP
- Click on "Board Configuration"/"Post Settings"
- Under "Posting" you'll see "Maximum links per post". This controls the number of links.
- If you need to delete a bunch of accounts that the robot has created and haven't been activated as of yet:
- Log into the administrator account
- Go to the ACP
- Click on the Users and Groups tab
- Click on Inactive Users
- Select the users to delete (or click "mark all" to select them all)
- In the drop-down box, select "Delete" and then press "Submit"
-- Geoff