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Author Topic: Making it more difficult to join - to stop spammers  (Read 5942 times)

Offline GrayMK5GTI

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Making it more difficult to join - to stop spammers
« on: February 27, 2015, 09:08:54 pm »
Evening guys,

The amount of Russian spam cr@p that is being posted is getting more frequent. Could we make it more difficult / lengthy to join the forum to put these guys off?

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Offline stealthwolf

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Re: Making it more difficult to join - to stop spammers
« Reply #1 on: March 02, 2015, 01:41:41 pm »
I've just had a look at the registration process and there's

1. a captcha
2. Question about capitals.
3. Another question about capitals.
4. A maths question
5. A question about GTIs.
6. Another maths question
7. Type in some text

TBH if they're putting the effort in to get past that, there's not much you can do to stop. Other than maybe having a waiting period eg 10 days before being able to post.

The GTI isn't just a machine. It's very much a living, breathing thing.

Offline usmangti

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Re: Making it more difficult to join - to stop spammers
« Reply #2 on: March 02, 2015, 01:53:18 pm »

I've just had a look at the registration process and there's

1. a captcha
2. Question about capitals.
3. Another question about capitals.
4. A maths question
5. A question about GTIs.
6. Another maths question
7. Type in some text

TBH if they're putting the effort in to get past that, there's not much you can do to stop. Other than maybe having a waiting period eg 10 days before being able to post.

I thought you was having a laugh and looked at it myself, and you're absolutely right, i think they might also change too as the questions i saw had 3 maths q's!

Offline AndyBrown

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Re: Making it more difficult to join - to stop spammers
« Reply #3 on: March 02, 2015, 02:13:48 pm »
I struggled to join  :signLOL:

Offline Hedge

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Re: Making it more difficult to join - to stop spammers
« Reply #4 on: March 02, 2015, 02:23:10 pm »
Is it possible to make their first posts by approval only?

Offline GrayMK5GTI

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Re: Making it more difficult to join - to stop spammers
« Reply #5 on: March 02, 2015, 03:11:52 pm »
Is it possible to make their first posts by approval only?

^thats a good idea. @dazza ?

I haven't tried to join since. . . I joined the forum around 4 years ago  :signLOL:

Looks like these spammers deserve their 5 minutes of advertising if it's such a ball ache to join  :grin:
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Offline dazza

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Re: Making it more difficult to join - to stop spammers
« Reply #6 on: March 02, 2015, 03:43:39 pm »
WTF the mensa registration form is easier
@rich83 these questions are to stop bots. The GTI question will stop the bots along with the image captcha.
The other questions are way to much. I doubt i could register.

If i was writing a bot script the first thing i would do is scrape out the text and answer the maths ones automatically. 

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Offline dazzatest

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Re: Making it more difficult to join - to stop spammers
« Reply #7 on: March 02, 2015, 03:59:19 pm »
test test

Offline dazza

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Re: Making it more difficult to join - to stop spammers
« Reply #8 on: March 02, 2015, 04:04:47 pm »
Topics/Posts made by members with < 10 post now need approval. @rich83 ??

Moderators and admins should see hidden post above.

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Offline rich83

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Re: Making it more difficult to join - to stop spammers
« Reply #9 on: March 02, 2015, 04:24:30 pm »
Is it possible to make their first posts by approval only?

Yes it is.

Offline rich83

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Re: Making it more difficult to join - to stop spammers
« Reply #10 on: March 02, 2015, 04:28:35 pm »
Topics/Posts made by members with < 10 post now need approval. @rich83 ??

Moderators and admins should see hidden post above.

I cant find the setting for that but i think It should be reduced to ~5 as most spammers only post 1 or 2 messages.

Rich

Offline rich83

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Re: Making it more difficult to join - to stop spammers
« Reply #11 on: March 02, 2015, 04:29:28 pm »
Ive upped the captcha to maximum level too.

Offline dazzatest

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Re: Making it more difficult to join - to stop spammers
« Reply #12 on: March 02, 2015, 04:46:36 pm »
another test

Offline dazzatest

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Re: Making it more difficult to join - to stop spammers
« Reply #13 on: March 02, 2015, 04:49:59 pm »
sorry another test

Offline xjay1337

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Re: Making it more difficult to join - to stop spammers
« Reply #14 on: March 02, 2015, 05:30:21 pm »
Is it possible to make their first posts by approval only?

Yes it is.

that's not big brother at all.