PHPBB and SPAM Postings

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phppage
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Joined: Mon Apr 24, 2006 1:47 pm
Location: West Yorkshire, UK

PHPBB and SPAM Postings

Post by phppage »

I have setup a PHPBB forum for a friend some time ago. After going live with the forum we seem to be getting some strange SPAM posts advertising diet pills and other things. I have used the ban controls to ban IPs and email address but something tells me that in the long run that won't help. Can any one advise of any way to stop these. I notice the post seem to come from proxy addresses but there millions out there so don't think I can ban them all. I am concerned as my gf tells me that she use to go on a forum built with PHPBB and they had to shut it down and rebuild it due to such posts.

Any suggestions would be great. :D
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feyd
Neighborhood Spidermoddy
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Location: Bothell, Washington, USA

Post by feyd »

Unless the board switches to administrator granted access, it's always going to be a toss up.

Having permissions such that being registered is required to view boards can limit some, but overall better registration page is the key. We've done several modifications to ours here. Currently those involve stripping all optional settings from the page, rewiring the script to only accept a registration if it is the required fields, adding the built-in captcha (which is easily broken by the more advanced bots, but it keeps out some) and we recently added a more logic-based question to answer.

We have banned a lot of IP addresses and email addresses too however.

The key is being vigilant.
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phppage
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Post by phppage »

Cheers for the advice. I will monitor and implement your suggestions if it gets any worse.
Xoligy
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Post by Xoligy »

Try upgrading to phpBB 3, they have some mean CAPTCHAs.
Dale
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Post by Dale »

Xoligy wrote:Try upgrading to phpBB 3, they have some mean CAPTCHAs.
I think you'll find that China has a load of people now doing it all manually by hand - without the help of bots. :/
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Luke
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Post by Luke »

Dale wrote:I think you'll find that China has a load of people now doing it all manually by hand - without the help of bots. :/
well they definitely have the numbers to throw at such a task
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feyd
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Location: Bothell, Washington, USA

Post by feyd »

The good bots have broken everything I've seen phpBB 3 generate.
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phppage
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Location: West Yorkshire, UK

Post by phppage »

Just had a look at the registration page. Its really cool and I'm sure would keep any bot out. Would anyone have a mod for the anti-bot question add-on at all?
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feyd
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Location: Bothell, Washington, USA

Post by feyd »

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phppage
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Posts: 126
Joined: Mon Apr 24, 2006 1:47 pm
Location: West Yorkshire, UK

Post by phppage »

Encase anyone is reading this and thinking about implementing this mod I have found a mistake in the instructions

Code: Select all

#
#-----[ OPEN ]------------------------------------------
#
includes/functions.php

# 
#-----[ FIND ]------------------------------------------------ 
# 
	global $nav_links;

# 
#-----[ AFTER, ADD ]------------------------------------------------ 
# 
	// Anti Bot Question Mod - Start
	global $abq_config;
	// Anti Bot Question Mod - End
Should read.....

Code: Select all

#
#-----[ OPEN ]------------------------------------------
#
includes/functions.php

# 
#-----[ FIND ]------------------------------------------------ 
# 
	global $nav_links;

# 
#-----[ AFTER, ADD ]------------------------------------------------ 
# 
	// Anti Bot Question Mod - Start
	global $abq_config, $db;
	// Anti Bot Question Mod - End
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