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[Khai]

you may want to check recent registrations.
looking at the list, you've had about 50 spambots join in the last 3 days alone.

here you can use these to verify users

http://www.stopforumspam.com/
http://botscout.com/

plus you can see patterns. eg the latest attacks, they are putting links in their profiles, in the tags - there's a perfect example in OT atm where everyones greeted a Spambot.. look and you'll see links in their post for hiring event gear.

also a quick method to verify suspected spambots is to take their post and search it in google.
eg - "I am very happy to find your forum and I look forward to learning...." .... I did that with the aformentioned spambot that was greeted here.. and got 3 pages of hits right off (some hits where stacked, showing 100+ hits...)

[Jude]

Thanks Kai,   yeah I know we get hit with spammers EVERY day.    Daily I spend time on here banning them.... it's becoming a real pain as the pages aren't loading properly so it takes forever. 

[evilavatar]

yeah this has been an issue on a couple of  the other forums I'm on too .  Seems there is new spammer software out that helps in circumventing the checks for a robot.

[Khai]

no Prob's Jude... I looked at the post I mentioned and spotted it right off... while I was away I was helping at a graphics forum.. basically as a the Spam Hammer.

it's a war. as we upgrade the defences, they match it with the Bots. add in registration-farming, (employ a group of ppl for next to nothing (looks at china) to fill in the CAPTCHA codes and other registration systems), and it get to be a huge task keeping them out.

[arntzville]

Daily I spend time on here banning them.... it's becoming a real pain as the pages aren't loading properly so it takes forever. 

Hopefully it goes without saying that we all appreciate the time you guys put in.

[Jude]

Aww thanks Arntz.   

[Jude]

thanks for this info.

Goodbye,  spammer.   *ban*

[Khai]

oh the irony....

[Dr Sketch]

Now that takes some balls, posting spam in the thread about spammers...

[NYlongbow]

If it helps any... I run a few forums with well over 10,000 (real) users.

The best and only way we could find to control the issue was moving to a moderated registration over a year ago.

Basically, we have to approve new registrations. I actually do it alone on 3 forums. My brother handles one other that I own. It does slow down new registrations but its actually not that bad once you get used to doing it and it has stopped all but the most rare spambot that gets by me.

You can try the technological solutions  but I can promise you ... they all fail more than they succeed.

Best of luck. I know your pain.

[Jude]

It would be better than this,   that's for sure.   

[NYlongbow]

Well I figured something was up. 10,000+ members and scarcely a few posts per day. Was beginning to think there were private sections to the forum I didnt know about :-P

[TootUncommon]

Looks like they are spamming the guest book now too. 

[Kay]

I read the comments- so want to delete the spam.  I am an Admin on a site, spend a lot of the time I do give the site blocking spam profiles.

They never end.

[liza]

I do not understand the spambots.  What are they?  Remember, I am old and not very techy. Plus, I think a lot of us are readers and lookers, not necessarily commenters, but it does suck if we are not even real people!