Anti spam bot phpbb 3 forum hosting
Recent updates to common spamming software have led to severe shortcomings in the stock, image-based CAPTCHAs. The below information has been updated in light of this. Do note that any and all specifics are written for phpBB 3.0.6 and above; they will not work with older versions. Techniques for phpBB 3.0.5 and older are available here ; however, they are no longer supported. An archive of the previous anti-spam topic is available here.
This topic discusses common methods for spam prevention. For a brief overview of what spam is, see our spam FAQ .
Stopping Spam - Techniques and Strategies- Effective Solutions
At this time, the below solutions seem to be most effective when fighting spambots. - Q&A CAPTCHA
At this time, the Q&A CAPTCHA plugin seems to be the most effective single solution against spambots (and some human spammers). For this technique to be effective, you must use simple but non-obvious question and answer combinations. For instance, "Who do you see in the mirror?" is an effective question, while "What colour is the sky?" or "2+2 = ?" are not. These questions are particularly effective on niche forums where one can ask a question that is not immediately obvious to the general populace.
One type of question that appears effective is of the type"
What are the first three letters in the name (or URL) of this Board?
Also very effective are questions of the type:
Q: What are the first three and last three characters of this board's URL ?
A: phpity
Q: Grass is to lawn as __________ is to forest.
A: tree
Q:Forest is to lawn as grass is to ______________.
A: trees
Though generally hesitant to suggest specific MODs or changes, this particular change has proven to be mostly effective against the current generation of spambots. The below change will simply show an error message to bots that attempt to register using the UTC-12 timezone (many bots select it as it is 0 on the list index; it is an uninhabited timezone so there is no harm in blocking this timezone).
The change is quite simple:
The key to effective spam prevention is making your forum unique. An effective way to do this is to utilize a third-party CAPTCHA plugin, made possible by phpBB 3.0.6's CAPTCHA architecture change. A list of validated CAPTCHA plugins (and other antispam MODs) is available here. Do note that all antispam MODs are not equally effective--you should review feedback in each item's Support area in the Customisation Database before deciding on the solution that is right for you.