Spam on Isle 3

[Harry]

Some of you have noticed we had our first spambot. I deleted the thread and banned the IP. I dislike banning an entire IP because it could be someone would come along from that area and use the same service provider but after looking it up and finding it was from Latvia I just canned it, smae will hold true for .ru domains, my apologies to anyone who might join from these areas in the future but a good share of my spam comes from eastern europe.

I also changed the captcha to use a 3d image, hopefully that will be more difficult for the bots to beat. If we get more in the future I will delete it when I see it, the forum is not so busy that I cant check every post so I will see them the next time I log on. If it gets to where they are breaking in on any regular basis I will look into something a little more powerful.

[Nudge]

Sounds good
I hope it is not a big on going problem, that would be a pain to fix all of the time.

[Harry]

Well we had two more slip in today so I started looking around a little. Apparently all visual captchas are defeated. I have switched to a Q&A chaptcha. The question is What do we melt here" and the possible answers are

metal
lead
iron
aluminum
brass
bronze

if anyone can think of a better Q&A let me know but for now I will let this ride and see if they can get past it.

[davidbraley]

Harry,

The other site is blocking these terms for email and IP addresses. You might leverage the list for this place too.

Just a thought.

*@*.az.pl
*@*.bg
*@*.biz
*@*.bpa.nu
*@*.de
*@*.info
*@*.lv
*@*.puls.kz
*@*.ru
*@*.su
*@*.ua
*@0gift.org
*@2000lv.com
*@2talkabout.info
*@abatsk.com
*@accessmp3.info
*@adirect.org
*@adultpaysite.biz
*@albendazole.org
*@alex4all.com
*@algreatpics.net
*@alphaspace.org
*@alsado.com
*@animemail.org.ua
*@antimir.net
*@atlantmail.com
*@avstralia.org
*@baycip.org
*@bestboyfilms.org
*@bigmailbox.com
*@bigmir.net
*@bluebottle.com
*@blyadi.org
*@bonbon.net
*@brestmarket.com
*@bsuir.net
*@businessvoc.com
*@buytramadol.net
*@cashette.com
*@c-dwa.com
*@cheap-pharmacy-online.us
*@cialissoft.org
*@cracklord.com
*@crushermovie.com
*@cvportal.net
*@e-haldex.com
*@elfox.net
*@etradeoil.com
*@fastmessage.org
*@fateback.com
*@filmus.info
*@fizasox.com
*@freeadultdirect.com
*@freemaildirect.com
*@freemaildirect.org
*@fromru.com
*@fulluncensored.com
*@gala.net
*@gamebox.net
*@gawab.com
*@gecco-logistics.org
*@genericfinasteride.org
*@genericpharmacydrug.com
*@getmp3online.info
*@goresxa.com
*@greatmedsdiscount.info
*@greatmoneynow.org
*@hodoba.com
*@homeequitypage.com
*@hotpop.com
*@incesttrade.com
*@inmail24.com
*@interia.pl
*@iscw.org
*@isonews2.com
*@jiop.info
*@kors4all.com
*@lifefreestuff.com
*@lopigax.com
*@madtube.info
*@mail.ru
*@mail15.com
*@mail333.com
*@mails.com
*@marlboro-ez-cigarettes.com
*@me.by
*@medicinese.org
*@medics.nazwa.pl
*@meta.ua
*@myadobeshop.com
*@myalushta.net
*@mylove-mail.com
*@mymail-in.net
*@mytop-in.net
*@neomailpro.com
*@nettopsearch.info
*@nfilm.info
*@nudists-8.com
*@nudistssite.com
*@onlinehealthclub.org
*@onlymail2007.com
*@otaku.net.ru
*@otriva.net
*@ourvoyeur.com
*@oxidiser.net
*@paba-mn.org
*@pds-game.com
*@peugeot-club.org
*@phpbbspam.org
*@pipelaz.com
*@please-email-me.info
*@pokushai.org
*@pozitifff.com
*@pspdrive.net
*@putoncondoms.com
*@runbox.com
*@rxusapharmacy.org
*@shopforbestmortgage.com
*@sibmail.com
*@sumycin.org
*@supermedsusa.info
*@tadalafilonline.org
*@teen4us.com
*@teen-xxx-art.com
*@telegraf.by
*@terrorismisrael.org
*@thefoxemail.com
*@thelinkusa.org
*@tlen.pl
*@topmeds20.org
*@topsearchnet.info
*@trumhome.info
*@tut.by
*@ua.fm
*@uaclub.net
*@ukgcity.net
*@ukr.net
*@ulmail.net
*@uscreditdepot.com
*@vaosoft.com
*@voltaren.org
*@web.de
*@websearchline.com
*@wellbutrinsr.org
*@worknowhome.net
*@xm1.biz
*@xsecurity.org
*@zaslavl.by
*@zinzaza.com
*@znahov.org
altosburgoyne2483@yahoo.com
billsfanatic2124@yahoo.com
darenwegan@yahoo.co.uk
digitallinks92e@gmail.com
lilshortie556@yahoo.com
limpoporanique*@yahoo.com
missxprettyxtoes@yahoo.com
mrumrici@gmail.com
oscar_9589@yahoo.com
somozasayre0685@yahoo.com


12.74.43.205
121.1.6.*
125.200.230.*
144.30.0.*
163.148.100.*
190.16.129.*
195.175.37.*
195.2.114.*
200.122.133.*
200.122.63.*
200.233.125.*
200.233.181.*
200.238.102.*
201.11.69.*
201.20.220.*
201.246.78.*
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203.77.207.*
204.89.9.*
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207.210.93.*
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216.127.92.*
216.242.46.*
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217.20.163.*
218.237.220.*
220.121.102.*
220.145.36.*
221.134.201.*
221.190.57.*
221.208.130.*
24.110.28.*
24.18.58.79
24.184.101.*
24.188.165.*
24.46.64.*
24.46.72.*
24.46.74.*
24.58.159.5
58.65.236.*
58.65.239.*
58.65.82.*
59.93.241.*
59.93.244.*
59.94.254.*
59.95.31.*
60.217.227.*
61.240.111.*
61.246.135.*
62.141.52.*
62.141.53.*
63.118.235.*
64.22.78.*
65.98.11.*
66.192.59.*
66.36.229.*
66.36.243.*
68.101.89.*
68.184.158.*
68.45.64.*
69.113.193.102
69.157.1.*
69.50.189.*
69.85.150.23
72.232.69.*
72.237.17.*
74.239.13.*
76.81.233.*
80.58.205.*
81.168.223.*
81.195.7.*
81.94.22.*
82.113.142.*
82.131.28.*
82.233.49.*
83.187.192.42
83.22.194.*
84.120.91.*
84.16.235.*
84.19.181.*
84.19.188.*
85.140.131.*
85.141.161.*
85.225.150.*
85.234.133.*
86.57.154.*
86.57.156.*
87.118.103.*
87.118.108.*
87.118.98.*
87.242.117.*
89.110.9.*
89.79.32.*
91.124.124.*

http://sumbit.com/phpbb_spam.htm

[latzanimal]

Harry, just reported possible spam. Selling pharmaceuticals..

[Harry]

Wow, looks like my Q&A challenge question didnt work worth a crap. There is a dozen or more spam threads I need to clean up.

Thanks for the suggestion David, I dont like banning IPs let alone blocks of IPs but if I cannot get this settled I will do whatever it takes.

EDIT*** Looks like I did not get the Q&A set and it was still on 3D image. I think it is now so we will see if my question will work.

[Heimo]

I have seen a different challenge where you need to enter a captcha and then you need to copy and paste a paragraph from some random place into a text box.

If the spam bots keep getting in, I suggest (if possible on this forum software) that you use a combination of all the different challenges you can find like captcha then copy and paste then Q&A because I know that bots exists that could defeat most of these single challenges, but I doubt that there are many bots in existence that will defeat a combination, because that makes matters a lot more complex for the bot...

[Harry]

phpBB3 does not have a provision for multiple challenges. It could be added with a mod but I really shy away from mods. Besides them being a little bit of a pain to implement they create a never ending maintenance for them with upgrades to the forum. This forum is upgraded several times a year and they have done a great job of making it as painless as possible and even have a notification in the admin for new versions. These new versions are usually just bug fixes for security but sometimes they add new features.

I think from what I have read the challenge question should keep out the bots as long as the question isnt something that can be easily googled like whats 2 + 2. We may have to come up with a better question, time will tell on this. An alternative I was thinking of is whats the second word in this sites name? The answer of course would be dreaming.

This will not stop human spammers and they are out there too but in nowhere near the numbers of bots.

[davidbraley]

Well, all I can say is I don't know how you forum admis do it. It takes a LOT of patience and perseverance to deal with these jokers. I guess if the world didn't have so many clever bottom feeders, we wouldn't need to worry about this kind of stuff.

Thanks for all your hard work Harry!

[GypsyTinker]

Do it like BYMC did...