Member list

[PaperGolem]

Sheesh, there are an AWFUL lot of spambots in the memberlist. It could use a thorough scrubbing. Maybe the registration process oughta be more restrictive. Get one of those captcha code things, or something.

[Lord Gadigan]

Yeah, it is pretty clogged up right now. Believe it or not, I *do* have one of the confirmation code things enabled; it was stopping the spambots for a while but these recent ones seem to be able to blithely ignore it. I have considered going through and deleting some of the spambot names or forcing email confirmation, but I haven't decided if email confirmation is something I want to force since it discourages some members from sticking around a bit and I'm trying to retain new members. You have any suggestions beyond the randomized code?

[PaperGolem]

Hm...not really. If there was some way the forum could automatically kick members that have zero posts 3 weeks after their join date, that would clear out a lot of it...but I don't know what might be doable besides the e-mail thing.

[Lord Gadigan]

I managed to locate and enable a newer font set for the captcha that is apparently supposed to be harder for spambots to read. It includes some wire-mesh-y letters. I just enabled it.

If that proves equally ineffective, we'll try the email thing probably.

[Celas]

You might look into reCAPTCHA. I did some research on it a while back for my personal forum, which had come under spambot assault as well. I didn't end up implimenting it, because, well, it involves messing with php files and I wasn't too comfortable with that idea at the time. However, I don't think it's particularly difficult, and it's supposed to be the best of the best. And, if memory serves, free. Which is always a bonus.

[JTL9000]

CAPTCHA is never perfect, you may what to try what I did for my forums. With a little bit of Google searching I found a simple to install mod for phpbb that allows you to add a custom question to the sign up form. For example, my question is: "What is the name of the main character in Pebble Version?" (Pebble Version is the name of the comic my forums are for). It's an easy answer for anyone who wants to sign up for the forums, but pretty much impossible for spam bots. Haven't gotten a single bot since then.

[forgetfulencinda]

Who is the bone of his sword?
Who is this forum named after?
The die you roll to make a swim check in dnd?

[Shadowman]

Who is the bone of his sword?

Needs knowledge of a certain visual novel.

Who is this forum named after?

Is okay.

The die you roll to make a swim check in dnd?

Needs knowledge of google.

[Geddoe42]

Could always keep the form named after question, and then throw in

"What do you do when you discover unusual beings?

[JTL9000]

Bots aren't very smart. Just having a question box that says "Type the word Gadigan" would probably be enough to stop them.