When this new Forum started, I was getting registrations only from real people, but within a few weeks, the spambots started appearing. Now I get more than a dozen registrations a day from fake IDs, usually from Russia or China, and usually using gmail addresses, who want to advertise cheap drugs and porn and all manner of unrelated topics.
On the old Forum, I was able to ban certain emails or IPs which would prevent these "people" from registering but would not affect members who were already here and posting from one of the blocked IPs or domains. However, I'm not sure that works on the new Forum. I tried blocking one problem IP a few weeks ago and got a worried email from one of our members saying that she was suddenly blocked too. I fixed that problem, but the fake gmails keep pouring in.
I have just now blocked a bunch of the problem gmail addresses, and I am hoping that members with gmail addresses will not be affected. If you are, then you probably won't see this message (
) but if you hear of problems with gmail people suddenly being blocked, let me know and I will have to try to find another solution. If you use gmail, and are still able to log in just fine, let me know that too, so I can tell that the solution is working.Have I mentioned how much I hate spam?
Thanks!
Kate
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