Spammers!

As some of you might have noticed, we seem to have a very determined spammer (who thinks we need breast-enhancements ?) , and he/she has signed in under several different names and left their spammy posts.
I just reported the last two (she is Diedre now), and I am sure that @Ken Anderson will blast her/him out of here as soon as he sees the report.
I just thought that I would let everyone know what is going on. They may keep trying to come back with different names; so when you see a new person has registered, it is good to look and see if they have made posts, and then read the posts and see if we have a wonderful new person to welcome to the forum, or a lousy spammer for Admin to boot out of here forthwith.

 

They'll get in from time to time. Our security seems to do a pretty good job of keeping the automated spambots out of the forum but anyone who will register for an account, and validate the email, will be able to make a post or two, perhaps more, depending on whether I am around or not, before being removed from the forum.

I have a few ways of banishing someone from the forum. I can delete their account, which I sometimes do, but then they can simply register for another account. I can ban them from the forum but again, they can simply register a new account. I can also change their email address and password so that they cannot log back in under that name or retrieve their password.

I can ban their IP number but the more troublesome ones, particularly those from Russia or China, are using proxy IPs so they would come in under a different IP number the next time. I can ban a whole range of IP numbers, which is often more effective, but that would prohibit anyone from that entire range of IP numbers from joining the forum, or from logging into their existing account, if they happen to use the same Internet provider. I have banned a couple of ranges of IP numbers from China because I don't imagine we'll have regular members of the forum from China, and because China accounts for the majority of hacking and spamming attempts we'd had to deal with.

I could also require that someone make a specified number of posts before they can include a link in one of their posts, but this most often just results in a larger number of spam posts that will have to be deleted.

I can also change their email address and password so that they cannot log back in under that name.

The last spammers, probably the same person, were from Russia. I banned the first one, but he or she simply registered for a new account. Another option that I have is a feature of the Xenforo forum software that is intended to discourage unwanted members. When I opt to discourage them by their member name and IP address, it does not ban their account, but it generates a series of errors that makes it appear to the person who is trying to log in that they are unable to get a good connection with the forum. The idea is for them to get the idea that the forum isn't working, in which case they don't bother with it anymore. That is what I have tried on the last spammer.

 

I was thinking about it, but I can't afford it at this time.

 

They did it again ! Registered as Mary Ryan this time. Hurry and post that alarm picture, @Joe Riley ! !