Akismet Spam Prevention

[Brandon Martus]

To (hopefully) cut down on the amount of spam we've been getting lately, I've quickly installed a vBulletin add-on that utilizes Akismet to scan new threads and replies for spam-like content. All content posted by new users will be scanned for spam until one of the following criteria has been achieved:

1) 1000 Reputation Points
2) 47 Days Registered
3) 15 Posts [which would be scanned by Akismet]

Hopefully adding this additional layer of spam protection will cut down on some of the work for the moderators.

Note to moderators: If a message is marked as spam by Akismet, it will show up in the forum listings, but have the 'moderated' icon () next to it. Nobody will be able to see it but those with moderator privileges. If you see a post like this that looks like spam, delete it and ban the user if it is 'bad' spam as you normally would. If you see a lot of valid posts being marked as spam, let me know so I can disable this plugin.

[Joe Ross]

I use Akismet on a wordpress blog, and it cuts the spam from 100+ a day to one a week or so, and I've never seen a false positive.

[Josh Hambright]

Great addition to the CD-Universe Brandon! What will you think of next!


Ohh wait, we dont have to think of new things, there is still a to-do list!

[JohnBoucher]

Very cool. Do you have any numbers of what is being blocked?

[Brandon Martus]

Originally Posted by JohnBoucher

Very cool. Do you have any numbers of what is being blocked?

Hasn't blocked anything yet -- and 1 or 2 have gotten past.
We'll have to wait & see if this pays off.

[Billfred]

Originally Posted by Brandon Martus

Hasn't blocked anything yet -- and 1 or 2 have gotten past.
We'll have to wait & see if this pays off.

Actually, I caught one still in moderation in General Forum this morning before work. Counts for something, right?

[Brandon Martus]

Originally Posted by Billfred

Actually, I caught one still in moderation in General Forum this morning before work. Counts for something, right?

Sure does. Thanks for letting me know it's doing its job ..

I saw the thread, and saw you deleted it, but figured you just caught it before it was reported or something..

[Josh Hambright]

Brandon,

What about a 2 tiered approach, what if you also put in a simple captcha like the math captcha until someone had made 3 or 4 posts, just to slow them down enough to possibly trip up some of it. Or if we think it is actualy humans doing the footwork, install recaptcha, i'm no bot and I still struggle with those sometimes.

Also, it seems we haven't been hit very hard with spam in general the last few days, compared to how much we got at the beginning of the month it seems quiet, the real test will come when we get slammed again.


edit: just saw the other thread. boo, i'm to slow.