We are getting an ever higher number of spamfucks creating accounts on our forum. I have to manually delete their posts and individually block their IP addresses and email accounts, which accounts for much of the time I'm on this forum, and it sucks.

A majority of these spam accounts use Gmail and Yahoo.uk addresses for the obvious reasons that they are quick to create, and can be made in abundance and then ignored. I am wondering if anyone uses Gmail or Yahoo.uk for "regular human" email, because if nobody is using Gmail, I can just block all email addresses from those servers and I can cut my work load pretty dramatically.

Hah, I called it work.

So, please answer this poll (no need to post unless you have a brilliant technical insight to impart) and we can decide whether or not to ban Gmail and Yahoo.uk email addresses.

nonono, please do NOT block gmail! i use it. ok?!

btw, i am really looking forward to see shellac in berlin, and allroh!

this time it will not be like, you know, the last ime, 9.11.2001

i think that maybe upgrading the forum to another system or adding some other way of spam protection or bot will be easier and healthier that just blocking an e-mail address. that seems a bit blunt.
this forum is a phpBB forum right? a new version, phpBB 3.0 was released in December 2007. are we using this version?

I use gmail, though I think I may be registered on this forum with my old university email address.

edit: I updated my profile to the gmail address.

Gmail is the most popular email service out there. Yahoo probably not far behind.

Just a suggestion...

I went to the Tape Op message board recently (also phpBB) and they found some workaround which seems to have gotten rid of spambots altogether.

A slight explanation here: http://messageboard.tapeop.com/viewtopic.php?t=42091

Maybe contact Hillary or Larry?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but most spam is sent by bots, right? I assume that bots are the ones who create the account as well, no?
I created one account on EA and it was in 2005, then, I didn't have to put in the "human code". You know, this bunch of letters/numbers that you're required to type in this little box so the system knows you're not a bot. Does EA have one?

Assuming that human beings are creating the spam accounts but bots are the ones who post, perhaps it's possible to make a "human code" for the first post a user is making. So you create an account, but only when you're trying to post something, you're being asked if you're a human!


*I invented the name "human code", I forgot how it's really called. I know that human code is a stupid name.

oh and I use gmail.

"human code" <- captcha
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captcha

so that explains why you didn't respond to the email I sent you a couple days ago from my tooma...opters account with gmail? i'm a spam?

I use yahoo (US) and gmail every day. I prefer the gmail, for its better performance with Outlook Express on my nerd phone.[/mad fucking technical insight]

give me mod-type privils, and all those bullshit threads and accounts, I'll kill em so hard their neighbors' dogs'll piss blood for a month. i've wished I had the ability to clear that crap out, for a long time now. sign me up and lemme at em. I'm already wearin my punchin fists.

I actually wrote a post a bit earlier saying how you should just give Scott Admin powers and let him delete this shit but I didn't post it because I thought it was a tad presumptuous.

However, since he's done gone volunteered, I say do that.