Hey, I don't know if you guys have noticed, but the spambots are still at large, every time I come here, I delete some. So, to let you know, the problem's not gone.

I has a solution.

You kill them. With fire.

Or y'know, add some more validation requirements for new members. Say, PM an admin asking for membership? I doubt a spambot is smart enough to take instruction more complicated than "POST _________"

Believe me, I'd love to. >>

And I think Topaz has tried that, but please PM her anyway about that idea, she should try it.

But that means doing stuff D=

Yes. Yes it does.

Ah, being a mod sometimes can be fun,

but what if no admins are active? (unlikly)

Admins are around, don't worry about it.

Sheesh. Spambots must be the biggest pest for forums. =P

I had an idea. I doubt admins or anybody can do it, but what if we hid the link? It might be too late now that spambots have already visited, but what I'm saying is hide the link, and don't advertise the link. also, don't allow ppl to view the board until they log in? I know it sounds weird, but it's worked for several other boards I'm a member of. Oh, and the only way you can get to the board is if it's in your favorites, or if the person is invited? I mean we'd have like 10X less members joining a day, but it's worth a shot right?

I don't know if there's a way how, but why don't you ask members a question when they first register?

Spambots know how to join and to bypass the whole number thing, but they can't seem to perform basic human logic. So like "What Color is the Sky Naturally?" "What's 2+2?" "What is the last word in this sentence?" will cripple any chances of bots getting in. Of course, I don't know to do this, if it can be done on Invision Free boards, but hey it's worth a shot

Oh and if you're color blind/dyslexic/retarded: sux2bu

Yeah...well...

*Shin Kick*

Lance's idea seems to make the most sense, however a simple email validation should do it. If they still get through it means that someone's signing them up anyway or that they have bots to check said email. If we already have email validation then the human logic question would probably work, however there are other ways we could go about it. Spambots are only capable of doing their program, inserting a question like "would you like to join?" would probably hinder the more basic ones.

Hiding the URL doesn't work. It's called a google search. =/ Then there's affiliations and being on top sites and such. Besides, we could instead have it so that an email/PM would have to be sent to an admin before posting privelages could be given. If spambots continue after that we'll know it's all manually done.

I'd suggest just to keep IP banning them for now. There are lots of ways to approach this (my ways are obviously the best ;P) but assuming the problem is coming from only a few sources an IP ban will be just as effective as anything else.

The IP banning will get shot to hell if some member have the same IP address and have already joined (non-bot members) and if people are attempting the join but can't because their IP is the same as the one that's banned.

People cant have same IP addresses

Yes, admins are always here. HIDING. LIKE NINJAS.

Anyways, if *I* were a mod, the second I saw a SpamBot, boom. Gone. With fire.

If I were a mod the second I saw someone I didn't like, boom, killed it with fire. Or stabbed to death.

Which is why I'm not a mod. Because the memberbase would decrease by a good 1600.

You'd be the only member Drags xD

*Opens mouth to say something*
*Thinks for a second*
*Agrees*