Forum Admin Needs A Hand ;)

Hey guys,
hello and wishing you all a lovely sunny day

Got promoted to Admin at a budgie forum a while ago, and love it; however, I struggle with one thing:

I know there are tons of add-ons for browsers and what not, so I was wondering: Is there an add-on I can install on my browser, that makes it easier to hunt / filter spam-IP ? The forum I admin, is often overrun by spam bots (they are blocked, as 99% of the accounts get halted and need manual approval before being activated).
Going through each of those IP and / or e-mails, is a royal pain in the buns. If there's a way that can help me see legit accounts and bullcookies easier, I'd be for ever grateful

Catch ya soon and thank you, in advance ^_^

 

Have you looked here https://xenforo.com/community/resources/?

 

What kind of forum software is used? I used to run a forum using the MyBB software. One of the add ons/mods was a tiny file installed that asked a very simple question (ie : What colour is a red rose?) for new members to answer. The logic of this was because spam bots cannot read, therefore cannot answer the simple question, therefore cannot register to the forum. Once installed, I found this a very useful "tool" which saved a lot of needless time filtering/deleting out spam bots.

 

@UPI : It is rather confusing, to say the least. Not sure, what to look for. Heck of a lot of tings there O.O

@Dave E : Appears our forum is SMF,not sure if that means much - not 100% sure where to look, but that is what it states as forum software.

Perhaps, I should've mentioned that it'd be handy if it is simple, if possible.
Hm.. how to put it correctly so it makes sense.. Let's try this:
We use an authentication process, after that is passed new members have to wait, as new accounts are manually accepted. However, I have a list of 38 (currently) that I manually have to dig through and block, as they are spam bots. It is a royal pain in the buns to keep digging through them each time, and manually have to click them one by one to block them.
Removing is easy, one click select and they're gone - but it doesn't block them.

I have blocked a bunch of "bad sites" (by using *@bad site name here) , but currently the majority is using hotmail and gmail - can't block those as many people use them.

Hope this made sense?

 

Taking a big guess that by 'SMF' you actually mean 'Simple Machines Forum'?
If that's the case the most logical place for you to seek help is on their community forum:
https://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?P=aeca48a53b66cfe26e69dff7698d4106&

 

Marti82,
Surely the forum has a sub-forum for administrators/moderators only?
That would be the best place to seek help.

 

Says XenForo at bottom of this page. So I assume that's the forum software running here.

 

Ahhh. Thought OP was forum admin at MG ..

 

@MaxTurner Hadn't thought of that *derp* Think I need a vacation xD Thank you Yes, we use Simple Machines Forum.

Stop Forum Spam, hmmm... I often check IPs and see that pop up.I will go check it out more in depth.

Not quite, budgie forum (as I stated ). Heck, if I was admin here I would be embarrassed soooo much xD

 

Well, ok. I run a SMF forum and installed a mod for "Anti-Spam Verification Questions" and hardly have any spammers at all. Questions like "Spambot check: 6 + 5 = 10 ... true or false?" have proven to be very effective.

If I block IPs, I always block ranges, not just a single IP. So, 100.100.100.***. If I get the same spammer next day I block 100.100.***.***. I guess by now I have banned half of China already that way .

But spam is now close to zero. I know it's not what you asked but maybe it helps making your job easier.