Still battling spambots
Posted: Fri Oct 21, 2022 10:58 pm
I promised you guys when I started this forum I'd try to be as upfront with you as I could. This is one of those times. We not been attracting the amount of new members lately that I'd like. We have fairly strict anti-spambot measures in place for registration. We have not only a security question prospective members must answer, but it needs to be something that can't be Googled by spambots. We also employ a 3-D Captcha puzzle that new members need to figure out to complete registration. Since these security measures have been in place, we have had zero spambots. This morning, I decided to omit the security question and the Captcha to see what would happen. We got 8 new members, all spambots. Five did not complete registration, did not return the required email. Three "members" did. "Michailfzo", "Michailrwr", and "Michaillgt" all registered as members. There was another threat that our sharp-eyed moderator, Rex, nipped in the bud. I have since deleted our three "new members". I am in the process, as we speak, of finding out why we are so inundated with spambots. I don't believe our security question is all that tough. If someone can't answer it, they probably don't know much about electronics anyway. I'd like you guys to spread the word about our little forum and ask your buddies who are interested in what we do to join us. If they have a problem getting thru the security measures, let me know. We can work them in another way if we need to. If you know one of our members who we don't see much of, please reach out and ask him to join us. The moderators and I are plotting and planning where we want to guide the forum to the next level. We are talking about expanding boards and adding some new features that our current membership should appreciate. I wanted you guys to know what we are up against. A couple times last winter, we were getting 1250 spambots a day. It took me most of one day to get them off the forum. My understanding is we are not alone. Thank you for your participation in the forums and for your attention to this post.