If you need someone to come up with a bunch of stupid questions to answer, I've been told I'm good at that... 
Bring back the captcha!
Instant ban-word:
HANDBAG!!
Spam is still down from where it was. Maybe new users should get the CAPTCHA their first 10 posts or something. Once a user is okay, they shouldn't have to deal with captchas anymore.
Hi everyone, I cleaned up after the last minor SPAM attack.
Please keep in mind, CAPTCHA's aren't the solution. They are a small barrier that can only keep out the less than determined spammers. To deter the really bad spammers, we need a way to limit posts per minute.
The forum I run had some really bad spam issues. I tried a bunch of different simple solutions. CAPTCHAs, at least reCAPTCHA and other popular ones are worthless. What ended up working best is to ask a set of 3 basic questions upon registration. The best place to prevent spam is to prevent them from even registering.
This at least got rid of the bots and required user intervention to get the bots past the questions. Once that happened, the spam continued to roll in. However, we can identify it quite quickly, change the registration questions, then delete the spammers. One thing that would help would be to have an ever-changing set of registration questions - out of a pool of 100 or so.
As someone mentioned above, seems the BEST way would be to require moderation on the first X number of posts of a new user. That would require work from moderators though.
So, summary:
1. Do your best to ensure that a PERSON registers, not a bot.
2. If a PERSON registers in order to utilize a bot to spam 100's of posts, have a method of stopping them before they can do it - moderate their first couple of posts.
Hi everyone,
A quick update to this issue: I finally decided to pay a Drupal developer to write a quick custom module to limit posts per minute. I'm convinced that this will drastically slow down the spammers, the worst of which post anywhere from 5 to 20 posts per minute. With a 1 post/minute limit in place, they will create much less havoc, and if we all remain vigilant to mark spam posts, they will be blocked in short order.
I now just need to resolve the issue where the spam post gets unpublished but the post remains on top of the lists. I think I might have a workaround.
Thanks to everyone for their patience!
Have fun.
Thanks! As always, if you need any help for financing, just ask.
+1. Thanks, sb!
Welcome spammer_2 :P
Or something like that.
Is the rate limiting software now in place?
Almost there! :)
Since you're online, new user Linda sent me three PM's inviting me to chat that I imagine are spam.
This 1 ppm sounds like something that would work. Spammers lately post so fast that I/we can't keep up with them.
Thanks for all your hard work Mr. Admin!
+2... we're there for you.
Done!
I don't really think most of our legitimate users will want to make more than 1 post per minute. But if it gets in your way please let me know and I can set up a time-based privilege system.
Thanks again to everyone for their support! Have fun.
Too bad the 1min timer also triggers when editing posts.^^
I discovered it the hard way, but it is not a problem.
Me too, but if it stops the Spambots, that's what counts.
Thank you very much for taking the time and making the effort Mr. Admin. It is much appreciated.
A damn shame that it is necessary but that does not rest upon you. And I must say that it is a nice way to limit the spam. Would you believe that this is the only forum I use that does not have any Moderators?
left even a couple days after payday, i'm sure many can relate, but i would be willing to throw a little toward the cause. i'm sure a whole lot of us would, and even a little from a lot of people would make a difference. i think we all appreciate this forum and if it will help just let us know. thanks for all your efforts.