How can you limit spam on forums?

[Lorna]

I know there's been discussions about how to spot spammers, but how can you limit them from registering in the first place?

Are there any plugins available that you can install that limit the chances of spammers registering, or is it really a matter of close moderation?

I have been talking to a fellow forum owner, who is having loads of problems with people registering and posting porn - I think he has a vBulletin forum, and even though he tries to moderate it, it is a never ending stream.

Any advice appreciated.

[temi]

There are quite a few plugins, I used this one at webmaster serve and it significantly reduced spam registrations:
NoSpam! - an alternative to CAPTCHA images - vBulletin.org Forum

[Lorna]

Thanks Temi - will pass that on!

[Lorna]

I have recommended that he joins this forum to get extra support, as I have found it a real benefit. His forum is phBB (is that right?) not vBulletin, so thought it would be better if he got some help from you guys directly!

[Bagi Zoltán]

We installed some further spamwall into our board. Eg. You can't insert a link under 15 posts, and you can have signature only after your 50th post. Spammers don't like that.

[Lorna]

How did you do that - is it a plugin, or something you change on your forum settings?

[Bagi Zoltán]

For first step I disabled the signature inserting possibilities for the registered users. After that I created a new usergoup called "sig allowed" and gave them the power to have sig links. For last step I created an automatic advancement which move the registered user into the "sig allowed" group after the 50th post.
I hope you will be able to set it, but I watched Hungarian admincp during compiling this guide.

There's another handy plugin: Akismet.

Akismet is a plugin which was originally written for Wordpress Blogs and it compares comments to known spam and puts them in the moderation list if it suspects spam.
You need to register an account with Wordpress to get a working API key.

Once you have that key, you can obtain a modification of the plugin which acts as a vBulletin hack:
Vbulletin - Akismet Antispam

Once set up with the API key working it will put any suspicious posts into Threads Awaiting Moderation.

[mustbenuts]

what i did to stop spam was
installed the "no spam" hack on my vbulletin
and then set up a UK sms service (free)

then users text to get a pass code and enter that

i get NO SPAM!

i also make revenue from the texts
and i keep my .co.uk board to UK users only

i havent had one bit of spam yet!

[temi]

You are very lucky, I hope you stay lucky