Hi folks, I'm wondering if you have any suggestions because we're at the end of our rope! The web site I manage has been hit with a flood of new user registrations that are NOT people authentically trying to join our community. Since this started on October 1st, we have been getting approximately 10 new users per hour, 24-7. The IP addresses are almost always unique and the profile information is different each time, sometimes with spammy links, sometimes not.
More backstory in this blog entry.
What I have tried:
- Standard text and math CAPTCHA, reCAPTCHA, Mollom, and Spam module. These are no help, which indicates that it is humans and not bots filling in the forms.
- Closing the user registration form entirely and redirecting users to a webform (still with a CAPTCHA). (This way at least the database doesn't get clogged with these fake users.) This has only caused a tiny slow down in the pace of submissions.
Does anyone have other suggestions for how to make it stop? The best idea I have heard so far is to charge a few cents for each registration (and probably refund it later). I am also looking into the Riddler module, but I will have to make the questions pretty nuanced, which may frustrate some of our users...
Comments
Nofollow List
how about this module? http://drupal.org/project/nofollowlist
Submissions from one or two countries?
If you do a reverse look-up on the IP's do you find they are coming from just one country, or are from countries which are not where your standard users are from?
(I was having problems like this with IP's from Indonesia) You can use the .htaccess file to either 1) block access to your site from the IP block associated with that country, or 2) restrict access to your site so that it is only available in the country where your primary audience lives.
You can find several sites online which provide a complete listing of the IP block associated with a specific country. There is even a service which allows you to subscribe and get regular automatic updates to the country block data.
Maybe try this...
Stumbled on this from Aaron Windborn's blog:
http://aaronwinborn.com/blogs/aaron/continuing-good-fight-against-spam
In addition to Mollom and Spam modules, he used Spamicide and Hashcash. Lots of other tips in the comments section as well. Good luck.
Ive tried a few things but
Ive tried a few things but adding recapatcha http://drupal.org/project/recaptcha to my registration forms seemed to stop them completely, never had the problem since.
New Acquia Article
This may be helpful if you haven't seen it already:
http://acquia.com/blog/debunking-drupal-myths-part-two-community-controls