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How to Stop porn/etc spam in phpBB2 forum??
Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2008 2:41 pm
by MasterGod
Hi, I've been getting too much spam/porn/casino posts lately and except going one after one deleting them I'm asking for a better way?
Thanks.
Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2008 7:37 pm
by hybrid
Captchas work pretty well for this forum, at least since bitplane made them harder to analyze by bots.
Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2008 7:50 pm
by MasterGod
So bitplane, can you help me with that
please cause I got sick of deleting about 5-10 porn threads A DAY

Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2008 8:06 pm
by monkeycracks
http://www.phpbbhacks.com/category/10/
I used the one that asks questions during user registration and it seemed to work fine. Had to edit my themes to make it work with custom themes though.
Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2008 9:55 pm
by sRc
one of the main problems with phpBB2 is its built-in CAPTCHA system is hacked in, and can be bypassed completely by a lot of bots so its mostly useless... I dont know how wwell other 3rd party ones work. phpBB3 fixed this greatly, i havent gotten any spammers since i upgraded my forum
Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2008 10:19 pm
by bitplane
The captcha thing was hacked in, but it was one recommended by Jam and not the most well known and bypassed one, so I don't think spammers have coded a way to bypass it (if there even is one).
Link here
Some still managed to get through, I think they were using OCR software to read the captcha because they didn't come back after I increased the size and complexity from the default settings. I never downloaded any forum spamming software to see what techniques they use, this would be the best way to stay one step ahead of them.
These settings seem to be working well here at the moment.
Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2008 12:32 am
by hybrid
Yep, I guess we have less than a handful each month (unless they are deleted when I'm not here, if there's such a time

)
Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2008 2:11 pm
by MasterGod
bitplane wrote:The captcha thing was hacked in, but it was one recommended by Jam and not the most well known and bypassed one, so I don't think spammers have coded a way to bypass it (if there even is one).
Link here
Some still managed to get through, I think they were using OCR software to read the captcha because they didn't come back after I increased the size and complexity from the default settings. I never downloaded any forum spamming software to see what techniques they use, this would be the best way to stay one step ahead of them.
These settings seem to be working well here at the moment.
I'm having troubles in the installation, with the SQL:
Code: Select all
#
#----------[ SQL ]--------------------------------------
#
# Run the following SQL statement to update your phpBB database.
# You can use phpMyAdmin or a similar tool to run this update.
#
# IMPORTANT: If you have changed the table prefix from the default of phpBB2,
# please be sure to replace phpbb with your prefix BEFORE running this update.
#
CREATE TABLE `phpbb_captcha_config` (
`config_name` varchar(255) NOT NULL default '',
`config_value` varchar(100) NOT NULL default '',
PRIMARY KEY (`config_name`)
) TYPE=MyISAM;
INSERT INTO `phpbb_captcha_config` VALUES ('width', '350');
INSERT INTO `phpbb_captcha_config` VALUES ('height', '90');
INSERT INTO `phpbb_captcha_config` VALUES ('exsample_code', 'SAMPLE');
INSERT INTO `phpbb_captcha_config` VALUES ('background_color', '#E5ECF9');
INSERT INTO `phpbb_captcha_config` VALUES ('jpeg', '0');
INSERT INTO `phpbb_captcha_config` VALUES ('jpeg_quality', '50');
INSERT INTO `phpbb_captcha_config` VALUES ('pre_letters', '0');
INSERT INTO `phpbb_captcha_config` VALUES ('pre_letters_great', '0');
INSERT INTO `phpbb_captcha_config` VALUES ('font', '0');
INSERT INTO `phpbb_captcha_config` VALUES ('trans_letters', '0');
INSERT INTO `phpbb_captcha_config` VALUES ('chess', '0');
INSERT INTO `phpbb_captcha_config` VALUES ('ellipses', '1');
INSERT INTO `phpbb_captcha_config` VALUES ('arcs', '0');
INSERT INTO `phpbb_captcha_config` VALUES ('lines', '1');
INSERT INTO `phpbb_captcha_config` VALUES ('image', '0');
INSERT INTO `phpbb_captcha_config` VALUES ('bg_transition', '25');
INSERT INTO `phpbb_captcha_config` VALUES ('gammacorrect', '0.8');
INSERT INTO `phpbb_captcha_config` VALUES ('foreground_lattice_x', '15');
INSERT INTO `phpbb_captcha_config` VALUES ('foreground_lattice_y', '15');
INSERT INTO `phpbb_captcha_config` VALUES ('lattice_color', '#FFFFFF');
INSERT INTO `phpbb_captcha_config` VALUES ('avc_version', '1.2.1');
ALTER TABLE `phpbb_confirm` CHANGE `code` `code` CHAR(10) NOT NULL;
I get this error:
Code: Select all
Error
SQL query:
CREATE TABLE `phpbb_captcha_config` (
`config_name` varchar( 255 ) NOT NULL default '',
`config_value` varchar( 100 ) NOT NULL default '',
PRIMARY KEY ( `config_name` )
) TYPE = MYISAM ;
MySQL said: Documentation
#1046 - No database selected
Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2008 10:51 pm
by MasterGod
Any suggestions what am I doing wrong? I don't do the SQL part right..
Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 5:03 am
by bitplane
how are you importing it? did you select a database to import to? use phpmyadmin and enter the sql into an already selected database, otherwise you'll need to select the database manually.
at the top of that code after the comments
btw, I didn't know that command off the top of my head, like most of my posts I researched before clicking the post button. in this case I typed "mysql select database" into google and followed the first link

Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 2:19 pm
by Spintz
Use SMF....MUCH, MUCH, MUCH more secure than phpbb2 (or phpbb3 even).
Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 5:20 pm
by MasterGod
@bitplane:
Thanks it seems you were right, I did NOT choose the database and tried running the SQL command not on a DB == lack of experience with this things

Bah, I hate SQL..
Well, I hope now I can finish installing your anti-spam thing..
Edit: Well, the installation finished well. Now lets see if it actually works (my guess I'll know by tonight in the rates I've been getting porn spams)
Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 6:03 pm
by MasterGod
bitplane, I don't the the new image, I still get the old gray simple image with the letters but in the admin's panel/CAPTCHA Config I can change the settings. I don't see in the admin's panel/CAPTCHA Config the images too, I get this missing-image little rectangle..
Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2008 4:38 am
by bitplane
Check your php error log, also view the link to the picture manually.
It's bound to contain some kind of clues to what's going wrong.
Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2008 12:05 pm
by christianclavet
Mastergod didn't you updated your installation to PHPbb 3?
Do you allow guests write on your forum?
I had PHP2 and let guests write on the forum and and some spam, then once I removed that privilege, there is no spam.
Now it's on PHPBB3 and I still don't see any spam. (my forum)