AI The Original wrote:CBlockDis wrote:You seriously need to read up on spambots. They are much more effective these days. Email verifications don't cut it anymore, hence the use of captcha in conjunction with email verification, which still isn't fool proof. Captcha however... does severely decrease the number of successful bogus accounts made. The most effective method I've seen for avoiding spambots was some gaming site that required you to register using email accounts that weren't free. Like... hotmail, yahoo, gmail, etc... those were blocked from using to register.
Dear CBlockDis,
I know well about spambots. Technology is improving to allow spambots to be smarter than they were. No matter how well the filter is, there are always ways to circumvent it. Banning the use of free e-mail accounts will not stop spambots that use their own domain name for e-mail accounts, but it will kick out many people who want to use the VGM Forums. Plus, there are cases when some person will do the verification.
Another method that might work is the inclusion of a security question. It asks the new user a question that requires thinking. Then the forum control can check the answer. Unless a human operator registers the account or the question is cliched and easy to answer, the answer will probably be wrong.
I wasn't suggesting using the no free email servers method. I was just pointing out that it's a highly effective method to avoid spambots from getting into the forums(on other forums, not this one).
Also, your comment about email verification, to me, was a bit of an outdated suggestion. Sorry to have expressed my opinion so crudely, that's just how I joke/talk. I joke around a lot, it just happens that the majority of people that don't know me, don't get that.
Also, there is account approval too, but that would result in delayed accounts on the forums, and would most likely have a negative impact as well.
Pity there is no way to trace the origin of the spambots so we can destroy that person's life.
