About the spambots

[XD375]

I have a way we can protect ourselves from them.

Okay, make a new "I'm new" section, and require the members to post there before they can post elsewhere. This can be done in vBulletin, I'm sure.

This way if they're a spambot, we'll easily find their posts, and if not, at least we were safe with the validation thing.

 

[Archaic]

Sadly, it might not be that easy. It's difficult trying to balance the level of protection on registration, with the pain it might cause new users unfamiliar with the site. Since the spambots have already defeated image verification, we're in a real bind. It might be best for us to have to ask a random question that would be fairly easy for a Pokémon fan, but impossible for a spambot that wasn't programmed specifically for our site. What Pokémon is [HASHTAG]#whatever[/HASHTAG] in the whatever dex, with links to the dex lists beside it, or something like that.

 

[XD375]

The Pokémon question thing was another idea I had yet I didn't think it would be necessary unless protection got real bad.

 

[Archaic]

The only reason we haven't already done something like that Pokémon question thing, is because we worried it might disadvantage people who are fairly new to the fandom.

 

[llxwarbirdxll]

Then maybe you can provide a link to Bulbapedia for them to find it... Or better yet, make a box that says "Type the word 'crap' in the following box:". Since the spambots are created to specifically target vBulletin forums, they wouldn't recognize this new field, because it would be custom made, unlike Captcha. Or, why not have new members fill out a quiz on nettique before joining? That can really turn off trolls and spammers.

 

[Porygon]

I remember joining a forum that had something that said "Are you a bot? (We require this question for spambots)" and it had yes selected by default. I don't see why that wouldn't work unless some of this is done manually or they went so far as to recognize questions with the word "bot" in them.

 

[Dratini927]

The only reason we haven't already done something like that Pokémon question thing, is because we worried it might disadvantage people who are fairly new to the fandom.

Not if it was a ridiculously easy question like, "What was Ash's first Pokemon?"