Spam bots are getting worse again

[Den]

Been seeing a weird spike in junk signups and random links in the last few days. I cleaned a bunch out this morning and they still keep coming back. Anyone else dealing with this or is it just my forum getting hit harder than usual?

[Den]

To be fair, yeah, seeing it too. The junk signups have been a bit more annoying the last few days, nothing crazy but enough to be a pain. Usually when it starts coming back like this, it’s the same old wave of bots poking around again. If you want, I can pin a couple of the usual anti-spam settings here, but let’s keep it to this thread and not turn it into a full how-to dump.

[Pike]

Kind of feels like honestly, yeah, same here. Feels like every time it quiets down for a bit, the junk comes back in a fresh wave. Not the end of the world, but it’s annoying as hell when you’re already dealing with legit users and then this crap starts filling up the queue again. I’ve noticed the random link spam is getting a bit more “human” too, which is what makes it more irritating. At least lately.

[crawl_void]

Personally, yeah, seeing the same crap here too. Not a huge flood, but enough that you notice it if you’re actually watching the logs instead of just hand-waving about “better moderation.” Random link drops have definitely gotten a bit more bot-like again, or at least more annoying to filter because they’re not all the obvious garbage anymore.

[Den]

Well, yeah, I’m seeing it too. Not a massive flood, but enough to be annoying, and the “more human” junk is definitely the part that’s getting old.

[pixelwitch]

Yeah, same here. It’s not a flood, but it’s enough to be annoying when you keep nuking the same junk over and over. And yeah, the “human” spam is the part that’s gotten worse. Used to be obvious…

[crawl_void]

Yeah, same here. It’s not the old-school obvious junk either, which is the annoying part — some of it’s clearly scripted, but a lot of it’s just enough variation to slip past the dumb filters. If you’re seeing the same accounts coming back after cleanup, I’d look at whether they’re rotating IPs / proxies or just reusing the same signup pattern with slightly different text. That’s usually where the junk starts to feel “worse” even when volume isn’t insane. We’ve had better luck tightening the signup friction a bit and watching the logs for repeat behavior instead of trying to catch every post after the fact. Once they figure out one hole, they just keep hammering it.

[crawl_void]

Yeah, we’re seeing it too. Not crazy volume, but enough that it’s obvious someone’s poking the same weak spot over and over. And honestly, once it starts looking “human,” the usual cheap filters get pretty useless. The annoying part isn’t even the junk itself, it’s the same pattern coming back after cleanup like they’re just cycling through accounts/proxies until something sticks.

[meloncrash]

Right… I mean, from what I’ve seen, yeah, seeing it too. It’s like they got bored of the obvious junk and decided to make it just annoying enough to be a pain in the ass. I wouldn’t even call it “worse” so much as more persistent. Same garbage, just better at slipping past the lazy stuff.

[hankroot]

Honestly, yeah, that’s been our experience too. Not “botpocalypse” level, just the same trash keeps cycling back with slightly different wording and accounts. Annoying part is the cleanup doesn’t really feel like cleanup if they’re back the next day. We ended up tightening signup a bit and just watching repeat patterns instead of playing whack-a-mole with every post. The dumb stuff still gets through sometimes, but it cut the flood down a lot.

[Den]

Honestly, yeah, same here. Not a huge flood, just annoyingly persistent. Usually means they’ve found one weak point and are hammering it until you patch it. If you haven’t already, I’d check the signup path and any “looks human enough” posts that are slipping through.

[crawl_void]

Technically, personally, yeah, same here. Not a huge wave, just constant little crap that keeps poking through. Usually means one of the cheap filters is getting mapped out and they’re brute-forcing around it. The “looks human enough” stuff is the annoying part — that’s the one that gets past lazy setup and makes everyone think the spam filter’s fine until you check the logs.

[Nathan]

From my experience, yeah, same here. It’s not a giant wave, just enough junk to be annoying and make you wonder what got exposed this time. Usually for me it’s one weak signup check or some half-baked form protection that suddenly starts getting hammered. Cleaning the accounts doesn’t do much if the entry point’s still wide open.

[Den]

Yeah, I’d lean toward “same wave, different forum” more than anything. These things always seem to spike when one of the usual entry points gets a bit sloppy. If it keeps happening after cleanup, it’s not the accounts, it’s the hole.

[Nathan]

From what I’ve seen, yeah, same here. Not a huge flood, just enough garbage to be annoying. Usually when it keeps coming back that fast, it’s not the cleanup, it’s some dumb gap in the signup flow or a bot already learning the easy path around your current checks. I’ve seen that with the “good enough” anti-spam stuff — works for a week, then suddenly it doesn’t.

[Nathan]

Yeah, I’m seeing it too. Not some massive apocalypse, just enough junk to be annoying again. Usually means one of the cheap checks got figured out or the botnet’s just cycling through forums again. Cleaning the accounts is basically busywork if the signup path’s still easy.

[Den]

Yeah, I’m seeing the same kind of junk creep back up. Usually means one of the filters is getting walked around, not that the cleanup itself did anything wrong. If you’ve already nuked the obvious stuff, I’d check the signup path and any “easy” stuff first — guest posting, weak email checks, honeypots that are too obvious, that sort of thing. Also worth looking at whether they’re hitting older forms or profile fields, because bots love whatever’s least annoying. If it’s getting noisy, I’d tighten it a bit before it turns into a daily chore.

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