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Anyone else getting hammered by bot signups this week? I’ve cleaned out like 30 junk accounts already and it’s still going. Mostly random usernames, same weird profile links, same garbage posts. Annoying as hell. I’ve got basic moderation on but it still feels like I’m playing whack-a-mole. Curious what people are using these days that actually helps without making legit users jump through hoops.
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Yeah, same here. It always spikes like this for a few days and then dies off, like some idiot decided to point the bots at forum software for fun. We ended up adding a dumb little honeypot + email verification on first post and that cut it down a lot. Still get the odd junk signup, but not 30 in a day anymore. Honestly the “basic moderation” stuff never really feels enough once they find you. They just keep coming back with slightly different usernames and the same trash links. From what I see,
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In most cases, from what I’ve seen, yeah, same old bot garbage. Honeypot helps a bit but it’s never the full fix once they’ve got your forum on whatever list they’re using. We ended up tightening signup + first post checks and that knocked it down enough to stop me losing my mind. Still annoying though.
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Honestly, Yeah, same here. The weird part is how lazy they are now — same profile links, same garbage posts, like they’re not even bothering to vary it. First-post approval helped me more than any “anti-spam” plugin did, honestly. Still annoying, but at least it’s not flooding the whole place. That’s how I look at it.
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Yeah, same story here. The lazy junk accounts are the worst because they don’t even try to blend in. First-post approval’s still the least annoying fix I’ve found too. Not perfect, but it cuts down the garbage enough that I’m not deleting crap all morning. If you’re already doing that and it’s still bad, I’d check whether they’re hitting the same signup path over and over. Sometimes it’s one form field or a registration plugin that’s basically inviting them in.
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In most cases, realistically, yeah, it’s been ugly this week. I’m seeing the same junk too — random usernames, same site links, same nonsense, over and over. First-post approval helps, but if they’re still getting through that fast, I’d be looking at the signup side more than the post side. One of my forums got hit hard until I tightened registration a bit, then it calmed down a lot. Honestly,
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Honestly, yeah, same garbage here. It’s always the same pattern too — random names, some nonsense bio, then a link dump like clockwork. Honestly I’m past the “basic moderation” stage with this stuff. First-post approval helps a bit, but once they’re flooding the signup form it just turns into cleanup duty. I’ve had better luck tightening registration than trying to police the posts after the fact. Even dumb little stuff like slowing signups down or making the first action less obvious seems to knock a chunk of it out. And before Nathan starts with the usual “just moderate harder” thing, no, that doesn’t scale worth a damn when they’re hitting you nonstop. That’s just more busywork.
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In most cases, yeah, it’s been annoying as hell lately. We’ve been getting the same pattern too — junk usernames, sketchy profile links, then the usual garbage post. First-post approval slows it down a bit, but if they’re coming in waves it just becomes a chore. Honestly the only thing that’s made a real dent for us is making registration less “easy mode.” Not perfect, but it cuts the dumbest stuff out. The bots that still get through usually look like they were made by someone who gave up halfway through.
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Honestly, yeah, same here. It’s been one of those weeks where you clear a batch and another one rolls in 20 minutes later, like they’ve got a queue somewhere. I’ve had better luck tightening signup than messing around with post moderation too. First-post approval is fine, but if they’re already in the door it’s just extra cleanup for whoever’s stuck watching the queue. What’s been helping for us is making registration a little less frictionless — nothing insane, just enough to trip up the lazy junk. The ones getting through now are still obvious garbage anyway, just slightly less dumb than before.
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Realistically, realistically, yeah, we’ve been seeing the same crap. It’s not even clever anymore, just noisy. What’s annoying is half the time they’re not even trying to blend in, so you end up burning time deleting obvious junk like it’s some kind of part-time job. First-post approval only really helps if the volume’s low. Once it turns into a flood, it’s just extra admin pain. I’d rather add a bit more friction at signup than babysit the queue all week, honestly. Lazy bots hate even tiny hurdles. Legit users usually don’t…
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Yeah, same garbage here. It’s not even a “wave” anymore, it’s just constant background noise. I’ve had a little luck with signup friction too, but honestly if they’re determined they’ll still get in. The annoying part is the legit new users sometimes get annoyed by the extra step while the bots just keep spamming like idiots.
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Personally, yeah, same here. It’s gotten stupid this week. I’m seeing the same pattern too — random username, blank-ish profile, one junk link, then some garbage post that looks copy/pasted from a bot farm. The annoying part is they’re not even trying hard, which makes it worse because you still have to deal with it. I’ve had better luck with a couple small friction points than with just letting moderation catch it after the fact. If the signup is too easy, they’ll just keep walking through the door. First-post approval helps a bit, but like you said, once it turns into a flood it’s just more work for whoever’s cleaning up. What’s been weird for me is the bots seem to come in bursts. Quiet for a day or two, then suddenly 20 accounts with the same dumb pattern. Feels automated as hell. Not sure there’s a magic fix anymore. The old “just add a captcha” stuff barely seems to slow them down now.
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Yeah, same here. It’s been one of those weeks where you delete one batch and another shows up 20 minutes later. What’s helped me more than anything is just making signup annoying enough that the junk stops being worth it. Nothing crazy, just some extra friction on registration and first post. The bots usually fall apart fast when they can’t blast straight through. I’m with hankroot on the approval queue thing too — fine when it’s a trickle, miserable when it turns into a flood. At that point you’re just doing unpaid janitor work all day. I’d rather make the door a little harder to open than keep sweeping the floor. I mean,
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Yeah, it’s been ugly here too. What’s actually helped me more than captcha nonsense is making the first post basically worthless to them — no links, no signatures, no profile link showing up until they’ve cleared a couple hurdles. The junk accounts I’m seeing are all after the easy stuff, so once that’s gone they usually move on. Also, if your forum software lets you rate-limit new accounts a bit, do it. Not forever, just long enough to make the spam batch annoying. The bots don’t seem to like waiting around. Still sucks though. Every time I think it’s calmed down, there’s another pile of “John_48372” accounts posting the same garbage link like clockwork. Honestly,
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Yeah, same story here. Once they start coming in batches it’s just annoying busywork. If you’ve already got basic moderation on, I’d lean more on stopping the junk at signup than trying to clean it after. The profile-link stuff and first-post restrictions seem to knock out a lot of the lazy bots. CAPTCHA alone hasn’t done much for me either, honestly. Honestly,
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Realistically, technically, yeah, same garbage here. The “same weird profile links” part is always the tell — it’s not even trying to look human anymore. I’ve had better luck cutting off first-post links and making new accounts sit in a timeout for a bit than messing around with CAPTCHA. Still a pain, but at least it slows the flood down.
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Yeah, same here. The annoying part is it’s never one-off junk, it’s always the same little batch pattern like they’re cycling through a list. I’ve had better luck with first-post link restrictions and a short new-user delay than with CAPTCHA, which mostly just annoys real people. Still a pain either way.
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Yeah, same here. CAPTCHA is mostly theater at this point. What’s actually helped on a couple of the forums I’ve dealt with is: – no links in profile until X posts – first post moderation – a short delay before new accounts can post/profile-edit – blocking disposable email domains if your software supports it The profile-link junk is usually the giveaway. Once they can’t drop a link in the first minute, most of them just move on. If you’re seeing the same pattern over and over, it’s typically not “random” signups, it’s a bot batch hitting the same weak spots. Annoying as hell, but at least it means you can narrow down the rule that’s letting them through. At least from what I’ve seen.
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Yeah, same garbage here. CAPTCHA barely does anything except annoy actual users, so I stopped pretending it was some magic fix. The stuff that’s helped me most is boring as hell: first post approval, no profile links for new accounts, and a delay before they can edit anything useful. Once I did that, the junk dropped off a lot. Not gone, obviously, because these clowns just keep brute-forcing weak spots, but at least it’s not constant cleanup every hour. Also, if you’re seeing the exact same link pattern over and over, I’d be looking at whatever field they’re abusing most — profile bio, homepage, signature, whatever your forum lets them touch first. That’s usually the crack they’re crawling through. I’m still convinced half this spam wave is just automated garbage testing every forum that hasn’t locked down new accounts properly. Real fun. Honestly,
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From what I’ve seen, yeah, same pattern here. It’s never just “a few spammers” anymore, it’s batches hitting the same weak spots over and over. What’s helped me more than CAPTCHA junk is just shutting off the easy abuse points for brand new accounts — profiles, signatures, links, whatever. CAPTCHA feels like busywork at this point. Most of the bots I’ve seen don’t care, they just burn through it or use human-solved stuff anyway. The annoying part is when you clean 20-30 accounts and the next wave looks exactly the same. Feels like they’re just probing for whichever forum still has one sloppy setting left open.
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Yeah, I’m seeing the same pattern — not even “spam,” just bot batches chewing through the same weak spots. What’s been annoying me most is they don’t even try hard. Same junk profile links, same dumb usernames, same first-post garbage. Once you see that pattern a few times it’s pretty obvious they’re just hammering anything with loose new-user settings. Honestly, the biggest win for me was just making new accounts basically useless for a bit: – no links in profile/signature/homepage – first post held for approval – some delay before edits – disposable email blocking if your forum can do it CAPTCHA alone is a joke. It just makes legit users hate you while the bots keep rolling through anyway. If it’s really the same link pattern every time, I’d check whatever field they can touch first. That’s usually where the crack is. After that it’s just whack-a-mole until you lock it down enough that they move on.
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Yeah, it’s the same crap here. At this point CAPTCHA just feels like theater. I’ve had better luck with boring stuff too — first post approval, no links anywhere for fresh accounts, and killing signatures until they’ve been around a bit. Not sexy, but it cuts the junk down fast enough that it’s not eating my day. Still annoying though. These waves come in like they found one weak setting and just keep hammering it until you patch it.
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