Stop Spammers

[strumdogg]

In my time as a member of this forum, I've seen/reported many Spammers. Lately, and maybe I'm just noticing, it's becoming a weekly ritual (if not more frequent).


What steps are being taken to prevent these random/no-name/spammer accounts from being created? Shouldn't you/we try to stop these guys/things before they make a single post in our forum?


FWIW: Here are my four tricks to spotting a forum spammer (cultivated over a day of research):

1) They joined during the current month/year (obvious).
2) They don't typically use numbers, punctuation, or upper-case letters in their username; only lower-case letters (2-3 character strings along a standard computer keyboard).
3) They copy other user's posts within a thread, and make them their own. If you follow a thread, they can be spotted.
4) They include hidden images (usually gifs) in their posts. Sometimes they show up as broken images, sometimes not. The key is, if you reply and quote a spammer post, look at the forum code...you'll see if they included an image or some other nasty code. They also may try to add the code later, after someone has already responded.


Let's Stop Them! Vivre blu-ray.com!


Thank you for your valuable time.