Forum spam - how do you beat it

[clint999]

Few days ago I have seen one web site which ask to chose nature picture first to continue further registration.

[Oracle]

How Do I Fight Forum Spam?

Well I found out that a combo of

Captcha, Email Activation, Password Randomization, and COPPA. Works wonders, I used to get spam on my forum, but after I set that up Ive only gotten maybe 1 spammer over the last 2-3 months. So try that setup out and let me know if it works for you!

[bob]

Google is underway to create rotating image captcha which will asks users to orient a picture into an upright-facing position, I think this approach can minimize the spam. http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10222514-2.html

[Oracle]

Wow, that sounds very interesting. could don't also put a load on the server though, considering that the images are going to be rotating.

[Oracle]

Most forum spam consists of links to external sites, with the dual goals of increasing search engine visibility in highly competitive areas such as weight loss, pharmaceuticals, gambling, pornography, real estate or loans, and generating more traffic for these commercial websites. Some of these links contain code to track the spambot's identity if a sale goes through, when the spammer behind the spambot works on commission.

Spam posts may contain anything from a single link, to dozens of links. Text content is minimal, usually innocuous and unrelated to the forum's topic. Such text is included to prevent the post being caught by automated spam filters that prevent posts which consist solely of external links from being submitted. Full banner advertisements have also been reported.