Mugsy
Forum Replies Created
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Forum: Fixing WordPress
In reply to: Fake registrations driving me nuts! Are they bypassing form?Even, I’m quite certain this has nothing to do with Captcha’s. I’ve tried about a dozen different ones, even combining several.
I *do* use “confirmation emails”, but the accounts are still being created. I don’t if it is because the bots are responding to them or if WP just registers them whether they respond or not. Either way, I get a bunch of phantom “users” that never log in and never post (but are problematic in that I can’t get an accurate count of Registered Users.)
Unfortunately, “Gravity Forms” is Commercial Software and I’m a non-profit.
Forum: Fixing WordPress
In reply to: Fake registrations driving me nuts! Are they bypassing form?Artifex.
The best Captcha in the world is of no use against bots that bypass the Registration page.
I use the most popular “WP-reCAPTCHA” plugin that you see on most sites, plus a “math” challenge.
This isn’t an “inadequate captcha” issue.
Thx.
Forum: Fixing WordPress
In reply to: Fake registrations driving me nuts! Are they bypassing form?Thanks for the reply.
I’ve been looking for a common thread among all these fake registrations for ages and came up empty. No static IP or domain in common. 🙁
I’m pretty sure they are bypassing my Registration page, and wondering if there’s anything that can be done about it?
Forum: Fixing WordPress
In reply to: Adding "nofollow" to Links?Hey, that (plugin) works. Thx.
Doing it manually isn’t an option with side Links. WordPress php creates the links on the fly. The resulting code is not visible/editable and I could not locate the specific php page that creates the code (and even if I did, it would be replaced upon the next update).
Thx.
Forum: Fixing WordPress
In reply to: Adding "nofollow" to Links?Thanks, but I saw that plugin already. It’s biggest limitation is that it’s “all or nothing” when it comes to Blogroll links.
Forum: Fixing WordPress
In reply to: Adding "nofollow" to Links?In the WordPress backend, there is a section called “Links” where you can create sidebar links.
The number of valid “rel” fields is limited to ONLY the buttons & checkboxes in the “Link Relationship XFN” section. “nofollow” is not among the choices.
With further research, I found a “workaround” by disabling Javascript (no longer available in Firefox without an Add-On), allowing you to enter whatever you want on the “rel” line. Save your changes and you can reenable Javascript without losing the “nofollow” reference.
Forum: Everything else WordPress
In reply to: Sudden flood of fake registrations. Anyone else?Be sure to make your plugin available to others if it works. 🙂
Forum: Everything else WordPress
In reply to: Sudden flood of fake registrations. Anyone else?Onepack, while Captcha’s aren’t “useless” as WPyogi insists, bots are getting better at defeating them, and the more popular a Captcha is, the more likely there’s a bot designed to beat it.
“Challenges” that ask the user to solve a simple question before they can post, are much more difficult for bots to overcome and thus far more efficient at stopping spam (and my readers find that a simple “challenge” is easier to answer than those annoying eye-straining word jumbles.
Forum: Everything else WordPress
In reply to: Sudden flood of fake registrations. Anyone else?Esmi, I’ve cut my fake registrations to ZERO using good a Math captcha (properly tweaked.)
Forum: Everything else WordPress
In reply to: Sudden flood of fake registrations. Anyone else?Most fake registrations come from bots, which can be thwarted by a good Captcha.
Forum: Everything else WordPress
In reply to: Sudden flood of fake registrations. Anyone else?Mark, interesting thought on “WP Connect”, but I’m not registered, so that’s probably not it.
If I had to guess, someone found… and is exploiting… a loophole in the new “Outlook Live” system (affecting both Outlook.com & Hotmail.com).
I’ve recently had great success adding the math captcha plugin (mentioned above) to my registration page along with the classic “WP-reCaptcha” plugin. Using both together has reduced my fake registrations to ZERO.
Forum: Everything else WordPress
In reply to: Sudden flood of fake registrations. Anyone else?While you can’t physically type in an address by hand, it does list the IP Address of those it blocked from registering, which you can check and Submit.
Since few users actually have “static” IP addresses, I only check-off those who were redirected back to the “wp-admin” page they tried to access and ignore the rest.
It’s not a complicated program. Try it.
Forum: Everything else WordPress
In reply to: Sudden flood of fake registrations. Anyone else?If you use the “IP Blacklist” plugin, it automatically records the IP address of the user and adds it to a group list on their server. It also checks the IP Address of registrants against their list and bans those who match.
Forum: Everything else WordPress
In reply to: Sudden flood of fake registrations. Anyone else?Squirrel, try the “IP Blacklist” plugin. That’s what I use.
Forum: Everything else WordPress
In reply to: Sudden flood of fake registrations. Anyone else?There are plenty of plugins that allow you to block registrations from particular domains. I personally ban any email address ending in “.pl”, “.ru”, “.ck” (and a few more I forget.) And I have about four or five active plugins just for blocking Spam/Spammers.
I think it is safe to assume no “legitimate” users from those countries are trying to comment on my blog.
But my User numbers are also likely slightly inflated due to the flood of fake Registrations these past few months. I go through and delete the obvious ones (eg: “Chanel Bags”), but it’s like sweeping back the tide. Very annoying.