I would guess the spam robots use the form field names when they post/register on forums and send mail spam, so why not change form field names to something unknown?
Here is my approach with an example of replacing the form field name for email.
1) In the config file:
2) In register.asp replace all with 3) In inc_profile.asp replace with Finished!
Now the spanning software needs to know it should post the email address as a form field value named xxsxy2hsw35.......
The above could of course be done with any/all form field name.
A more advanced version could be to randomly generate the form field names and store them as session variables. Then the form field names would be different each session.
'## if the random generated field names don't excist then create them
and then substitute in register.asp and inc_profile.asp for
The same method could be used to prevent automated posting and mailing.

What do you think?<

Very interesting! Thank you for sharing this, janaf. <

The nice side of this approach is that every field can have a bit of a GateKeeper effect.

I installed the simple version of my mod together with the GateKeeper mod (I did not test the "session variable" version yet). For two days I did not get a single garbage signup . The last months there has otherwise been about 10 per day.
To prevent automated form postings, I think you want the form pages to be 'unpredictable' by machine, i.e form field names, table sizes and instruction texts should be easily changed. Humans are very good at adapting to some changes, while for programs, it gets much more complicated if input is not well structured.

With a multi language Snitz Forum coming? it may be simple to modify the text instructions to the form fields, so they are not always the same.

I am myself a Snitz Forum programming newbie so I can not do these changes, but if someone else wants to to, please do! You can email me for mor ideas if you like. I guess the spam software developers also monitor this site, so in order to stay a little ahead, I would not like to post more details here until a proper mod/release has been made.<

That is sort of what we have done here as a test on the registration form, except we added a hidden field which has a randomly generated name as well as a randomly generated value.<

Is this something you are thinking about implementing into the next version HuwR?<

I think the random generation way is the only way to go. Anything else added to the next version would be easily incorporated into the spammers various softwares.
If this is successful (which it appears to be - I haven't logged in once and seen any Forum Poster crap on here) then I'd love to see the code that Huw mentioned as a MOD and as future base code.<

Yes, lets hope a mod or coming version will incorporate whatever is possible to stop automated spamming.<

the lack of Forum Poster crap here may not actually be a result of the code, the Admins here are very vigilant and pretty ruthless at allowing/disallowing registrations here, if anything looks remotely suspect they are simply not validated to register. There is no substitute for human intervention in my opinion<

It's got nothing to do with that, Huw. All of the Forum Poster crap that has got through on my site has been email validated by the posting software. Personally, I don't validate anybody unless they specifically contact me to do so. Even then, I usually just delete their membership so that they can try again. A rare case in any point.
I downloaded the software a couple of months back to see how it worked. I noticed that there aren't a lot of Snitz forums in the demo version, in fact only 9. Mine was in there, not sure if Snitz Support was, though.<

allowing disallowing email validation is a manual not an automatic process, so our vigilance has everything to do with it.<

So 'Restrict Registration' is switched ON on this site?
Actually, I may have inadvertently found a bug with the software here. I just tried to register (already logged in) and without filling any fields in, clicked submit to get this:

Microsoft VBScript runtime error '800a0009'

Subscript out of range: '[number: 1]'

/forum/register.asp, line 270

Off topic, I know. I should probably post this as a bug.<

yes restrict registrations is enabled here, all attempts to register must be verified by one of the admins.
The error may be related to the test code rather than the forum code so possibly is not a bug in the forum code, I will check<

Microsoft VBScript runtime error '800a0009'

Subscript out of range: '[number: 1]'

/forum/register.asp, line 270

Have fixed that error now, it was in another piece of test code we have here which checks the attempted registration email against a list of known spammers/bogus registration attempts we have in our database<

Cool. Glad it wasn't an error with the base code. <

You spoke to soon, Huw. Getting this error, now:

Microsoft VBScript runtime error '800a0009'

Subscript out of range: '[number: 1]'

/forum/register.asp, line 271<

not sure why, since if you don't fill anything in you shouldn't even get to line 271. Why are you trying to register without entering any information anyway ?<

Why are you trying to register without entering any information anyway ?

Does it really matter?
Anyway, if it's only for test code, it's just a FYI. Otherwise, if I remember correctly, it tells you to enter username/password etc.
Actually, I've always wondered why the 'register' link is even available for anybody logged in. I changed it on mine so it's only displayed to guests. Seems fairly pointless otherwise.<

It is even more pointless trying to register without filling in any of the fields

being able to register when logged in is quite useful for testing it is a pain in the ass if you have to logout first.<

Okay. Like I said. It's just for your information.<

Back to topic; I just realised there is at least one more file you need to modify if you use the code, and that is the pop_profile.asp. Otherwise, you can not change profile settings properly. You should do a search for
and or other filed name that you want to substitute.
If you substitute another form field variable, of course other files may need changes as well.<

HuWR,

With all due respect, I think manually looking at every registrant before allowing them to use the forum is fairly backward.
Shouldn't we be taking advantage of the many CAPTCHA options that are available these days so that we can reduce the monotony and time spent of manual reviews of potential members?
Manually reviewing members seems a bit harsh once a forum grows, and I am not too sure that it is a positive way to go about administration.
The more we can automate the better right?
Also, waiting for a signup to be reviewed by a moderator can have a negative effect on new signups. Your forum is an exception, since it is THE forum for the topic it covers, but most other users of snitz forums are probably covering a topic for which competitiion for users is greater, perhaps a topic that already has several forums on the net. If this is the case, and I try and sign up for one, and its not instant, I move on to the next, so I can quickly get, or give, the help that I intended.
<