Topic: [request] anti-spam extension
is anyone working on one???
Re: [request] anti-spam extension
Yes, there will be some official anti-spam extensions
Re: [request] anti-spam extension
Until then, here's something I've found to work very well on my forum: Create a forum called "Black Hole" or somesuch, and give it a description like "Don't post in here; it's just a trap for spambots." Make sure it is at the top of the Index page. The bots almost always post in the first section in which they're able to, so all the spam will end up in there and your users can ignore it. Then you can prune it (set it to prune topics ?0 days old) every once in a while.
I've had one or two spam posts in another forum since I started doing that (a few days ago), but at least a hundred in the Black Hole.
Re: [request] anti-spam extension
@Smartys
any e.t.a.? starting working on it? is there a prototype I can beta test?
@Adam Atlas
Thanks, good idea 
Re: [request] anti-spam extension
I think you should consider using Naive_Bayes_classifier, which works pretty well in determining spam/non-spam e-mails. It can be one of possible extensions.
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Re: [request] anti-spam extension
sopel: If you can find a PHP library that uses it, certainly, someone could develop it. However, we're likely going to focus more on services like Akismet and on features that are hard for bots to crack in the first place, like custom question(s) on signup, etc
Re: [request] anti-spam extension
I like some of the features in BB Spam Fighter which along with akismet have virtually stopped spam appearing on one forum.
Re: [request] anti-spam extension
great idea: http://research.microsoft.com/asirra/
Re: [request] anti-spam extension
trakman wrote:
great idea: http://research.microsoft.com/asirra/
how do those with poor vision get passed this?
Re: [request] anti-spam extension
trakman: Except it wasn't Microsoft's idea to begin with (and their implementation takes too much time to use, IMO). That probably won't be something we make an official extension.
Re: [request] anti-spam extension
I should point a problem with akismet.
It was developed targeting blog comments. Which is not the same as forum discussions.
For example, a forum usually have threads where the users post many links, that will be considered spam, also if you use words like:
download
pill
sex
etc.
You will likely get you message blocked.
I've tried akismet, it doesn't work properly in a forum, it's way to strict, I got banned like 5 times from my own forum, 
Kind of cool...
Forum administrator: banned
lol
Anyway, I would suggest this for an extension or even part of punbb default installation:
Provide the possibility of defining a threshold for posting links. Like... the admin could set how many messages would a user need to post in order to be able to post a link.
That should work for a long time. If that wouldn't be enough, one could use the same strategy for a list of spammy words. Like... only allow to post words in the black list after this many posts.
Also, post-count based post frequency cap combined with the above techniques should be effective.
I think the power of this approach is the ability to set the level of protection based on the needs without letting the spammer know what is necessary to bypass spam protection.
Re: [request] anti-spam extension
pedrotuga: Those kinds of tools are good for extensions, as you said.
And Akismet isn't the only tool of that type, it's just the largest. I came across another one that I'm also going to look into turning into an extension.