Prevent potential SPAM user registrations

Statistics for each SPAM checking service provider

Easy extension of new SPAM checking service providers

SPAM has been an issue for a long while. Posts submissions can be managed manually by means of the moderation tools and privileges provided by the Q2A platform. However, when it comes to preventing SPAM users registrations, the only tool available are captcha modules.

The SPAM Registration Stopper plugin adds another layer, on top of the captcha modules, that attempts to completely prevent a suspicious user registration. This is done by querying different SPAM checking services. For the time being, 3 have been implemented but more can easily be added in the future. In fact, each of these services is implemented as something like “sub-plugins” so adding new services should be as simple as a drag & drop of a single file.

In addition to this, there is a third level that blocks duplicated emails. For the time being, only GMail is supported. It avoids duplicated accounts generated by adding dots to email addresses which fools Q2A’s email matching.

Note it is impossible to stop SPAM registrations. The plugins aims at slowing them down.

You can give it a try downloading it from the GitHub project page.

Plugin features:

• Prevents potential SPAM user registrations (users do not need to be removed as they are not even created)
• SPAM users are tested against these well-known services:
  • BotScout
  • FSpamlist
  • IsTempMail
  • ProjectHoneyPot
  • StopForumSpam
  • VerifierMeetChopra
• Each service is implemented as an internal plugin on its own, allowing for easy extension
• Rejects registrations with duplicated emails
• Statistics for the last months are tracked for each service
• Internationalization support
• No need for core hacks or plugin overrides
• Simple installation