Spam in the forums.

The spam is getting really bad, some black hats must have released a tool for all the script kiddies to attack phpBB boards. I am deleting at least three a day. Originally I got rid of it by requiring registration. The next step would probably be to require a pattern matching tool on the registration where you have to type in from characters (you know what I'm talking about, I can't think of what it's called). Before I spend any more time fiddling with and configuring phpBB I think I should take the plunge and finally convert to vBulletin. Last chance, any votes yea or nay?
Thanks,
Eric

I don't know anything about vBulletin so I can't really comment there.

I did find the image matching tool helped for my (non-MapPoint) phpBB boards. Also switching on the email confirmation options has help. I also ban two .ru domains completely. I'm contemplating the outright ban of all .ru email addresses. (this is viable as the subject is very UK-oriented: yes there are lots of international members, but none are Russian and over 50% of the spammers have registered with ru emails).


Richard