Here are the log entries:

+------------------+--------------+---------------------+
| log_email        | log_username | log_date            |
+------------------+--------------+---------------------+
| Didavi@yandex.ru | Robin        | 2007-09-09 06:01:18 |
| bahira@yandex.ru | Robin        | 2007-09-09 06:02:07 |
+------------------+--------------+---------------------+

Now I am not going to waste time searching for “Robin” being registered on other boards as the username is much too common. A search for the email addresses turned up only one hit. Then again, “Robin” might just be getting started.

What I see is an initial registration attempt that was successful at passing the Checkbox Challenge but that got rejected by a ban on yandex.ru. So they came back less than a minute later to try again with an alternate email address. That, too, was blocked due to a ban on yandex.ru. I guess what I am seeing is that I will still need to use the ban list for certain domains.

I checked on my biggest board and I have had 10 registration attempts from that domain since I started the Checkbox Challenge; none of them were successful. On another site: 19 registrations, no successes. On a third site: 20 attempts, zero successes. So my point is that anti-bot mechanisms are not going to be enough. I said that earlier, and I continue to gather evidence to support that claim.

Rats.

Unsolicited Email

I got an email today that was interesting. It came from “Nicole” and she wanted me to put her text ads (no gambling or “questionable” sites like warez) on the bottom of my site. They weren’t flashy ads, just plain text. And she said she would pay me monthly. Now here’s the catch:

I had never heard of this service until last week, when I got asked about the very same company from one of my blog readers. Apparently they are making the rounds.

Is it a scam? I don’t think so. Is it worth doing? Here’s what I found out so far, and what is bothering me about the contact from Nicole…

More…

A Check-Up From the Doctor

I will not install code for clients that was written by someone else without reviewing it first. There is a lot of bad code out there. There is also some very good code, don’t get me wrong about that. But many excellent MOD authors just don’t know databases as well as they would like. So the queries that they write may be functional, but not optimal. At this point in my involvement with phpBB I write most of my own MODs, so most of the time this review is for a private client who wants me to install something that I don’t already have or have no interest in writing.

At one point after I essentially rewrote a MOD for one of my clients they suggested that I offer this service via the Doctor Board. Hmm. Well. It’s an interesting idea. It wasn’t in my plans for this board when I started (and still isn’t) and I would much rather get my desired services completed and released first, but yeah, I could do that.

Probably in about 2012.

Maybe.

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In a word, “uh oh.”

My Checkbox Challenge MOD has so far proven to be remarkably effective at combatting spam. On boards with low new member rates it is blocking upwards of 90% of the registration attempts. On my biggest board where I get 10-15 new legitimate users per day, it’s still blocking about 45% of the registration attempts. So imagine my surprise the other day when I logged in to my board and found this post:

Thank you!
I’ll do it as you say!I think it’s useful!
Thanks again!

iphone accessories

And of course that last line was a link.

How did this happen?

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