In this topic—started over 5 years ago—there have been many useful suggestions, hints, tips and "tricks" posted here. Some of the early messages at the beginning (references to
UserVoice, for example) our no longer relevant to today's
Kunena. Some of the ideas in here were also proven to be not useful. Times have changed.
At this time, the moderators here do not merge new topics/questions asked about forum spam. This means that the advice about how to protect your forum from spam will be scattered about and people will have to search for help as best they can. It is probably a good time, therefore, to summarise what we have learnt about forum spam and the things that people can do to prevent it happening.
I would like to make a number of key points:
1)
Kunena is not the
cause of forum spam. Forum spam—spam in general—can happen in any forum.
Kunena is a forum product; it is no different to most other forum products.
2) There is no 100% guaranteed automatic way to prevent forum spam. Spam can originate anywhere, at any time and in all differently disguised ways. As I
wrote
on 25 May 2010,
The only truly effective remedy against spam is vigilance
You can manage spam—you can reduce it and you may be able to eradicate it—if you are vigilant. The best ways to reduce spam are to prevent accounts registering on your website from untrustworthy sources. If you manage an open “public” forum then you will have more work to safeguard your site from the effects of spam.
3)
Kunena has several configurable settings to help with some of the “automated” aspects of running your forum and you should experiment with these settings to find a combination that works best for you.
4) There are several third-party products available that may assist but you should research them carefully. Some of these products are better than others.
5) Managing spam is, unfortunately, not without
you having to do some work. If
you do not put in the effort then you only have yourself to blame.
This topic is still the best place in this forum to start if you are looking for help. I have written a more in-depth examination of the key findings in an article entitled
How to stop forum spam in Kunena
.