By marlowx on

hi guys,

i've got the Troll module installed and thought it might be helpful in stopping spammers...

i already have the thingy installed that posters have to type in the text that is displayed before they post and it helps a lot...

but lately there have been people registering and then posting spam in the forums and comments and even in the profile of the spammers' accounts...

i noticed the Troll module allowed you to download lists of ip addresses that you can blacklist... i take it these are known spammers' ip addresses?

so, it it ok to use this feature or will i be blocking legitimate users?

thanks!

http://NoteToSelfDontDie.com/

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Comments

HedgeMage’s picture

HedgeMage commented

I don't know anything about the quality of the specific blocklist the troll module offers to download for you, but I can tell you that any list of hosts known to spam will also block some legitimate users. Dynamic IPs have to be listed in blocks or not at all, because which IP the spamming host is on changes. More importantly, most spam is relayed through compromised machines (desktop and server alike) running MS Windows. A virus or trojan infects one of these computers, but is careful not to cause noticable symptoms so that the user never knows it is compromised. It then uses the infected computer to spam, so that the spam isn't traceable back to its origin.

In the end, it depends on what the consequences are for your site should legitimate users with infected computers get turned away, and how likely that is to happen. Sites with small user bases that cater to people on sane operating systems may never have any real users blocked. Large sites that attract mostly Windows users will probably see a human user blocked at least once in a while.