No!

[cacturnerules]

No, it's just the advanced spambots have found us.

Now we're popular! :D

[Twilight Wolf]

If only we could attract more actual users, though...

But anyways, anyone willing to make another account to see if you get an activation email? We need to research this.

[cacturnerules]

In august, you had to.

[Twilight Wolf]

So you got a confirmation email with a password in August? Well, since we upgraded at the end of July, and you got an email in August, then I don't see why we should have changed in that time.

Damn, this means the bots can not only get around simple CAPTCHAs, but also use the activation email!

[cacturnerules]

It's the sign of the apocalypse! RUUUUUUUUUUUN!!!!!!

spamming aside, It's not that horrible that spambots are coming. I think it's kinda fun. :)

You guys should be more optimistic...

[Hi no Seijin]

Um, I'm not techno wiz, but if we let the spambots come willy nilly, don't we run the risk of crashing TDC?  That doesn't sound fun at all.

[darkphantomime]

OR... They're a special bot that bypasses those securities. Not necessarily go through activation emails (which might be why you see them posting only once).

Also, if spambots are all over a forum, it makes your site look bad. Who knows how ilong it'd be before they're posting links to porn?

[cacturnerules]

No, I don't mean to invite them here, but if a couple happen to get through, we shouldn't make such a big deal.

[Twilight Wolf]

Not to mention we used to have around 14,000 spambots before we did a massive cleanup. I remember back in July 2007 when we had 2600 registered users... a year later we had over 14,000. They take up bandwidth, as well, so when we got rid of them, the forums were a bit faster.

[Keaton]

We've had the same problem over on Phase *coughmygraphicssitewhichyoushouldalltotallyjoinifyou'reinterestedinmakingbettergraphicscough*, but it was solved easily enough by updating forum software to the next level-- which institutes reCAPTCHA. They've had bots that can bypass CAPTCHA and email validation for a while now on IPB, vBulletin and what not, and apparently they're just now getting to coding bots for YaBB SE.

[cacturnerules]

So then, why don't we just do that?

[Twilight Wolf]

Thanks for the input, Tach. Do you know of how we could implement such a measure? You seem to know about this sort of thing.

[darkphantomime]

Uhh, Tach? I think you mean SMF 1.1.5

[Twilight Wolf]

Ah, JQ's right, we're not using YaBB SE any more.

[Keaton]

Gamefreak just needs to update the system from his magical mystical admin control panel.

Uhh, Tach? I think you mean SMF 1.1.5

stfu, my point remains that it's not a huge thing.  In fact, that's probably the reason we're getting a bot or two now.  NOBODY has heard of YaBB SE being used except for Desert Colossus (note, in the previous statistic I was 'everybody'), whereas SMF is a bit more popular.