Please can somebody explain

[vsb]

Hiya

I am not really into all this spy business and bot creations but i would like to know how it all works now. The reason why i am asking as i have started working for a small company where we place details about a certain area of interest and have forums for the local people to chat and ask questions or give information. Ok here is our problem we are being bombarded with very bad porn and it is getting to be such a problem that we now have had to shut down our forum sites. I have traced one of the IP address to googlebot? These postings come almost automatically as soon as i reopen the forums. Can somebody enlighten me with information on how i can stop these googlebots from doing this. All other IP address´s i have traced and banned but the googlebots are becoming a real pain.
Thank you

VSB

[SteveGerencser]

Googlebots generally don't deliver porn.. Spambots may, but not google..

Anyway, the problem is that it is most likely far too easy to post to your forums.. Depending on the software you are using you should at the very least force signups with valid email addresses and email confirmations.. That will stop a large portion of the spam.. Then you could include a challenge / response system like a capctha on the signup page to keep unmanned bots out..

And even with all of this, there will still be people willing to take the time to sign up just to post spam and porn..

[Ne0]

Googlebot is not delivering porn to your forum ;)

What forum software are you using? That will help us help you... VBulletin? phpBB? you need to put something in there so that bots can't just swing by and post up anything they want...

Also if you have a large forum... maybe it's time to get some moderators...

.02

[vsb]

Hiya

Thank so much you for your advise. I have recently been asked to help out and have tried my best to get my head around it all. The only thing is that every time i think i am getting ahead of it all i get bombarded with more. I am using phpBB. I understand that there are these idiots that have nothing more to do than to keep changing their email address´s just to send more stuff and i know that it is only time that will tell because i am sure that some of them will get bored of sending stuff only for it to be deleted. The thing that was concerning me was i traced an IP back to a googlebot? and i was unsure what this was all about and thought that coming onto this site i would get some answers quickly. we do insist on registering before using the forums but i have not found a way as yet within the phpbb system that requires verification before allowing the member to add a post. It is only a small web site but none the less this is becoming a problem. There was at one point no moderators this is why everything got out of hand, but i am now a moderator and as you can see wanting to understand everything just to get it all cleaned up.

Regards

vsb