I've had 3 or 4 spambots register in my Santa's Helper's Forum lately and then they come over here and register for YOUR Forum milliseconds later.
So, today Software Santa posted a present we both needed: BotScout "BotBuster" for SMF 1.x and 2.0 Beta 4
It's installed already on MY SMF forums.
Description:
Prevent spambots from registering on your forum. The SMF BotBuster uses the
http://BotScout.com API to check each attempted registration against the BotScout.com database of known bots. Both the email and IP address are tested against over 100,000 bot signatures (with more being added every day).
Failed registration attempts are halted with a false "Registration Disabled" error message. Additional "failure" actions are easy to add (such as forwarding the bot to Disney.com, displaying mysterious, random error messages, or returning a frustrating "CAPTCHA Failed" error).
* Works with SMF versions 1.1.x and 2.x
* Minimal code changes, no extensive modifications required
* Checks both email and IP to ensure a high detection rate
* Provides results in simple string format or XML format
For more information please visit
http://BotScout.com
I looked at the PHP code and I *THINK* it will email you when a bot gets a "Registration Disabled" message telling you what bot it was that tried. It's a standard MOD that installs in seconds from the packages section of your Admin panel!
I'd recommend it!