BuddyPress.org

TBH this was just an idea I had while looking at the scope of possible ways to stop spammers/bots. I’ve implemented a few things already like reCaptcha, Ban Hammer, redirects, honeypot. You’re probably right that many of the bots are stopped at the Activation step IF they are using a disposable email. I assume smart ppl would have developed a way to activate spam accounts if needed. Then again maybe they just go for the low hanging fruit.

I am curious though how you’re so sure bots aren’t registering? I have about 1,200 registered users and the vast majority are Gmail address. Alot of them look suspicious, like Username: dien01234567 Email: dien0134567@gmail. I have a very eclectic audience, so I have to be careful which email services I block. But even so I can’t believe all these Gmail users are real…

hi @imath – I wanted to offer to moderate the support forums given there seems to be spam almost every day.

I moderate a separate community so it would be no burden to me to help keep BP Support Forums spam free.

Hi @ok2net @muhittinsahilli & @johnjamesjacoby 😉

Thanks a lot for your feedbacks 😍. Very interesting ideas!! I’ll add the « spam protection » one I received on Twitter to the list.

Just like John who gave the right example as a Project Lead, I’ll share my ideas 😁.

A first category of ideas is about getting more hands to help us build great things:
– A BuddyPress annual meeting like a BuddyCamp but online to welcome everyone on earth: a « World-BuddyCamp »
– As BuddyPress is more than just a plugin, we should probably have more « official » teams to compliment the BP Core one: Support, Theme, Docs, REST API, Marketing (?), …
– The BuddyPress.org network to host developer/contributors docs & Core development updates.
– A great BP Standalone theme for the BuddyPress.org site as well as a replacement for the BP Default theme.
– Providing recommanded Addons to help new users choose the right BP plugins for their need.

À second category of ideas is about code:
– making BP Rewrites the default URL parser,
– going even more granular than we are, moving optional components as BuddyPress add-ons: this would probably help us to improve each feature and Core/Members with the basic features a user can expect from a community feature software.
– Blocks to standardize ways to share media/rich tools into activity streams, private conversations and why not Template pack & themes.
– Of course BP Attachments, user generated media to share with the BP community as well as giving WordPress Admins a new source for their editorial content.
– Private conversations revamped looking more like private chats / slack exploring WebRTC or Server-Sent Events.

And finally I invite @dcavins, @espellcaste, @boonebgorges, @djpaul, @r-a-y, @mercime and all the members of the team to follow @johnjamesjacoby example! Let’s all share what we think BuddyPress is missing 😇

To be clear – this did NOT happen before the switch to external mail client. So there is no hidden CC etc.

Previously, it was simply set up using POP3 and gmail. (no issues)
Since connecting via the API – that’s when this began. (able to see all site emails sent).

I’ve found a snippet, that I’ll explore with. But I’m unsure this will even work now as no emails are sent/received via the WP site (all externally).. stupid spam forced us to move to a different setup.

<?php 
// Function to change email address
add_filter( 'wp_mail_from', 'wpb_sender_email' );
function wpb_sender_email( $original_email_address ) {
    return 'contact@lapakibuk.com';
}
 
// Function to change sender name
add_filter( 'wp_mail_from_name', 'wpb_sender_name' );
function wpb_sender_name( $original_email_from ) {
    return 'Mr Sultrio';
}

Thanks I’ve worked out how to disable that email. I don’t think this solves my initial problem – in theory this email should be active so it’s sent when an admin turns the request down. However, I kind of agree with the view in https://buddypress.org/support/topic/membership-requests-email/ – that usually when an admin turns a request down, it will be because it’s deemed to be spam. And thus the email shouldn’t be sent. So I’m OK with deactivating the email completely I think.