BuddyPress.org

I’m +1 on the need for a solution too. I seem to always get the email without it going to spam. I also notice some repeat spam / sploggers in the email addresses. I have used WP-Activate-Users but I’d like an option to resend the activation or delete them.

I joined it, and downloaded it – but have yet to use it.. apparently the plugin requires a “phone home” to one of the wpmu dev computers every time someone or some spammer tries to sign up – and you need to have a current subscription to their premium service in order for that part to work… I asked in their forums (as a paid current member) if the other parts of the plugin will still work if I discontinue my monthly paid subscription to wpmu dev premium – and I got no response about that.. so I have yet to install it – as I can not see paying every month for the rest of my life…

there has also been discussion about using the plugin to go through all of your past members and looking for splogers – and apparently it will not work for that – only for new signups…

Right now my hope is that bp-registration options ( https://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/bp-registration-options/ ) will incorporate some of the tricks from TTC ban hammer ( https://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/ban-hammer/changelog/ )and that the buddypress code will actually make it easier for us stop spmmers – right now buddypress ignores wordpress’ ban email domain features – and that just sucks – the bp registration options stops about 80% of the spammers from being able to post – but there is something in the BP code that lets some of them scoot right through, even with hashcash plugin, SI captcha plugin, and the BP registration Options running – buddpress wastes about 3 hours a week of my time simply deleting sploggers… but hey there are new features coming soon right? LOL

So, has anyone given this plugin a shake down? It’s been a few months now…

Hey, so I’ve been looking at this problem myself in the past couple days.

I’m finding that WP blog comments that are held for moderator approval are not getting inserted into the activity stream, but blog comments that are auto-spammed (from the comment-blacklist), are showing up in the activity stream.

I just entered a trac ticket about this if you’re interested in more details, or have something to add: https://trac.buddypress.org/ticket/2699

Out of the box, BuddyPress only lets you send group invitations to people you’re friends with. It’s a spam prevention measure. If you want to bypass it, install Invite Anyone https://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/invite-anyone/.

There has been a ton of talk about controlling Spam on BuddyPress.org… try tooling through this post for some ideas:

https://buddypress.org/community/groups/how-to-and-troubleshooting/forum/topic/buddypress-spam

try stopping the spammers from registering – topic covered in the past about different options

Wow, world renowned support? 7 months and still no answers! I have the same issue guys, I get a ton of spam on my activity streams. I have 4 different anti-spam plugins, and guess what? Non of them help with the activity stream. This is something Buddypress needs to be looking at!

have them check their spam folder (and proper host config for sending email – maybe the host has trouble with users sending out spam)

buddypress rules for usernames

`
if ( !validate_username( $user_name ) || in_array( $user_name, (array)$illegal_names ) || $user_name != $maybe[0] )
$errors->add( ‘user_name’, __( ‘Only lowercase letters and numbers allowed’, ‘buddypress’ ) );

if( strlen( $user_name ) < 4 )
$errors->add( ‘user_name’, __( ‘Username must be at least 4 characters’, ‘buddypress’ ) );

if ( strpos( ‘ ‘ . $user_name, ‘_’ ) != false )
$errors->add( ‘user_name’, __( ‘Sorry, usernames may not contain the character “_”!’, ‘buddypress’ ) );

/* Is the user_name all numeric? */
$match = array();
preg_match( ‘/[0-9]*/’, $user_name, $match );

if ( $match[0] == $user_name )
$errors->add( ‘user_name’, __( ‘Sorry, usernames must have letters too!’, ‘buddypress’ ) );
`

As that guide is written b y Boone I guess it must be possible, if it hasn’t worked for you you need to review carefully what you have done and that you have followed all steps explicitly, and yes it might be a case that you need the css in which case test that theory by dropping the adminbar css file into your header for the top level site.

There is a means of deactivating the activation and there will be threads on the forum and – I think – a plugin so have a hunt around.

Don’t do this just to circumvent an issue you are having though; to want to remove activation because as you say “the verification email is being marked as spam most of the time” should be telling you that there is something wrong, email servers only apply filters based on sets of rules, you do have to ensure that when email servers look at incoming mail that they can verify it’s origin in other words perhaps you need associated dns mx records for your domain?

Email isn’t necessarily something that just works or something that WP magically deals with, all WP does is simply use a faux email relay such as sendmail it doesn’t know or care whether your emails report themselves correctly.

In my experience the mail actually gets sent 99.9% of the time. Sometimes it just ends up in the spam folder. Especially with Gmail accounts.

I have noticed this problem too.

A fresh setup …5min WordPress install, add BuddyPress Plugin etc etc…

I can not yet confirm if it only occurs for hotmail users (yuck) and it needs more testing!

But here are some obscured excerpts from my mail logs…

Node1 webserver and BuddyPress:
`Oct 19 13:02:42 node1 postfix/smtp[23717]: D67EA2802A: to=, relay=192.168.###.###[192.168.###.###]:25, delay=40, delays=0.33/0.01/0.05/40, dsn=2.0.0, status=sent (250 2.0.0 Ok: queued as 5967C292C1)`

Relayed to my Mail Server at Node2:
`Oct 19 13:02:43 node2 postfix/smtp[27458]: F2173292C4: to=, relay=mx3.hotmail.com[65.55.37.120]:25, delay=0.23, delays=0.01/0.02/0.08/0.12, dsn=2.0.0, status=sent (250 Queued mail for delivery)`

I have a pretty good knowledge of Linux and webservices, but this indicates the mail was sent to hotmail… but the user in question never received it – not even in their spam box.

My servers even have a correct SPF text record in the DNS but so far it seems all the hotmail sign ups are not being seen by the end user.

I can only guess that st00pid Microsoft’s hotmail is sending them into a black hole – perhaps they have got fussy about the confirmation link or something?

Even though it would seem it is not a BuddyPress problem, perhaps some tests should be done to find out why this happens (to be honest, I hate hotmail – but a lot of people use it).

If it is something todo with the confirmation link, then maybe there is some kind of work around?

It will be interesting to hear peoples thoughts on this!

@whitbyglennk – remember to search before posting – this thread has a comprehensive list of ideas for tackling spam:

https://buddypress.org/community/groups/how-to-and-troubleshooting/forum/topic/buddypress-spam/

@dtclarinet – can you share how you reset the database? I’m not using the plugin mentioned, but rather wp-fb-autoconnect. Could that cause the same issue?

Thanks