WP 5.3.2
bbPress 2.6.3
bbPress Moderation 1.8.3
Akismet 4.1.3
Website https://bcycracing.org/

All of a sudden, the site is getting bombarded with “spam” Topics coming from the bbPress Forum. The Forum has been active since 2018 and up till recently has been spam free. Now, we get 100+ a day. Akismet API is current.

I recently deleted all of the pre-2020 topics in the Forum (housekeeping). The Forum is empty now.

I would appreciate any help you can provide.

[@robin-w Moderator 4 years, 11 months ago]

once your forum gets known to spammers, then it is passed around in lists as an easy target, and you may well get bombarded.

because you allow anonymous posting, there is not much a spam filter can do to differentiate between a real post and spam, as it doesn’t know what your website is about.

[@voice4vision Participant 4 years, 11 months ago]

I use Anti-Spam by CleanTalk and it has put a halt to all my Spam and Bot Registrations.

[@rolandbianco Participant 4 years, 11 months ago]

I use Akismet and WangGuard. bruteprotec is another good option for registrations.

[@randrcomputers Participant 4 years, 11 months ago]

@rolandbianco your still using wanguard too? i loved that plugin but not sure its safe anymore? but the registration question option is great! looking up bruteprotect never heard of that one

[@randrcomputers Participant 4 years, 11 months ago]

WOW brute protect is very very old.