Hi,

Spammers are able to add pingbacks to my forum even though this is disallowed (in blog settings). So they are not logged-in users who are adding spam comments to a topic, but they are externally able to “comment” on the forum itself.

My site is a dating site, so has a sub forum “Personals”

The URL takes the form …

domain/forums/forum/personals

They can add pingbacks to this “Personals” sub-forum which display below (ie. outside) the forum as, for example …

“3 Thoughts on Personals” :

Pingback: (spam link)
Pingback: (spam link)
Pingback: (spam link)

Any help would be appreciated in solving this.
It’s not a new issue, has been on my site for several years.

bbpress 2.6.9
wordpress 6.0.9
buddypress 10.6.4

[@robin-w Moderator 1 month ago]

so which of the methods in this link item 3 are you using?

Step by step guide to setting up a bbPress forum – Part 1

[@thinlizzie Participant 1 month ago]

Hu Robin,

I think you posted a link? It’s not showing for me

[@robin-w Moderator 1 month ago]

sorry, now corrected above

[@thinlizzie Participant 1 month ago]

Thanks Robin,

To be honest, when I started the forum 5 years ago I kinda blundered my way through the setup and simply got it working. So I am not 100% sure of my exact steps.

But it all seems to point at Method 1 being used. All those items under Method 1 are true for my site.

– I have a page mydomain/forums, this shows the list of three sub-forums (Discussion, Personals, Chat)

– Each sub-forum when clicked, opens with a URL, for example, …

mydomain/forums/forum/discussion

I hope that info is helpful.

Thanks.

[@thinlizzie Participant 1 month ago]

Wondering:

In the example above, the sub-forum opens as …

mydomain/forums/forum/discussion

…and not as …

mydomain/forums/discussion

Is that normal?
Or possibly I have messed up the “parent” settings which is allowing the spammer pingback issue?

Just wondering.

[@robin-w Moderator 1 month ago]

so you have no WordPress page called ‘forums’ ?

and what theme are you using?

[@thinlizzie Participant 1 month ago]

Yes there is a WordPress page called “forums”

(The page title is “Personal Ads & Forum” but when clicked the URL is mydomain/forums)

Twenty Sixteen theme.

[@robin-w Moderator 1 month ago]

Thanks,

So what have you got set in

dashboard>settings>forums>Anonymous ?

[@thinlizzie Participant 1 month ago]

Anonymous is unchecked.

[@robin-w Moderator 1 month ago]

can you give me a link to a forum topic that has this issue

you can email me via

Contact me

[@thinlizzie Participant 1 month ago]

Thanks, I emailed you.