Restricted usernames list

[matthew1471]

If anyone has a list of usernames which they automatically ban new users from having, would they mind sharing it with me?

I was thinking along the lines of: Admin, root, adminstrator etc. and spammy viagra, cialis type ones.

 

[Insomniac]

I would use the stopforumspam API for a pretty reliable way to tell what usernames are spammy.

admin http://www.stopforumspam.com/api?username=admin&f=xmlcdata
viagra http://www.stopforumspam.com/api?username=viagra&f=xmlcdata

If frequency is above 10 you can bet it's a username you don't want around.

 

[Rexibit]

Depending on what your forum is for, you could also consider tying into any high scores list or member list available. For instance, for a gaming forum I run, I check to make sure their username/screen name are actual members of the game. If not, they can't register.

After making the script to do that, the spam accounts on the forum went to almost 0 new registrants per month.

 

[matthew1471]

Cheers guys. It's for a web based application so I'll check out the stopforumspam links as a starting point.