Username/Email Spam List?

Question

I am after a username and email spam list. When a user tries to register I want to check if the username or email they entered is on the username/email spam list and if so mark the account as suspected spam and manually verify membership.

The backend behind it is not my problem, I am just wondering if anyone knows of such spam list(s) that I can import into a MySQL database so I can implement it into my signup script?

I know there is Askimet but believe this is more towards a comments form for example, plus I don't particularly want to send data to a third party to verify if something is potentially spam.

Answer 1

Your problem is not spam accounts. Spam email accounts which are used to send out spam are unlikely to be used to sign up for a service.

What you want to use is a Captcha service (such as reCAPTCHA - http://www.google.com/recaptcha/captcha) which will help reduce the chance a bot is attempting to sign up for your site. This is not fool proof, there are many alternative methods (such as hidden ID fields and custom headers) - but it is a start.

Then you want to use an email verification sign up system - which requires the user to actually check their email and click on a verification link, to confirm the email address is real. Otherwise you'll just have people sign up with "Fake@fake.com" and your system wont actually know they are fake...

Answer 2

Take a look at DNSBL. It's a service that does what you want. (not sure if you can download their database or you have to query them every time you want to know if it's an adress known for spamming).