[mpol]

(I already replied on a different thread but this might make more sense)

A service like Stop Forum Spam might be a solution to this. It checks for IP address and email address and gives it a value based on how likely it is assumed to be a spammer.

When they have to set up a new email account and maybe even a new IP address for every few accounts, it gets to be a lot of work soon.

https://www.stopforumspam.com/

It has a very simple API and is not that hard to implement (really, I have done it myself :) )

[GLJHunt]

Appreciate the response - I'll look into now

[mpol]

Okay, thank you. I see Gitlab is mostly Ruby. Just to get a general idea of the code this is a simple PHP function to use it:

https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/gwolle-gb/trunk/f...

That function can be called when the register form has been submitted. It will return true or false. Forget about the transient stuff, that is just WordPres caching stuff.

You don't need an API key like with Akismet. You would only need it if you want to add or remove entries from the SFS database. It really is much simpler. Ofcourse you might want to have a checkbox in the settings. But still, in an afternoon you might be able to finish this :)

Wish you the best.

[lbierner]

Great suggestion, this looks like a very straightforward service and implementation. All open source as well.