Hey, Guys!

I’ve looked around for this and I was unable to find an easy answer, so I was wondering if you could help.

Is there an easy way to change the URL of my member registration page (ie.: from http://www.mysite.com/index.php/member/register  to http://www.mysite.com/index.php/member/whatever-name-I-want-here)?

I’m noticing that a lot of spam bots out there are going directly to my member registration page.  They aren’t setting foot on any other page, so they must be programmed to look for the “member/register” location.  I’m assuming if I change the location of the registration page, then the chances of the bots actually getting to my page would be lower.

-John

You can change the “member” trigger word, of course, but the name of the “register” template is hard-coded; meaning it would require some hacking.

Ok, thanks for that -that might be one way to help. 

I’m afraid they would eventually just “evolve” to go to the main page of the site, read the source code and still find the “register” link, though, and know to follow that, but I don’t know for sure.

Maybe the way to do this would be to not only change the member trigger word, but also add a “tiny url” link to the registration page (so it doesn’t say “Hey, register over here, Mr. Bot!”), and remove the registration text and use a picture.

This isn’t a huge issue, but it’s at least two or three or so bots a day that access the registration page, and about one every day or two actually succeeds in creating a spam account.  They go through the captcha like it’s melted butter.

Yep, bots will try to hit certain URLs of many popular systems, so changing your trigger word is the best bet. You might try this extension, but if they’re getting through a captcha they’re probably human spammers; not much can be done there.