It took a while, but I was able to remove all "bot" accounts (they were easy to spot). 

I kept ALL members who either had familiar names or made legitimate postings.

I did NOT "ban" them--all I did was to delete the accounts.  I was afraid that banning might be too permanent if I made a mistake.

In cases where some of our members interacted with the bots ("What the heck are you talking about?"), I did NOT delete the posts, because I didn't want to mess up any threads.

In the process of doing this, I discovered that bots usually have legitimate names that end in several random characters, such as "Josephgkm" or "Maryeqzx."  If they post at all, it's nonsensical, such as, "Oh yeah?  The book has been cut in half.  Trees don't run away.  Go to cornball.com."

We get about three or four members a day who have bot-type names and who don't post anything.  I think they are scouting for new boards to infiltrate.  So, if they don't post anything in about 10 days, I might delete them (but not ban them, for fear of making a mistake).

Every two or three days, I'll check the membership list for more bots.  Maybe eventually they'll leave us alone.
 

Last edited by Muna (8/26/2022 2:32 pm)