Hi Graham,

To delete a user,

1. Go to Dashboard
2. Users and Groups
3. Select the user by clicking on their name
4. Deactivate User

If you know the spammers ip address, you can ban them permanently by going to-

1. Dashboard
2. Sitewide Settings
3. Access (Scroll down and you'll find 'IP Address Blacklist')
4. Enter IP address
5. Save

Here are a couple of add-ons to help with email spam-

1. Email Obfuscator add-on-

What it is

Whenever you post your email address to a web page, it is readable by search bots. This also means that spam bots can read it, and your inbox piles up with spam. This block will allow you to post your email on a website without fear (seehttp://techblog.tilllate.com/2008/07/20/ten-methods-to-obfuscate-e-... for results), keeping your inbox clean!

NEW IN 2.0!

Developer helper for encrypting email. See documentation page.


How it works

If javascript is enabled the email address is encrypted in a form which spam bots can't read. If javascript is not enabled then
what it does is it takes your inputed email address and replaces the @ character with a random 7-digit number, and then the @ character, so for example@gmail.com it would output for example4592139@gmail.com. The 7-digit number is wrapped in a span with the style of display: none; so you visitors will see example@gmail.com, which they can copy and paste into their email client.

Limitations
If javascript is not enabled the link is not clickable
In edit mode the link appears as plain text, don't be worried by this

SOURCE:http://www.concrete5.org/marketplace/addons/email-obfuscator/...



2. Transparent Email Obfuscation

This add-on protects email addresses in content blocks from spam harvesters. It does so by automatically detecting them and converting the html-represetation in a way that is considered safe from spammers but still readable for humans (reversed string with rtl style) . Hovever, upon rendering of the site, a javascript is fired that automatically undos all transformations and restores the original code. So most users won't even notice that anything happened at all. You will only receive less junk mail.

To activate the obfuscation you need to:

Click on the content block you want to protect
Choose "Custom Template"
Choose "Transparent Email Obfuscation"
Press "Update"

SOURCE:http://www.concrete5.org/marketplace/addons/transparent-email-obfus...


3. Automatic Email Obfuscator

Use this add-on if you want to:

Make life harder for bots crawling for email addresses on your site
Be safe from spambots, no more spam
Automatically obfuscate all the email addresses on your site, for all block types(and static addresses e.g. in your theme)
No need to specify custom templates for current blocks
No need to add custom-type blocks
Just install the add-on and all adresses are automatically obfuscated
Provide a human understandable email address also for non-js browsers
Easily change the obfuscation method to your preferred method
This add-on automates the e-mail obfuscation process on your site. The add-on will automatically parse the whole page that would be sent to the client and obfuscates all the e-mail addresses on that page. This applies automatically to each and every page on your site, although the admin area (dashboard) is excluded from the process. You don't need to do anything else than just install the add-on, it will do everything for you.

This add-on works WITH AND WITHOUT JavaScript. However, the mailto-links will not work correctly without JavaScript but the addresses are in human understandable form also without JavaScript.

The following obfuscation methods are currently available:

HTML character references (default)
RTL form of the emails
Vigenère cipher encryption by mnakalay
For more information on using other obfuscation methods visit the Documentation-page. Please be sure to submit yours if you write a new one!

Easily write your own obfuscation method
If you're interested of how this add-on works under the hood, please see the Documentation-page. This add-on also lets you easily write your own obfuscator classes if you're not pleased with the default obfuscation methods provided by the package.

SOURCE:http://www.concrete5.org/marketplace/addons/automatic-email-obfusca...



UPCOMING ADD-ONS-

1. Defensio

This addon allows you to use the defensio service to stop spam on your site. To set up, install the addon, get an api key, go to settings->spam control and choose defensio as your spam tool. Enter the api key you got save, and enjoy!

SOURCE:http://www.concrete5.org/marketplace/addons/defensio/...


2. Honeypot

This addon allows you to prevent spam using the honeypot method. Easy set up, no api key or internet connection required to work.

SOURCE:http://www.concrete5.org/marketplace/addons/honeypot/...

Thanks so much wagdi!

It seems that I don't have the capabilities to delete a user. Any way for me to add that?

best thoughts,
Graham

Hi Graham,

The 'Delete' user button is (in dashboard) under the user avatar on the user's profile page. How far have you gotten? Did you manage to find all the users in the dashboard? Did you click on a user to go through to the user profile page in the dashboard?

You should sign in as 'admin'. If you don't have the permissions to to that then you want to ask the admin to do it for you.

Its not something you add as such.. it's just there as standard. Maybe whoever built the site has used advanced permissions and hasn't enabled permissions for you for that part of the dashboard.

If you send me your login details in a PM then I can try and have a look for you. But to be honest, If you couldn't find it (because it's not there) then I doubt I will either.

Are you hosting with Concrete5? Your other option is to open a support ticket with them and maybe they'll be able to help.

You can do that here-http://www.concrete5.org/services/support/...

Hey Wagdi-

Hope this note finds you in the best of spirits.

Thanks so much for the detailed response. As it turns out, I didn't have admin privileges. So our former webmaster transferred them to me. Unfortunately, I still can't find the Delete User button in the place where you mentioned it. Any help would be totally appreciated?

By the way- we're located in NYC. What about you? We're looking for some folks to hire to do web work with us. If you're interested we should set up a phone call or a meet up.

best thoughts,
Graham

Hi Graham,

I've created a 30 second video to show you the process. (Will send you the link in a PM)

I would be more than happy to help you in the future. We're based in London (UK), but have clients in other countries/cities; would be great to add New York to the list.

I will send you a PM with my contact details should you be interested in getting in touch.

If you find yourself still lost after watching the video, you could (if you are comfortable to do so) send me a PM with the login details (with admin privileges) and I will have a look.

Do you know whether your previous webmaster had used 'advanced permissions'?