How I’m stopping spam bot signups, and how you can help

Here’s the deal.

I’ve been quietly working on a new WordPress plugin that’s getting close to launch. Originally I had no intention of going down this path, but the plugin (which solves an important problem) I’ve been using for a while suddenly started misbehaving for reasons unknown (I discovered the issue by accident). My request for support, as of writing this post, is still unanswered several weeks later.

One could argue that I’ve no right to expect support for a plugin that is free. But looking at the support threads it appears they used to respond, just not in the last three months. That’s long enough to think the plugin might have been abandoned (it’s more common than you might think), which I’ll add is pure speculation and there might be something else going on.

Either way, I was consequently nudged down this path.

Not hopeful for a response any time soon, I decided to build my own plugin with the goal of solving the same problem: preventing spam bot signups and blocking fake or disposable email addresses during registration.

The result is something I’ve called New User Verify.

How does it work? Because no single method can catch everything, spam signups are tackled with a three-pronged approach.

1. CAPTCHA protection: Adds a challenge to your registration form using Google reCAPTCHA (v2 or v3), hCaptcha, or Cloudflare Turnstile.
2. Email verification: Users must click an emailed activation link (only once ever) before they can log in.
3. Pre-registration blocking: Stop fake signups before they happen using a choice of third-party email verification APIs (at the moment Abstract and Kickbox are supported), or use your own custom exclusion list.

Also baked in:

• Automatically clean up unverified accounts daily, you choose the threshold.
• Manually verify or unverify users right from the Users admin screen.
• One-click option to remove all unverified accounts instantly.
• Customise how email notifications are presented to users.
• Get a daily cleanup report sent straight to your inbox.
• Built-in support for WooCommerce.

I need your help

Right now, I’m looking for beta testers (5 only) to help me spot bugs, suggest improvements, and generally make this thing better before releasing it into the wild. In return you’ll get:

• Any product from the store for free and Ill throw in a five year license for it.
• The warm fuzzy feeling of shaping the future of a well-meaning plugin.

If that sounds cool, hit the contact page and let me know you’re interested.