Well, looks like we're getting another bout of spammers though. I've been deleting accounts/posts, so if you don't visit regularly, you probably don't see them. I'm trying to figure out a solution for this. The problem is that I don't think we're dealing with bots, but rather cheap labor. As such, the things that can easily defeat a computer program (like image tests) don't work. The only "weakness" I can think to exploit is that the majority of these spam hirelings don't speak fluent english. As such, I can imagine doing a sort of super-complicated instruction set for sign-up, requiring people to think about a bunch of double negatives, and pick things based on uncommon words.
EX: A picture array with checkboxes. Some showing kittens, some showing puppies, and other little fuzzy things. Instructions would read. "Please don't avoid clicking on the pictures that aren't of felis familiaris." Which should be enough to short-circuit most non-native speakers. Of course, that can probably screw it up for a few legit people as well. Thoughts?