Spammers, blech

Yes, there are options to control this. They don't seem to be working properly. The moderation seems to kick in longer than it should

Yes, we could setup a group (with additional overhead), so that "approved" users can post freely. We cannot limit it to "registered" users, because the spammers are successfully registering and then trying to spread their messages.

I don't know if MyBB 1.8 will address this issue better ... I am testing the upgrade this week.

I am currently using the "Required Approval" plugin. Is there a different plugin that will do a better job?