I have been using WPForo - Custom Fields on my site. I create a question on the registration page that is required. It is a question tailored for the users of my site. The correct answer is also 9-10 characters, so I limit the field to only allow that many characters.
I then MANUALLY approve each new user based on their question response. The response is part of the notification email that I get when they register. So I know right away if they are legit or not.
This has worked extremely well to stop spam on my site.
It works great for my site with 2500+ members. Obviously won't work for everyone, but a great place to start.
@martin target any spammers - backlinks (url in forum profile). Best solution if all wpforo exclude any url from member profile. Without backlinks' wpforo not interested for spammers. This is solution must have all wpforo owners. Because backlinks not possible on my forum only but others wpforums available backlinks my forum steel have spam attacks because save in base spammers. But if no one wpforo exclude urls in profile spammers stop use all wpforo.
For example any others popular forums hide from index user profiles. ALL
Sorry for my poor English. I hope you understand me.
Best Regards
Alena
@annushka Spammers SHOULD/MUST be stopped BEFORE getting in. At least most of them.
Tricks like hidding and noindex/nofollow doesn't help much AFTER getting in.
Also Forums MUST have a moderator that is very active. There is no set-it-and-forget-it with Forums.
For example any others popular forums hide from index user profiles. ALL
This can easily be done in WPforo settings