Best way to detect a bot?

[TheLegacy]

problem i see is that most bots are first manually entered - so it is hard to detect right from the start. Unless we can develop a way to realize 3rd party connections - or when a bot is detected the board can block or in chris's case, make it extremely annoying to get into the board

bots today are extremely clever and hard to detect until after a few posts when a moderator/board admin realizes or confronts in a private msg as to what or who is behind the poster.

the best we can do now is think, that if it looks like spam then move it to another folder and send a msg - if they persist after a time without answering any direct msg's then it is a bot. Besides, after a while you learn who the real characters are in this industry and usually can filter out the obvious. If your truly in doubt and you blocked someone after a time of spaming, if they contact you directly inquiring as to why - you can assess whether they are actually sending bots are just really annoying posters.