I've got swap hotkeyed too, thankfully there's that.
32, I'd love to know what kind of tricks you've implemented.
Also is it just me or are spambots getting smarter? I saw a post the other day that scraped content from the first page, and at a glance the sentence actually had context. The only giveaway was the same 1 post, no av, website link to something completely unrelated. If we're at the point where a human has to make a judgement call, spam's getting pretty good. And maybe I've only just started to pay attention, but we get spam pretty regularly here apparently.
I don't know SMF's features and I'm not familiar with its panel; I use IPB. But I think two very simple measures can be taken to make things easier/cleaner in the future. One, only allow members to post a backlink after ~25 posts. This is the simplest deterrent as it removes all incentive. (Again, don't know if SMF has this ability but it's almost certainly doable with all the forum scripts). Two, replace the current registration hoops with
reCaptcha. The problem with multiple forms is they're annoying for people but easily defeatable by spammers. The questions are the same every time. Unfortunately the answers to the forms can be solved and shared across spam networks. They're fine for outdated scripts, but we can see smarter bots slipping in through the cracks now.
Simple fix. Peace of mind. I would do it myself if I could.
What I love Google for is how they've destroyed any credibility coming from non-relevant backlinks. As the other engines follow suite it removes all incentive entirely... it's a beautiful thing. And I wonder what the next counter-tactic will be. But for maybe the next 5 years this will still be a thing, as people with outdated knowledge target outdated search algorithms.