I use Site Access plugin to set a site's password. People who want to register in my network need to know this password, otherwise it is not possible to register.

I have no new spammers after setting this up.

And, Gdog05, Site Access may work for what you want: I think you can config it to not allow email registration (and then only activates a user when you do it manually, through Site Access, I suppose)

This is a Google search query some probably Chinese outfit is using:

search?q=inurl:%22pg/blog/owner%22

Imagine sitting all day behind your pc grinding sites. Registering. Filling in captcha. Going to your mailbox. Clicking the link. Amazing.

Four links down from the Google result that led to Gol Gol I find the same type of adverts. The other in between seem to have blanked the blogs. So it is just running down the list.

Thanks Yuric, I found the link even: http://community.elgg.org/pg/plugins/project/384964/developer/uddhavadasa/site-access-26-full-working-release-for-17   I think it should work fine, seems to be going OK so far at least. I'll give it a week, and then start cleaning up my blocked IP list.