One of the reasons why I wanted to upgrade to latest Xoops version was to use the new Stop Forum Spam feature in Protector.

But it not working for me. I checked the IP's on http://www.stopforumspam.com and they are listed there.

I have the required CURL lib installed on my server.

I have set it to sanitizing in Protectors preferences. Is there anything else I need to do?

Think you needed to install Xortify to make this work maybe?

Enable reCaptcha and upgrade to Wishcraft X-Forum, then everyone registered or guest will be forced to fill recaptcha field too :)
Also check this thread - https://xoops.org/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=74990&forum=20

I usually avoid to use any 3rd party addons/services for protecting any of my sites using OpenSource CMS. HTACCESS is the best way to deal with spammers, check your CPanel logs (on HSP, not in XOOPS) for spammers IPs, then use Ip2 Country to detect them, and deny to whole country :)

The only one spammed so far remains phpFox but bcz the script is nulled and I use it only to complete translation, otherwise I don't need/keep any backdoors on my server opened....

Stop Forum Spam seems to work now!

I have set it to 'ban ip" instead of sanitizing. I think that solved it.

No need to install anything extra else like Xortify.