Set 1: Possibly bots that Discourse has generated automatically. (They all start out with admin privileges and don’t have IP addresses).
Set 2: More insidious. Random IPs, accounts seem to be created automatically
What is this person trying to do?
AI-generated summary
Johnny_McIvor inquires about suspicious user accounts appearing in the admin interface. They identify two distinct sets: one set consists of accounts with admin privileges but no IP addresses, which they suspect might be auto-generated by Discourse, and a second set features random IPs and seemingly automatic creation, raising concerns about malicious activity. The poster includes screenshots and asks for clarification on the intent behind these accounts.
zogstrip responds to the first set, confirming via an upvote emoji and a link to a Discourse Meta post that these are indeed bots managed through the admin interface.
putty addresses the second set of accounts, noting that this issue was similarly reported in another thread. Putty shares a screenshot of a similar wave of unactivated users they experienced. Following advice from “Kris,” putty provides steps to mitigate the issue: admins can navigate to admin/users/list/new, use the “not activated” filter, and enter bulk select mode via the icon over the avatar column to delete or block these accounts. This recommendation is supported by a quote from awesomerobot, emphasizing the utility of filtering by IP and bulk deletion for managing spam or bot accounts that have never been seen or activated.
This was similarly reported here.
Per Kris’s recommendation you can filter by IP and delete/block: