confirmation code for account creation seems good enough to me. I don't need to enter a code on other sites for log in. Its a hastle

Just use cookies

Or enter the code every-time. I dont like people messing with my cookies.
And yes I clear them after I logout.

The clever code method we thought up seems to be working well to keep out
spam-bots so far. If it is only on account creation, that would mean the
door-knobs would have full access to flood us once he manually created an
account.

With most simple cleanup tools, you can specify good and bad cookies and
only flush the propper ones. CCleaner works well for me, but there are many
other respectable maintenence tools. You don't need to disable cookies, just
manage them better.

I don't mind re-entering the conf code once every month or so, if it keeps
these spammers out.