diff --git a/signup/signup-handler.php b/signup/signup-handler.php
index 2c23190..7323bdd 100644
--- a/signup/signup-handler.php
+++ b/signup/signup-handler.php
@@ -1,20 +1,59 @@
 <?php
+$filepath = __FILE__;
+require __DIR__.'/../vendor/autoload.php';
 require_once "email/smtp.php";
 
-function forbidden_name($name) {
-    return in_array($name, [
+function getUserIpAddr() {
+    if(!empty($_SERVER['HTTP_CLIENT_IP'])) {
+        //ip from share internet
+        $ip = $_SERVER['HTTP_CLIENT_IP'];
+    } elseif(!empty($_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR'])) {
+        //ip pass from proxy
+        $ip = $_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR'];
+    } else {
+        $ip = $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'];
+    }
+    return $ip;
+}
+
+function add_ban_info($name, $email): void
+{
+    $user_ip = getUserIpAddr();
+    $user_info = "$name - $email - $user_ip";
+    file_put_contents("/var/signups_banned", $user_info.PHP_EOL, FILE_APPEND);
+}
+
+function is_ssh_pubkey($string): bool
+{
+    // list from sshd(8)
+    $valid_pubkeys = [
+        'sk-ecdsa-sha2-nistp256@openssh.com',
+        'ecdsa-sha2-nistp256',
+        'ecdsa-sha2-nistp384',
+        'ecdsa-sha2-nistp521',
+        'sk-ssh-ed25519@openssh.com',
+        'ssh-ed25519',
+        'ssh-dss',
+        'ssh-rsa',
+    ];
+
+    foreach ($valid_pubkeys as $pub)
+        if (str_starts_with($string, $pub)) return true;
+
+    return false;
+}
+
+function forbidden_name($name): bool
+{
+    $badnames = [
         '0x0',
         'abuse',
-        'adam',
         'admin',
         'administrator',
-        'amcclure',
-        'anton',
         'auth',
         'autoconfig',
         'bbj',
         'broadcasthost',
-        'chickfilla',
         'cloud',
         'forum',
         'ftp',
@@ -30,7 +69,6 @@ function forbidden_name($name) {
         'localdomain',
         'localhost',
         'lounge',
-        'lukewarmcat',
         'mail',
         'mailer-daemon',
         'marketing',
@@ -60,32 +98,58 @@ function forbidden_name($name) {
         'wpad',
         'www',
         'znc',
-    ]);
+    ];
+
+    return in_array(
+        $name,
+        array_merge(
+            $badnames,
+            file("/var/signups_current", FILE_IGNORE_NEW_LINES | FILE_SKIP_EMPTY_LINES),
+            file("/var/banned_names.txt", FILE_IGNORE_NEW_LINES | FILE_SKIP_EMPTY_LINES)
+        )
+    );
 }
 
+function forbidden_email($email): bool
+{
+    $femail = file("/var/banned_emails.txt", FILE_IGNORE_NEW_LINES | FILE_SKIP_EMPTY_LINES);
+    return in_array($email, $femail);
+}
+
+function forbidden_sshkey($sshkey): bool
+{
+    $fsshkey = file("/var/banned_sshkeys.txt", FILE_IGNORE_NEW_LINES | FILE_SKIP_EMPTY_LINES);
+    $fsk = [];
+    foreach ($fsshkey as $line) {
+        $fsk_line = explode(' ',trim($line));
+        $fsk[] = $fsk_line[1];
+    }
+
+    $sk = explode(' ',trim($sshkey));
+
+    return in_array($sk[1], $fsk);
+}
+
+
 $message = "";
 if (isset($_REQUEST["username"]) && isset($_REQUEST["email"])) {
     // Check the name.
     $name = trim($_REQUEST["username"]);
     if ($name == "")
-        $message .= "<li>please fill in your desired username</li>";
+        $message .= "<li>fill in your desired username</li>\n";
+    else {
+        if (strlen($name) < 2)
+            $message .= "<li>username is too short (2 character min)</li>\n";
 
-    if (strlen($name) > 32)
-        $message .= "<li>username too long (32 character max)</li>";
+        if (strlen($name) > 32)
+            $message .= "<li>username too long (32 character max)</li>\n";
 
-    if (!preg_match('/^[a-z][a-z0-9]{1,31}$/', $name))
-        $message .= "<li>username contains invalid characters (lowercase ascii only, must start with a letter)</li>";
+        if (strlen($name) > 1 && !preg_match('/^[a-z][a-z0-9]{1,31}$/', $name))
+            $message .= "<li>username contains invalid characters (lowercase only, must start with a letter).</li>\n";
 
-    if ($_REQUEST["sshkey"] == "" || mb_substr($_REQUEST["sshkey"], 0, 4) !== "ssh-")
-        $message .= '<li>ssh key required: please create one and submit the public key. '
-            . 'see our <a href="https://tilde.club/wiki/ssh.html">ssh wiki</a> or '
-            . 'hop on <a href="https://web.tilde.chat/?join=club">irc</a> and ask for help</li>';
-
-    if ($_REQUEST["interest"] == "")
-        $message .= "<li>please explain why you're interested so we can make sure you're a real human being</li>";
-
-    if (posix_getpwnam($name) || forbidden_name($name))
-        $message .= "<li>sorry, the username $name is unavailable</li>";
+        if (posix_getpwnam($name) || forbidden_name($name))
+            $message .= "<li>sorry, the username $name is unavailable</li>\n";
+    }
 
     // Check the e-mail address.
     $email = trim($_REQUEST["email"]);
@@ -97,13 +161,35 @@ if (isset($_REQUEST["username"]) && isset($_REQUEST["email"])) {
             $message .= "<li>invalid email address: " . htmlspecialchars($result["error"]) . "</li>";
         elseif ($result["email"] != $email)
             $message .= "<li>invalid email address. did you mean:  " . htmlspecialchars($result["email"]) . "</li>";
+
+        elseif ($name != "" && forbidden_email($email)) {
+            $message .= "<li>your email is banned!</li><br />";
+            add_ban_info($name, $email);
+        }
+    }
+
+    if ($_REQUEST["interest"] == "")
+        $message .= "<li>please explain why you're interested so we can make sure you're a real human being</li>";
+
+    $sshkey = trim($_REQUEST["sshkey"]);
+    if ($sshkey == "" || !is_ssh_pubkey($sshkey))
+        $message .= '<li>ssh key required: please create one and submit the public key. '
+        . 'see our <a href="https://tilde.club/wiki/ssh">ssh wiki</a> or '
+        . 'hop on <a href="https://web.newnet.net/?join=club">irc</a> and ask for help</li>';
+    else {
+        if ($name != "" && $email != "") {
+            if (forbidden_sshkey($sshkey)) {
+                $message .= "<li>your sshkey is banned!</li>\n";
+                add_ban_info($name, $email);
+            }
+        }
     }
 
 
     // no validation errors
-    if ($message == "") { 
-	$sshkey = trim($_REQUEST["sshkey"]);
-        $makeuser = "makeuser {$_REQUEST["username"]} {$_REQUEST["email"]} \"{$sshkey}\"";
+    if ($message == "") {
+        $makeuser = "makeuser {$_REQUEST["username"]} {$_REQUEST["email"]} \"$sshkey\"";
+
         $msgbody = "
 username: {$_REQUEST["username"]}
 email: {$_REQUEST["email"]}
@@ -112,25 +198,28 @@ reason: {$_REQUEST["interest"]}
 $makeuser
 ";
 
-        if (mail('root', 'new tilde.club signup', $msgbody)) {
+        if (mail('sudoers', 'new tilde.club signup', $msgbody)) {
             echo '<div class="alert alert-success" role="alert">
-                    email sent! we\'ll get back to you soon (usually within a day) with login instructions! be sure to check your spam folder as we\'ve had several reports of being marked as spam! <a href="/">back to tilde.club home</a>
-                  </div>';
+                email sent! we\'ll get back to you soon (usually within a day) with login instructions! <a href="/">back to tilde.club home</a>
+                </div>';
+            // temp. add to forbidden to prevent double signups (cleanup after user creation)
+            file_put_contents("/var/signups_current", $name.PHP_EOL, FILE_APPEND);
             file_put_contents("/var/signups", $makeuser.PHP_EOL, FILE_APPEND);
+            // clear form fields
+            $_REQUEST["email"] = $_REQUEST["username"] = $_REQUEST["sshkey"] = $_REQUEST["interest"] = "";
         } else {
             echo '<div class="alert alert-danger" role="alert">
-                    something went wrong... please send an email to <a href="mailto:root@tilde.club">root@tilde.club</a> with details of what happened
-                  </div>';
+                something went wrong... please send an email to <a href="mailto:root@tilde.club">root@tilde.club</a> with details of what happened
+                </div>';
         }
 
     } else {
-        ?>
+?>
         <div class="alert alert-warning" role="alert">
-            <strong>please correct the following errors: </strong>
+            <strong>notice: </strong>
             <?=$message?>
         </div>
-        <?php
+<?php
     }
 }
 ?>
-