Forum spam management?


Yes, but they're not clickable. I'm not sure what that gets them to be honest. Maybe even non links help google ratings.
Maybe the spambots have developed their own consciousness and we are witnessing the birth of Skynet in a different way than anticipated.
 
Just a thought, but a system I've seen used very effectively elsewhere, is to make it so that every user's first message must be approved by a moderator. Once a user has posted a non-spam message they are allowed to post directly.

-Neelix
 
Just a thought, but a system I've seen used very effectively elsewhere, is to make it so that every user's first message must be approved by a moderator. Once a user has posted a non-spam message they are allowed to post directly.

-Neelix
I just had a thought on this. Bit late I know.

But, in addition, of users' posts are not visible to the general public, just logged-in members, until they were verified (perhaps by a reply), then would that also block any potential benefit from attempting to spam?

Having said that, there does seem a little less spam lately, that I've noticed...
 
In addition to the "no URL in your first post", is there a "no poll as your first post" rule that can be put in place? That'd probably take care of a lot of them, too. And "no URL in your profile" would kill a few more.
 
In addition to the "no URL in your first post", is there a "no poll as your first post" rule that can be put in place? That'd probably take care of a lot of them, too. And "no URL in your profile" would kill a few more.

Yes, that would capture the few that I've seen in the past few months while you mods have been temporarily away I guess. They either had:
- URL in title of post
- URL in body of post
- URL in poll question
- URL in profile homepage
- URL in profile location
- URL in profile status

URL in profile homepage is pretty much what it's designed for though, so that'd be tricky to automate.

Whenever it did prevent anyone from changing their profile or posting a spam thread, it should clearly tell them what test they've failed. That will give spammers an idea how to circumvent those protections, but I'd consider it essential for any newbies accidentally caught up in these protections. Security throught obscurity is always less than ideal, at least in security algorithms (my passwords are only ever protected by being obscure).
 
It could just say username or post it unavailable or not permitted. No need to explain why.

I wish we could keep out everyone with 19 in their name.
 
It could so, but I'm arguing that that's a bad idea; it will likely frustrate genuinely new registrations from time to time, and the more we can minimise that frustration the better, even if it gives spammers a clue of what we're doing and therefore they can think of a way around it.
 
Maybe we should hide first posts and forbid further posts until given approval by moderators.

Like we have time anymore.. We will need a bunch more moderators otherwise we'd be tempted to just flag every jdtay / klapse / SONY post as spam
 
Like we have time anymore.. We will need a bunch more moderators otherwise we'd be tempted to just flag every jdtay / klapse / SONY post as spam
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