Handling spam on forum

[AzureToad]

I hate to say it, but I still feel that we should employ a system like myspace does with their groups, new members have to be members a full week before being allowed to post ANYTHING.  This ensures they are serious about the forum and keeps out most spammers, also gets them well acquainted with the rules and procedures before they can break them....

Only problem is that it hampers legitimate new users from requesting help for their issue.
    "I need help, and I need it NOW!"


Perhaps an approval from a moderator might work? there'd be some back-and-forth interaction to ensure the poster was valid?

(Also, i'm kind of surprised we're adding this to an ancient thread ?)

[wraith808]

Spammer?  Posing as someone concerned with spam?  Shows the hallmarks of that being the case.

[BGM]

It is kind of strange - a poster with just one post saying that there ought to be more control over posting!  haha!  He registered on August 5, and is posting today, the 14th.  Maybe he saw a bunch of spam.  I receive the rss feed for new posts and there IS a lot of spam.  Maybe MichaelLal's idea isn't so bad?

[KynloStephen66515]

It is kind of strange - a poster with just one post saying that there ought to be more control over posting!  haha!  He registered on August 5, and is posting today, the 14th.  Maybe he saw a bunch of spam.  I receive the rss feed for new posts and there IS a lot of spam.  Maybe MichaelLal's idea isn't so bad?

To be fair, we catch most spam within a few minutes of it being posted and it gets zapped.

The issue really is that a lot of spammers register then keep the account dormant for months before using it to go crazy with.

[Deozaan]

Spammer?  Posing as someone concerned with spam?  Shows the hallmarks of that being the case.

Agreed. Looks like a bot or spammer to me.

Not only is the post reviving an old thread, but it's not even on topic for this thread. Also, it is written as if this person has voiced their opinion on the subject in the past ("I still feel..."), yet it's their first post.

And yeah, also interesting that they propose new members have to wait a week before posting anything when that's exactly what they did, as if to lend legitimacy to their own account.

[BGM]

To be fair, we catch most spam within a few minutes of it being posted and it gets zapped.

This is true - the spam does not appear on the forums, usually.  But it does crowd my rss feed...  I see *all* of them, I think.  Probably 1/3 of my DC rss feed is spam.

[Deozaan]

It's too bad that the RSS feed publishes new posts immediately instead of after, say, an hour delay. It's not often that a spam post survives longer than an hour.

[mouser]

Another reason to move to a system where first posts from users need to be approved before they show up, huh?

[KynloStephen66515]

Another reason to move to a system where first posts from users need to be approved before they show up, huh?

* Stephen66515 coughs

* Stephen66515 stares at mouser

* Stephen66515 coughs again

[mouser]

It's now been put in place; see post in admin area.  Testing has begun..

[rjbull]

I'm seeing more spam on the forum than ever before, mostly in the morning UK-time, i.e. 5 to 8 hours ahead of US-time.  I wondered if spammers were particularly busy then, vomiting as much as possible in the small hours US-time, hoping for the spam to stay on the forum longer when there perhaps aren't as many moderators about.

[KynloStephen66515]

I'm seeing more spam on the forum than ever before, mostly in the morning UK-time, i.e. 5 to 8 hours ahead of US-time.  I wondered if spammers were particularly busy then, vomiting as much as possible in the small hours US-time, hoping for the spam to stay on the forum longer when there perhaps aren't as many moderators about.

You won't see any now (unless it's not from a first-time poster)