A suggestion about spam.

[AthalaRanger]

I wasn't sure about posting this, but it can't hurt if I post it and there is a slight chance that it may do some good.

It is evident that this forum got a problem with spam. These obnoxious people (or bots, maybe?) are like ninjas, always waiting for the right moment (generally when the moderators/admins are off-line), to start posting their BS.

I once joined a forum on which, once you registered, you had to wait for a admin/mod validation before you could actually post something.
I don't know if this could be implemented. If it can't, then the rest of my post is pointless, if it could be implemented, great, there are some considerations that need to be made, of course;

a)Could this help fight Spam -if so-, to what degree?
b)Would this have a negative effect on the forum?, for example, new users are discouraged to join because they can't post immediately.
c)-if it is implemented- how would moderators recognize spammers from legit members? Spammers tend to use...eerrm..."creative" names but;
c.1)what if its a good intentioned member who just didn't pick the most appropriate name?
c.2)what if the spammers start using more credible names?

I may have missed important points here. It is obviously not perfect and I highly doubt it will be implemented, but i wanted to share it.

Edit: why is the poll showing in the front page? I can't even edit it anymore?

 

[Omega]

I don't know how you made your posting into a poll when you didn't want to - but I have sorted that out for you.

We do indeed get problems with spam. If people see it - they can help by reporting the spam that they see. It is only necessary to report one item of spam by each obvious spamming machine username - the kind that post rubbish... I think that most of us would click the button to delete off all the postings for one of those...

I will copy your posting into our special mod area so that the owner of the board gets to see it.

 

[AthalaRanger]

Hello Omega, thanks for fixing it for me...

I was actually trying to make a poll, for this thread, but I wasn't notified that it would show up on the front page, so I was going to delete it but I couldn't...

Well, thanks again. Have a nice week!

 

[Omega]

This is the reply that the owner of the boards gave to the query.

it's a catch-22. By going through moderation before being able to post, it will stop a lot of spammers, but it will also stop a lot of regular users from posting. While they are waiting to be admitted onto our forum, they will just go somewhere else. We have created some pretty good policies and have great moderators, and I think that's really the best thing that we can do, but I am open to suggestions.

We do get spammers visit us all the time - but on the whole I think that we manage to keep the place looking reasonably spam free by regular cleaning up and banning the people who are just coming here to spam.

Its quite a few years since I first joined the forum now - but I do remember that it was quite a big step for me to suddenly start writing about being a big person and wanting to be a different size... At that time I would have been mortified if anyone had realised that it was me who posted here - and that is why I chose an anonymous name... I think that if I was joining now I would have opted for "Margaret" because it is my name - but then I really liked going for "Omega"... I actually sometimes think that it is quite interesting why we go for the names that we go for...

I would hate for a delay to scare people away from joining us... For one thing - we are a fun place to be and it is nice for as many fun nice people as possible to join us... For another thing - I think that in our own quiet way we help a lot of people... We might not all be experts - but we do pick up quite a lot of good advice on our journeys and if we help each other - we often manage to help each other solve problems - and we can certainly give each other good support.

I really do doubt whether I would have ever got to my goal weight back in 2009 if I hadn't been coming to the forum. I really made some brilliant friendships here and am still in daily contact elsewhere with some of the close friends that helped me do that...

 

[AthalaRanger]

Well, I always knew this was a long shot. Didn't had any better idea at the moment (Neither I have now), but I decided to go ahead and post it because of the slight chance it may do some good.

Thinking about it, I may have disregarded a bit the effects it may have on the legit newcomers joining the forum.

Having said that, I know the idea was not perfect, and I understand if it isn't the most favorable or viable way to fight the Spam.

 

[Jason76]

One way to get rid of spambots is to get new users to answer a backward question like, "What is koob spelled backward?" (The answer is book.). It works probably 90 percent of the time in what I'm doing.

 

[Trusylver]

One way to get rid of spambots is to get new users to answer a backward question like, "What is koob spelled backward?" (The answer is book.). It works probably 90 percent of the time in what I'm doing.

Most of the bots get picked up in the spam filters but we do get a lot who are real people also.