New anti-spam measures

[admin]

We have a pretty robust anti-spam policy here but some oiks still get through, and although most of these are deleted very quickly, it's been decided that we should beef things up further, so from today all new members will have to earn the right to include links in their posts and show signatures.

Basically, you need to post a minimum number of messages on the forum before links and signatures can be used.

If you notice that something odd has happened to your forum experience since these measures were enabled, please let us know here and we'll troubleshoot asap.

Ian

[Fast Eddie]

Re: New anti-spam measures

I did wonder why i could in my hello thread and then no more!

[Ian]

Re: New anti-spam measures

I did wonder why i could in my hello thread and then no more!

Wellm you've posted 6 messages now, so it should all be back to normal

Ian

[JSR]

Re: New anti-spam measures

from today all new members will have to earn the right to include links in their posts and show signatures.

Basically, you need to post a minimum number of messages on the forum before links and signatures can be used.

When I was getting inundated with spam on my forum, I implemented the same policy.

I set it to 3 posts before you could post links. The next day, there were four spam posts with links in.

So I set it to 5 posts before you could post links. The next day, there were six spam posts with links in.

I set it to 8 posts. The next day there were 9..!

I realised that it wasn't solving anything, so I had to resort to restricting new members to only those I explicitly approve. That works.

Good luck with your anti-spam measures. I hope you have more success than I did.

[Ian]

Re: New anti-spam measures

When I was getting inundated with spam on my forum, I implemented the same policy.

I set it to 3 posts before you could post links. The next day, there were four spam posts with links in.

So I set it to 5 posts before you could post links. The next day, there were six spam posts with links in.

I set it to 8 posts. The next day there were 9..!

I realised that it wasn't solving anything, so I had to resort to restricting new members to only those I explicitly approve. That works.

Good luck with your anti-spam measures. I hope you have more success than I did.

Your experience explains why I have fairly reluctantly proceeded with these updates, but there are other benefits, so casual spammers will probably be put off, while technically non-spammers only joining the forum meaning to link to their eBay items, or to promote their sites, will be forced to join in on the forum more.

But let's see what happens.

Ian

[Fast Eddie]

Re: New anti-spam measures

is the software clever enough to recognise 'valid' links. ie if someone with low posts links to flickr for a photo that's ok, but if it's ebay then suspect?

Not sure if that'd be asking too much.

[Ian]

Re: New anti-spam measures

is the software clever enough to recognise 'valid' links. ie if someone with low posts links to flickr for a photo that's ok, but if it's ebay then suspect?

Not sure if that'd be asking too much.

That's actually a great idea. We run vBulletin and there is s wealth of add-ons that provide extra functionality. I will root around and see if there is a hack that will do this.

Ian

[Pol]

Re: New anti-spam measures

That's actually a great idea. We run vBulletin and there is s wealth of add-ons that provide extra functionality. I will root around and see if there is a hack that will do this.

Ian

Perhaps it might also be a good idea to set the "for sale and wanted" forum so that it can only be used by regular, known and trusted members.

That place has always been a bit of a magnet for newbies and spammers to use for their own advantages whilst contributing nothing whatsoever to the board.

Pol

[JSR]

Re: New anti-spam measures

That's actually a great idea. We run vBulletin and there is s wealth of add-ons that provide extra functionality. I will root around and see if there is a hack that will do this.

Ian

You'll need to take account of those short-urls that many people use. Blocking links to sites won't help if they're hidden behind other urls like bit.ly or whatever.

[Fast Eddie]

Re: New anti-spam measures

I was thinking you'd start with a short list of OK sites, and block everything else rather than block some.

[Ian]

Re: New anti-spam measures

Perhaps it might also be a good idea to set the "for sale and wanted" forum so that it can only be used by regular, known and trusted members.

That place has always been a bit of a magnet for newbies and spammers to use for their own advantages whilst contributing nothing whatsoever to the board.

Pol

Good point.

Ian

[Ian]

Re: New anti-spam measures

In all honesty although we get targeted by some spammers, we're not bombarded, maybe because we very effectively and promptly deal with it, and we aren't a mega-big or mega-busy forum. Naturally, this could change. I think we've done some good preventative measures and if things do change, we have more things in our arsenal.

Ian