Anti-Spamming Suggestion

[clayj]

Just curious about this... I keep seeing where someone signs up here and for their very first post, they post to one of those damn "Free Whatever" sites. I wonder... is it possible to limit the rights of newbies to post links, so that they have to become a member before they can post a link to an external site? Seems to me like this would cut down on these spam-n-dashers.

 

[Brize]

It's an interesting idea, but it would be tricky to stop spammers typing URLs, even if the option to hyperlink was removed.

For example:

apple.com/ipod/

 

[edesignuk]

Don't think there's anything like this in vBulletin.

 

[Lacero]

Good idea. I think a minimum post count of 100 would deter those fly-by night scammers.

 

[killuminati]

Good idea. I think a minimum post count of 100 would deter those fly-by night scammers.

100 would be too much. It would be very frustrating as a newbie to not be able to link to anything. Almost every single thread has a link in it.

Its a good idea, buuuuut its not

 

[Sun Baked]

Good idea. I think a minimum post count of 100 would deter those fly-by night scammers.

And frustrate newbies with legitimate questions.

Yes there is spam, but the moderators are cleaning it up rather quick -- plus adding free_minimacs.com & free_ipods.com and all the other freecrap.com sites that become a problem to the bad word filter frustrates those that really need frustrating.

Of course they came in with two new sites today that weren't on the bad word list. And they hit when all the mods were offline.

 

[mkrishnan]

How 'bout a machine gun turret?

Hmmmm, does vBulletin have a feature that prevents someone from starting a new thread until they've posted X times (maybe X=10?)?

 

[edesignuk]

Hmmmm, does vBulletin have a feature that prevents someone from starting a new thread until they've posted X times (maybe X=10?)?

Yes, but then that would bring about the problem of deterring those from the site that are new, and have legitimate problems.

There's quite a lot of thought being put in to how we can better the situation. Leave it with us

 

[Mechcozmo]

There's quite a lot of thought being put in to how we can better the situation. Leave it with us

edesignuk just wants to keep his new job....

 

[Mudbug]

nah - we've been discussing it at length, because it really doesn't seem to be stopping, slowing, or offer the hope of going away in the forseeable future.

We want to keep the site an open and welcome place, but want to find a way to keep spam-and-run types from succeeding. We'll figure it out, but we're gonna need more beer.

 

[killuminati]

There's quite a lot of thought being put in to how we can better the situation. Leave it with us

edesign tell me, is your avatar blinking at me???
I thought i saw her eyes move, and then i stared at it and I thought I saw it move again, but I'm not sure. Or is this just a figment of my imagination

 

[clayj]

edesign tell me, is your avatar blinking at me???
I thought i saw her eyes move, and then i stared at it and I thought I saw it move again, but I'm not sure. Or is this just a figment of my imagination

You didn't imagine it. Keira is definitely shifty-eyed now.

 

[Doctor Q]

Overall, we've chosen to treat newbies as innocent until proven guilty, because we don't want to make roadblocks for those who have joined to ask for help, join a news discussion, or otherwise become a member of our community. Determined spammers will overcome any routine roadblock we set, so vigilance has proven to be preferable to making things awkward for the members we welcome.

It's not a perfect system, but I think we've chosen the lesser of two evils.

 

[CanadaRAM]

edesign tell me, is your avatar blinking at me???
I thought i saw her eyes move, and then i stared at it and I thought I saw it move again, but I'm not sure. Or is this just a figment of my imagination

Her hair also seems to be getting darker, but that's a pigment of your imagination...

 

[killuminati]

Her hair also seems to be getting darker, but that's a pigment of your imagination...

ha-ha-ha

 

[lordmac]

How about just a really low number of post you have to have before being able to start a a thread, like just one or 2 post, which is slightly annoying should be very hard for a ligament person to do. But this would at least eliminate people who just start a new account and then a spam thread right away.

 

[Rower_CPU]

They'll just spam in pre-existing threads if you prevent them from starting their own - we've seen it before.

I think between filtering the URLs and having more mod coverage we're handling the situation about as best as possible given the limitations of vBulletin.

 

[Blue Velvet]

Spam seems to be swept up and trashed pretty quickly these days.

All it takes is the willingness of MR members to report it as soon as it appears instead of bumping the threads with unnecessary comments – something I now understand.

Extending the mod-squad was a good idea in this respect...

 

[edesignuk]

All it takes is the willingness of MR members to report it as soon as it appears instead of bumping the threads with unnecessary comments – something I now understand.

This is key. The reports have been coming in REALLY quickly recently which is great. So long as this keeps up one of us can deal with it just as quick as you guys can report it to us!

There's no "I" in team *throws up*

 

[WinterMute]

This is key. The reports have been coming in REALLY quickly recently which is great. So long as this keeps up one of us can deal with it just as quick as you guys can report it to us!

There's no "I" in team *throws up*

I second this, although it's seems you're getting to reported posts before the reports are getting to my mailbox...!

Do you check for mail like EVERY second?

There may be no I in team, but there's definitely a me.

(ducks)

 

[edesignuk]

I second this, although it's seems you're getting to reported posts before the reports are getting to my mailbox...!

Do you check for mail like EVERY second?

heh heh, my GMail status checker thingy checks for new mail every minute. I love gmail

 

[killuminati]

heh heh, my GMail status checker thingy checks for new mail every minute. I love gmail

Me too, I dont even use it for email. I use it to hold big files when I need to access them somewhere else. Works really well