Consider restricting a new member’s ability to post a thread

[arn]

I think we’ve adjusted well to this new form of spam.

- heads up via this thread is appreciated. Mods can deal with deleting spam but I can do more to block it
- capping new threads from new users seems reasonable
- let me know if u see a burst of new spam

 

[Apple_Robert]

I think we’ve adjusted well to this new form of spam.

- heads up via this thread is appreciated. Mods can deal with deleting spam but I can do more to block it
- capping new threads from new users seems reasonable
- let me know if u see a burst of new spam

Thank you very much for taking the request seriously and for allowing different opinions to be heard, not to mention doing what you can to stifle the spam even more.

 

[jerwin]

If that is the case, that is a shame because the spammers are able to get away with a lot of needless spamming across the forums.

They are fulfilling their needs for revenue generation. You could try to fulfill your needs not to see such things by zealously reporting the Threads in question.

 

[Apple_Robert]

They are fulfilling their needs for revenue generation. You could try to fulfill your needs not to see such things by zealously reporting the Threads in question.

I was the one that reported all the spam on the day in question. I always report.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

I was the one that reported all the spam of the day in question. I always report.

As do I, and it is good to know that the reports are welcomed.

 

[millerj123]

I was the one that reported all the spam on the day in question. I always report.

Yeah, if it's the weird advertising spam, I'll check the user to see if they have multiple threads, which they usually do, so I'll report the number they've started rather than each thread.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

I usually check to see when they joined the site (most often that very day), and how many posts they have made, and then I submit a report.

 

[C DM]

Looks like a some forum sections are getting hit today, with a number of different new users spamming a few sections with more and more new threads. A few are up to about 15 new threads in a period of only about an hour -- hard to imagine a valid use case to make anywhere close to that many new threads in that short of a timespan, let alone when it's right after joining as a brand new user.

 

[TiggrToo]

Looks like a some forum sections are getting hit today, with a number of different new users spamming a few sections with more and more new threads. A few are up to about 15 new threads in a period of only about an hour -- hard to imagine a valid use case to make anywhere close to that many new threads in that short of a timespan, let alone when it's right after joining as a brand new user.

Trouble is, it becomes an arms race. Limit the posts a newbie can make, and the scammers create more accounts that then make reporting harder.

Creating accounts is easy as well, so that’s hardly a high barrier.

 

[ericgtr12]

Trouble is, it becomes an arms race. Limit the posts a newbie can make, and the scammers create more accounts that then make reporting harder.

Creating accounts is easy as well, so that’s hardly a high barrier.

I would ask under what circumstances would there ever be a need for a new person to register and start 15 new threads in a day? This board is huge, people will find these loopholes and exploit them.

 

[TiggrToo]

I would ask under what circumstances would there ever be a need for a new person to register and start 15 new threads in a day? This board is huge, people will find these loopholes and exploit them.

None that I can imagine, but as I said it's an arms race to the bottom.

 

[Apple_Robert]

The tech support spammers are continuing to plague the forum. What you have tried thus far isn’t working. Please consider restricting new members from posting one the forum, until said post have been vetted by a mod. It would prevent the forum from being covered in the same spam messages over and over. Thus far today, I have reported at least 13 different spammers posting the same spam.

 

[maflynn]

The tech support spammers are continuing to plague the forum

Agreed, its been bad these past couple of days.

Please consider restricting new members from posting one the forum, until said post have been vetted by a mod.

That's not really feasible, what exactly would we do to vet a new member? They have no posts that we could rely on, no track record no data in essence. Plus the fact that there's usually only two maybe three moderators on the board at anyone time, the amount of volume of new members would be overwhelming.

While I agree what we have in place is currently not working approving members before they could post isn't feasible imo.

 

[Apple_Robert]

Agreed, its been bad these past couple of days.


That's not really feasible, what exactly would we do to vet a new member? They have no posts that we could rely on, no track record no data in essence. Plus the fact that there's usually only two maybe three moderators on the board at anyone time, the amount of volume of new members would be overwhelming.

While I agree what we have in place is currently not working approving members before they could post isn't feasible imo.

What I am talking about is simple. A new member creates a post and it immediately gets sent to the mods for review, thus saving the forum from being plagued with spam. Once the new member has x amount of successful posts, said member’s post no longer enter mod review. This simple solution also cuts down on mods having to review spam alert reports.

The fix is easy to implement.

 

[arn]

What I am talking about is simple. A new member creates a post and it immediately gets sent to the mods for review, thus saving the forum from being plagued with spam. Once the new member has x amount of successful posts, said member’s post no longer enter mod review. This simple solution also cuts down on mods having to review spam alert reports.

The fix is easy to implement.

It’s a frustrating experience for legit new users. We do do this for anyone posting links already.

agree some spam has slipped through the last couple of days but you don’t see how much spam does get filtered out already.

arn

 

[Madhatter32]

They could just limit the number of posts by a new member to one per hour and the problem would be reduced significantly and moderators would have time to review the account for rules compliance.

 

[arn]

They could just limit the number of posts by a new member to one per hour and the problem would be reduced significantly and moderators would have time to review the account for rules compliance.

This is already in place. New users are limited to 2 per hour.

 

[arn]

For reference in the past hour or so, about 40 posts and accounts have been filtered and deleted without being posted publicly.

 

[adrianlondon]

This thread looks weird. There are people* posting with one ID, then being quoted as another.

I assume they changed their name. Surprised that's allowed, but if it is then the db update should change all the quoted posts too.

* Just one person, but it sounds more dramatic the way I said it 🙂

 

[arn]

This thread looks weird. There are people* posting with one ID, then being quoted as another.

I assume they changed their name. Surprised that's allowed, but if it is then the db update should change all the quoted posts too.

* Just one person, but it sounds more dramatic the way I said it 🙂

Yeah you’re right. @Apple_Robert changed their username in the middle of this thread but the quotes don’t get updated. I’ll look into it.

 

[Apple_Robert]

Past quotes won’t get automatically updated to the new name. You would have to manually edit each applicable post.

I did put my former name in my signature (@adrianlondon) to clear up any confusion if people bother to read such.

 

[maflynn]

It’s a frustrating experience for legit new users

That's also why I'm not for that move, I've been to forums that my posts were waiting for approval - taking a day if not longer to which they finally got approved. I largely didn't stay there as it wasn't a very user friendly.

I get that its frustrating, and believe me, it was frustrating for me, as I was trying to keep it from getting terribly out of hand.

edit: clarification

 

[adrianlondon]

Past quotes won’t get automatically updated to the new name. You would have to manually edit each applicable post.

I did put my former name in my signature (@adrianlondon) to clear up any confusion if people bother to read such.

Ah, I have signatures disabled so don't see them. However, it was clear from the quoted ID what your old and new IDs are. It's not that important, but there was grief on another forum I'm a member of when some people changed their IDs (as they'd registered with their real full names like a newbie) but all the quotes carried their old one. Some SQL was run to sort it out 🙂

Back on topic: I occasionally see spam here, but it's such obvious spam and stays for such a short amount of time, I assume no-one actually falls for it. Hence there's no need to change anything. IMO of course.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

What I am talking about is simple. A new member creates a post and it immediately gets sent to the mods for review, thus saving the forum from being plagued with spam. Once the new member has x amount of successful posts, said member’s post no longer enter mod review. This simple solution also cuts down on mods having to review spam alert reports.

The fix is easy to implement.

They could just limit the number of posts by a new member to one per hour and the problem would be reduced significantly and moderators would have time to review the account for rules compliance.

Twice a year, - if memory serves - post statistics are published on the forum.

One of the stats that has remained in my mind is that the vast majority of those who join the forum make only one post, and a further astonishing percentage of members make between one and five posts.

Many people - I was one - who join the forum, join simply because they have a question they wish to ask about an Apple product they have bought. That's it. Once the question has been answered - usually by someone who has been around a lot longer, unless the new poster chooses to linger, they have no pressing reason to remain.

I, for one, would not favour anything which serves as a further barrier to new members joining the forum and asking the questions they may wish to ask, which is why any of them joined the forum in the first place.

Having to wait for a mod to vet your account when you join, and vet whether your query is genuine strikes me as a degree of overkill, and would come across - as a first experience of the site - as unwelcoming, unfriendly and excessively controlling.

Past quotes won’t get automatically updated to the new name. You would have to manually edit each applicable post.

I did put my former name in my signature (@adrianlondon) to clear up any confusion if people bother to read such.

Reading this thread this evening, I realised that I hadn't a clue who the OP was.

Okay: Thanks for clearing that up.

That's also why I'm not for that move, I've been to forums that my posts were waiting for approval - taking a day if not longer to which they finally got approved. I largely didn't stay there as it wasn't a very user friendly.

I get that its frustrating, and believe me, it was frustrating for me, as I was trying to keep it from getting terribly out of hand.

edit: clarification

Agreed.