Idea to stop spammers

[Jokersvirus]

I was thinking about this idea to stop teh spammers.

for new members limit their ability to post to one small section that is accessible to all members who have been here and they have to get 10 or so posts and request access to post/view the rest of the forum and based on the post they make you can prevent a spammer from linking crap that someone could click on and they get hacked or what not.

[ghegpatatas]

how bout a series of questions everytime they try to post only until the 10th post. lol that would make them bored.

[Diligence109]

this is an idea but limiting the forum's use until you'd posted in what would inevitably be less valuable/interesting boards would deter actual new members from joining and staying as well.

It's a valiant effort and a fair suggestion but I don't think it would ultimately help the forum in practice

[BobTD]

moving the forum to a fresh domain name might have the desired effect.

[LiNuX]

I like the idea but as dili pointed out, it'll push away legit members as well.


moving the forum to a fresh domain name might have the desired effect.

That would probably kill all traffic and I probably wouldn't even be able to get enough in ads due to drop in traffic to pay for the server which would result in the forum not existing at all.

I mean, it'll have the desired affect, but it'll also have some undesired consequences.

[BobTD]

Well you cant have everything =P

[HamadaLFC8]

Yeah I find joker's idea pretty cool too!

+rep from me :D

[EpsilonX]

Am i the only one that thinks joker's idea is stupid? If I go on a site that only lets me post in 1 small section, doesn't let me edit my profile, doesn't let me send messages, doesn't let me do anything, i ain't comin back. The strict spam prevention things might keep spam off the forum but i'm willing to bet it keeps away potential new members

[LiNuX]

The idea isn't stupid, it's just too strict which is why I wouldn't implement this because of the reason you pointed out. Disallowing them from editing their profile is one thing but disallowing them from 90% of the boards would probably drive away anyone.

[Jokersvirus]

Am i the only one that thinks joker's idea is stupid? If I go on a site that only lets me post in 1 small section, doesn't let me edit my profile, doesn't let me send messages, doesn't let me do anything, i ain't comin back. The strict spam prevention things might keep spam off the forum but i'm willing to bet it keeps away potential new members

If you think you can do better lets hear it ;)

[EpsilonX]

I could easily do better. Just think about it. Let's not allow new members to post anywhere except a dinky little section until 24 hours and 10 legit posts later. That's not anti-spam that's anti-activity

Linux, here's an idea. Can you increase the minimum letters in a post count for new members to like 30 instead of 10? And once they get a certain number of posts, it goes down? That way, they either have to make 10 halfway decent posts to plug their links, or just give up.

[HamadaLFC8]

lol thats a good idea too i must say :P

[LiNuX]

I could easily do better. Just think about it. Let's not allow new members to post anywhere except a dinky little section until 24 hours and 10 legit posts later. That's not anti-spam that's anti-activity

Linux, here's an idea. Can you increase the minimum letters in a post count for new members to like 30 instead of 10? And once they get a certain number of posts, it goes down? That way, they either have to make 10 halfway decent posts to plug their links, or just give up.

I like it. And I just looked through, it's an universal option. If I change it, it changes for everyone.

I also looked into the time between posts to see if I can increase it for new users to maybe 60 seconds instead of the current 15 seconds...but that option is also universal.

[Knibbler]

I like it. And I just looked through, it's an universal option. If I change it, it changes for everyone.

I also looked into the time between posts to see if I can increase it for new users to maybe 60 seconds instead of the current 15 seconds...but that option is also universal.

I'm pretty sure people wouldn't mind the changes if it ment less spam and a cleaner forum.

[Jokersvirus]

I could easily do better. Just think about it. Let's not allow new members to post anywhere except a dinky little section until 24 hours and 10 legit posts later. That's not anti-spam that's anti-activity

Linux, here's an idea. Can you increase the minimum letters in a post count for new members to like 30 instead of 10? And once they get a certain number of posts, it goes down? That way, they either have to make 10 halfway decent posts to plug their links, or just give up.

Ok you increase the minimum amount of letters, so they spam 30 instead of 10, no real game change just add some more random words and junk.

As my idea might not be perfect you can still filter out the spammers from the legit gamers. As it might cost people signing up but if you explain we have alot of issues with spammers and not enough mods to deal with them, legit gamers would be cool with that. I know I would, but again that is just me.

[Muffincat]

New mods are being announced soon. Soooo. There will be enough mods -- and they are dealt with. Honestly, I am not even bothered by spam. It's annoying but it's not like it hurts anyone, and it gets dealt with eventually *shrug*

A little spam isn't worth limiting new members that much.

[Jokersvirus]

Ehh, spam isnt an issue, but we dont know what it is.

Could be phishing, trojans, could do a number of things to the unlucky person who clicks it. So its better to be save then sorry impo.

[Muffincat]

If you don't know enough not to click links that are usually pretty obviously suspicious... then... well...

maybe they deserve the lesson ;P

[Jokersvirus]

True I say if you are stupid enough to click on spam you deserve to deal with what occurs, but like i said if it gets personal information from the person that would cost them more than what the punishment is worth.

So then i would feel bad.

[Rachel]

I like the idea but as dili pointed out, it'll push away legit members as well.

Yes. I was annoyed by the rules enough. But I understood the meaning. Anyone who wouldnt want to truly join wouldn't stay through that..

[EpsilonX]

Yes. I was annoyed by the rules enough. But I understood the meaning. Anyone who wouldnt want to truly join wouldn't stay through that..

this. The hassle and annoyances of joker's idea would FAR outweigh the desire to join.

Can you do this: on invisionfree boards, you can set certain user groups, and each user group has certain like....whatevers. you could change the minimum amount of letters needed in a post or the delay between posts for each group. you could also have it so users "graduate" to groups after X posts. could you set it so that all new members start off as "new gamers" with more limitations on posts (which would have to be the default group), and then after 20 posts or whatever, they go to a different group, "members" or whatever that have regular limits.

Lol, i wasn't really clear with any of that but i hope you get what i mean

[LiNuX]

I get what you mean but I already said those options were universal. And new users are in a different usergroup than members such as yourself. After 24 hours and 10 posts, the forum automatically "promotes" them to a group that allows them to do more such as edit profile, have a signature, etc. The option to increase post character limit and time between post is universal in vBulletin. Although I'd like to be able to customize it, there isn't anything else that I can do.

[EpsilonX]

That's weird, since this is a paid site but you had all those options on invisionfree, a free site

maybe there's a code somewhere.

[LiNuX]

It just depends on how the developers coded it - every forum software has its own advantage over another whether it's free or paid.

[Jokersvirus]

What about sometype of barrier software or whatnot that can be programmed to see spam post delete and ban the person?

Long shot, but ehh.

[LiNuX]

You'd need a pretty smart computer to determine that. Most spammers aren't bots, they're just people making useless posts and posting a link.

[Jokersvirus]

True, true.

You think they would have something like that out.

[LiNuX]

I wish they did, would make life a whole lot easier. But machine still can't tell the difference between something good and something bad. They're just out to do what they're told without judgment.

[Jokersvirus]

true thats why you set up the parameters the way you want :p