Cutting down spam?

RufusA

There seems to have been a flurry of spam type posts appearing on the boards in recent weeks. Nearly all from newly registered users creating a brand new topic!

Is there any possibility of changing the forum design so that for a newly registered user New Topics have to be approved by the board guides during a probation period i.e. 1st 2 weeks, or 1st 2 new topics.

I suspect that this move would cut down spam in an instant and probably wouldn't be too onerus on the Board Guides as the vast majority of new topics are created by existing users.

Just a thought - Rufus.

NellyLock

i like the sound, but this would put a lot of extra workload on the guides...and for some genuine people it takes a lot to build up courage to make a first post...having this "moderation process" may turn them away...

i would still like the report bad post to goto an online form instead of launching a new email...if this were to be the case then it would be easier to report and perhaps set up a sytem where a message becomes temporarily deleted if more than 10 complaints come in?

andy88_2

I think you'll find that is already happening. If a new poster is producing what is obviously spam, then it will be deleted, and even before that happens, other people will have reported it to Abuse. It is a waste of their workload and time, but the spammers don't seem to care, and sometimes even deny their obvious interest. Most absurd in my opinions are Americans that advertise offers not available outside USA.

sra

RufusA wrote:

There seems to have been a flurry of spam type posts appearing on the boards in recent weeks. Nearly all from newly registered users creating a brand new topic!

Is there any possibility of changing the forum design so that for a newly registered user New Topics have to be approved by the board guides during a probation period i.e. 1st 2 weeks, or 1st 2 new topics.

I suspect that this move would cut down spam in an instant and probably wouldn't be too onerus on the Board Guides as the vast majority of new topics are created by existing users.

Just a thought - Rufus.

Hi

I'm not sure that's possible -

The reason Board Guides are called Board Guides is to emphasise that we are not moderators.

It is mentioned all over the site that all posts are not read and if you feel something is wrong, you should report it to abcon

Approving posts would put a whole other level of responsibiliy on BGs to decide what is allowed and what isn't - We would be admitting to reading a post and condoning it when we allow it to be posted (which may have legal implications)

Us board guides try to help out by removing things that are blatently spam or we know for a fact are not allowed, but moderation is done by abcon.

criminal_smile

On a similar vein, can someone answer this. Having reported the same user for a number of spam posts this morning, do AbCon check all posts by that user automatically, or do we still need to provide a report for each post they make?

Former_MSE_Controller2

If its obvious spam (like the USA type) we would normally check previous posts and remove them all and ban the account.

andy88_2

A series of spam posts on behalf of a certain company have recently been deleted.

I have received PMs from a new user who appears to have signed up for the purpose of hurling personal abuse at me in relation to these decisions made by other people. I told this person that such comments were best addressed to Abuse controllers.

A person connected with the company has made very similar personal attacks on people on other forums, alleging professional interest in his rivals or making pejorative assumptions about their quality of life.

I would like to know what can be done to protect members from such behaviour.

Pink.

andy,

Have you forwarded copies of the pm's to abuse?

sra

Apart from reporting it, you can add that person to your ignore list until it's dealt with. You don't receive PM's from someone who's on your ignore list.

the person won't know that their PM's are not being received.

sra

***Board Guide Note***

Since this thread has itself become the target of spam and abuse, recent posts have been deleted and the thread will be locked for now

thanks