PORN, SPAM and SCAMS

[General Jumbo01]

It's starting to get a bit silly with endless unwanted posts on our forums, so..

I used to suffer the same problem when l owned a large international hobby forum and resolved the issue overnight by charging a £1 joining fee for all new members (use PayPal). This is sufficient to put off low paid 'slaves' from joining just to post rubbish but is nothing for new members if you explain why its done.

Further more, if anyone does pay and then post dirt, ban the user AND his IP address and he won't hurry back. It really does work and is a small price for new members to pay to have a clean site. The £s add up and pay for the websites, forum costs etc.

Any thoughts?

[Rad_Schuhart]

I am strongly against that. If I had to pay 1 euro fee, I would have not registered. I dont want to pay not even food or medicines, so imagine for registering in a forum.

My case is extreme and I know I am ill of cheapness, but I am sure it will keep tons of potentially good users away from here.

Instead Id try to put some kind of double check anti bots registration or so.

[tomhugill]

I'm not sure if the forum architecture allows it but some screener questions should sort it.

Whilst there have been a raft of spam posts, our mods do an amazing job to keep the forum a nice place for us.

[Son of a gun-ner]

Whilst there have been a raft of spam posts, our mods do an amazing job to keep the forum a nice place for us.

Thank you Tom, I'm sure the rest of the team will appreciate reading that

[Wardog]

Paying a pound does help keep the trouble at bay. I used to help run a market ,a pound entry.so it works.
A pound to join a forum is not to bad,but some people don't like paying for a carrier bag,
Something for free is always good and will attract new members.
Mr rad_schuhart has a point and that's OK.
Unwanted post will always be,we all received it.

[wibblywobbly]

Spam is just one of those things that all forums have to cope with, look at it another way. We don't charge a fee to join but as a result, spam may appear temporarily on occasions.

[capt midnight]

Not sure if this is doable, but is there a way that a first post could be restricted to the introduction thread? Might be easier to police for unwanted posts and spam. Also, it seems like a bunch of the newer folk keep missing the part about introducing yourself first.

Just a thought.

Bill

[wibblywobbly]

Unfortunately the forum software doesn't have that sort of functionality. Having thought about it, and knowing how the spammers work, create member accounts etc, there may be a manual way around identifying them before they post anything at all.

I'll have a chat with the other mods and see what they think of what I think may be a solution. It won't be perfect, but it will cut the risk of leaving the door open.

[jarndice]

When I joined the Forum I went to the "Introduce yourself" Page without prompting and said "Hi",
Over a year later I noticed there was a PM in my inbox, It was a welcome and an invitation to introduce myself to the Forum,
I cannot help wondering if some of the new members have also not noticed their welcoming PM which might explain why people are going straight to the subject concerning them instead of saying hello first.
We are I hope a welcoming place and charging to join is perhaps not the best way forward especially for any school age R/Cers wishing to join us.

[HERMAN BIX]

One thing I have noticed is thAT at times, the spammers have actually taken the time to post their crap in the right section
And, in the introduction section !!
For me the lack of an intro is like watching the new neighbors move in on a Saturday , then getting a knock at the door from them later on asking to watch the game on your TV & Oi?, can I borrow the mower off ya....................

As for the spam, its not that out of control that it cant be exterminated in a short time, and besides, all they do is post, then its up to us not to look.
Dont post a smart-assed comment, dont check the link, DO send a PM to the mods, and DO list a report.

Clearly they are not dedicated enough to put up a picture, so if its a link, ignore it.
We will get to it, it goes away, life goes on.

[wibblywobbly]

Yup, there is no way of preventing a human spammer from creating a profile, answering questions etc, then posting spam. We can only hit the automated spam, or delete a profile as soon as it posts spam.

We are pretty much on top of it, stuff gets removed within a very short space of time. Just don't add anything at all to a spam post as there is always a risk that the wrong profile will get deleted, along with all past posts, and there is no way of recovering them.

Just PM any of the mods if spam is spotted, and it will be dealt with pronto.

[Son of a gun-ner]

Just to add, although you see me logged on through the day, I'm not always watching, the last couple of weeks I've rewired a loft/attic and put up two new ceilings while I've been logged on, I stay logged on so that I can react quicker when needed, and look in from time to time.
Therefore I will hear any notifications, so, sending me a PM about any spam will get noticed and then I can deal with it.

[dgsselkirk]

You guys do do a great job in watching for this crap and getting it removed quickly. no need to change a thing...

[Wardog]

Not this forum but.
Someone introduced them self, the same way as in this forum and then puts up a price list.
But it was a copy of another members.
Turns out its not the first time his tried it.
Different names different introductions when he gets found out.his response is with emails,still trying to get one over.
He will try and try.and maybe a big YES for him oneday.

[silversurfer1947]

Not this forum but.
Someone introduced them self, the same way as in this forum and then puts up a price list.
But it was a copy of another members.
Turns out its not the first time his tried it.
Different names different introductions when he gets found out.his response is with emails,still trying to get one over.
He will try and try.and maybe a big YES for him oneday.

There is a forum rule against posting anything for sale until 50 posts have been made. Whilst it will not stop the post, it means it will be removed without notice.