AUGH crazy amounts of spam

Authentifications can be countered by human means, and will be even more annoying (there are already people complaining about the current system)

May I humbly suggest implementing a system to check new account and poster IP addresses against the data contained in a free service like this one (linked below) if one is not already being used?

Stop Forum Spam

If you're already using their services then I'll get my coat....

That's a thought... Tom have you tried the type of service listed above? I wonder if checking the emails against the list would be more effective than ips though. Or maybe both?

If you look at the time frame of the spam, they are all really close, so perhaps it is indeed the attack of the bots.

Some might not like this idea, but how about using an authentication process for posting if you do not have at least 1 silver medal, or 5 bronze medal, time been a member......or something like that.

I agree with this idea. Have a capcha for people under a certain rep count, when you reach it the capcha is removed.

Authentifications can be countered by human means, and will be even more annoying (there are already people complaining about the current system)

Yes, that's true. Haha I really do hate the authentication process that requires you to enter a set of letters and numbers that are so badly mashed together that even humans are having problem understanding. There is one type that is quite easy, the jigsaw puzzle type where you just need to put the pictures together. It is quite simple and amazingly not annoying (to me that is). But if it can be countered, than all of this is indeed meaningless.

There is another way, I notice that some forums implement this. Every first post by a new member, is not shown live immediately. It is reviewed by a moderator for that section before being approved to go live. This should stop the spam quite effectively........but will mean a lot of work for the moderators though.

I agree with this idea. Have a capcha for people under a certain rep count, when you reach it the capcha is removed.

It would definitely help, but if as Aphrodite mentioned that there are now ways to counter this, than it might not be enough to save us from the spammers.

There is another way, I notice that some forums implement this. Every first post by a new member, is not shown live immediately. It is reviewed by a moderator for that section before being approved to go live. This should stop the spam quite effectively........but will mean a lot of work for the moderators though.

That would be more work for us than than cleaning up the spam.

What if multiple users are allowed to flag posts, but by at least 5 posts, said post/thread automatically is hidden goes into a que until moderator approval. That way, some of us who are more diligent in reporting can have an impact without having to wait for moderators. That or grant this small privilege of forcing thread approval to a select few users. They'd be like Mods but with but one small power, and easily manageable.

There have been a few times where I've seen like 15 of these threads all in a row, watching them as they are posted by using the "new posts" search function, and all I can do it stare. [edit] And report, obviously.

That would be more work for us than than cleaning up the spam.

Ouch, that would definitely not be effective than.

That or grant this small privilege of forcing thread approval to a select few users. They'd be like Mods but with but one small power, and easily manageable.

That's how Spriter does it: new threads have to be approved. It took 12 hours for my 1st (& only) question to get approved. Kind of turned me off from the company.

Spam Wars: Return of the bots II. Haha but it is weird that all of them show up at the same time, even if they are regarding totally different topics. I guess the people hired to spread those links must have a schedule where their bots attack, and our C2 forums is in their list.

> That or grant this small privilege of forcing thread approval to a select few users. They'd be like Mods but with but one small power, and easily manageable.

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That's how Spriter does it: new threads have to be approved. It took 12 hours for my 1st (& only) question to get approved. Kind of turned me off from the company.

miketv Actually this is what I am suggesting:

• User A gains low-level moderation privilege to flag posts/threads he/she determines against the forum rules
• When A flags a post, it goes into a moderation que where only higher-level moderators/admins (Kyatric, Arima, Tom, Ashley, & etc.) can review the post. They take a course of action depending on the severity of rules broken (and if no rules have been broken, contact the low-level moderator who flagged it).
• When a post or thread is in the moderation que, it will not show up to normal users on the forum instead of sitting out as an ugly sight.
• Normal users may still report posts/threads, but this will continue as it has been.

That is it broken down. I can't imagine programming this would take much, but it has to be weighed against its worth and how much spam there actually is. Because when mods are on, spam threads usually disappear fairly fast. It's only when we get waves of spam that it helps to have a cleanup crew.

• When a post or thread is in the moderation que, it will not show up to normal users on the forum instead of sitting out as an ugly sight.

So, the post would go up, & it would only go to moderation if it was flagged by a user that the community entrusted with the power to flag?

Supposedly you are not allowed to post links when a new user, but the SPAM bots/users are managing to post whatever they wish, so there is something very broken with this forum that needs fixing first.

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• When a post or thread is in the moderation que, it will not show up to normal users on the forum instead of sitting out as an ugly sight.

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So, the post would go up, & it would only go to moderation if it was flagged by a user that the community entrusted with the power to flag?

orrect.

No other forum I visit has this amount of spam.

I give up on reporting.

Seriously, just fix the forum.