Recent Posts

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31
Charge $1 to join.

Will cut out 99.99% of spam.
32
This sounds like a good idea. I tell you, I don't know what's going on in our world but I had 100 spams in my inbox last week. I never open them. All it takes is one and it's all over. I can't imagine the headache for a forum. Hopefully your solution doesn't become too labor intensive you. :ws
33
In light of the amount of spam getting through, I've finally looked seriously at a part of the forum which is fairly complex.

And made some changes.

They shouldn't affect most members.

Those affected will be those who haven't made a post yet.

Their ability to do anything except post has been removed. This includes not being able to PM. Their posts will go into immediate moderation. And until that post has been approved, they can't even update their profile.

Once an approved post has been made, they get most functionality again.

Essentially I've redefined the standard registered member as unreliable until proved otherwise.

This will affect genuine members who for whatever reason hasn't posted yet, but their first post should be approved, and then they'll be fine.

Let me know if any functionality has been lost, in case I goofed somewhere.

The changes allow me to scale up functions if any spam still bypasses the new change. In that case, I'll need to scale back on those below 10 posts, but hopefully I won't have to.
34
Forum Announcements [Public] / Re: Slamming the door on Spammers.
« Last post by TimothyEllis on November 12, 2021, 02:40:39 AM »
We just moved to the big city and found the local library won't issue cards online unless you prove ID by submitting a verifiable credit card # thru a secure system.  U.S. Copyright Office does the same.  Is that too cumbersome an anti-spammer tool for WS?

Yeah. Takes too long for a start, and those who are not using real names would object. Some very strongly.
35
Forum Announcements [Public] / Re: Slamming the door on Spammers.
« Last post by Hopscotch on November 12, 2021, 02:37:46 AM »
We just moved to the big city and found the local library won't issue cards online unless you prove ID by submitting a verifiable credit card # thru a secure system.  U.S. Copyright Office does the same.  Is that too cumbersome an anti-spammer tool for WS? 
36
Forum Announcements [Public] / Re: Slamming the door on Spammers.
« Last post by Eric Thomson on November 12, 2021, 12:37:03 AM »
Tim,
I've beaten the spammers by setting "Admin Approval" for new members. The spammers are easy to recognize - their email addies are garbage and when they bother with a domain name, so is that. I literally delete a dozen registrations awaiting approval each day before the spammers can even get to the point of posting. Here's a screenshot of the relevant panel in SMF.

I tried that, but with that turned on, they can't update their registration, so nothing wonky shows. You can only activate them, and then they update and post spam anyway. You can spot some of the email addresses, but not all.

Strange, but I have no problems. Every morning, I go to the members awaiting approval panel and delete the ones with wonky email addies, and after a while, you get to recognize them immediately. If by chance I reject a legitimate registration awaiting approval (hasn't happened since I set admin approval last spring) I figure the individual will contact me via other means. Saved me a lot of grief last summer when over sixty of the fake accounts congregated at the same time and tried to log in for whatever nefarious purposes. I can only imagine the mess that would have ensued.
37
Forum Announcements [Public] / Re: Slamming the door on Spammers.
« Last post by TimothyEllis on November 12, 2021, 12:33:01 AM »
Tim,
I've beaten the spammers by setting "Admin Approval" for new members. The spammers are easy to recognize - their email addies are garbage and when they bother with a domain name, so is that. I literally delete a dozen registrations awaiting approval each day before the spammers can even get to the point of posting. Here's a screenshot of the relevant panel in SMF.

I tried that, but with that turned on, they can't update their registration, so nothing wonky shows. You can only activate them, and then they update and post spam anyway. You can spot some of the email addresses, but not all.
38
Forum Announcements [Public] / Re: Slamming the door on Spammers.
« Last post by Eric Thomson on November 12, 2021, 12:27:04 AM »
Tim,
I've beaten the spammers by setting "Admin Approval" for new members. The spammers are easy to recognize - their email addies are garbage and when they bother with a domain name, so is that. I literally delete a dozen registrations awaiting approval each day before the spammers can even get to the point of posting. Here's a screenshot of the relevant panel in SMF.
39
Forum Announcements [Public] / Re: Slamming the door on Spammers.
« Last post by TimothyEllis on November 12, 2021, 12:23:48 AM »
I'll repeat it again for those who missed it.

If you get spam in your PM's, let me know immediately.

There is a class of spammer who looks innocent on their profile, never poss in public, but are here to post PM spam.

Tell me about them and they'll be history.

40
Forum Announcements [Public] / Re: Let me know if you get unsolicited sales PMs
« Last post by She-la-te-da on November 12, 2021, 12:17:15 AM »
I got that one, too, Dusty. Hate spammers. :(
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