[Pops]

If you are a newbie here, welcome! We hope you stay and add to the discussion.

But for you SEO and link spammers out there, if you post a spam link in a reply or in your signature, your account and whatever posts you've made will be deleted forthwith, PDQ and post haste. If you think tapping out a somewhat cogent sentence or two will allow you to post link spam, it won't, you'll waste a lot of your time for nothing – it only takes me a couple seconds to delete you.

[Rod_Cloutier]

If you think tapping out a somewhat cogent sentence or two will allow you to post link spam,

Most of them can't post a 'cogent sentence or two', it's sad really!

[adeetz]

wow i'm afraid be deleted

[Pops]

If you think tapping out a somewhat cogent sentence or two will allow you to post link spam,

Most of them can't post a 'cogent sentence or two', it's sad really!

Seems so.

[davep]

I think the problem has got far worse since google tweaked its algorithms, making irrelevant linking a black mark. Now bots or people are pretending to talk about a subject and linking to their site in that context.

Anyway, I'm now zapping at least 20 a day.

[SeaGypsy]

Hi Mods, admin, other members and spammers. We really need more done about this. It's getting worse every day lately.

[SeaGypsy]

More and more and more, is it really that hard to just change the rules?

[dolanbaker]

Yes, a tide of spam is flowing in!

[mattduke]

Raise the price of joining somehow. Make the joining process take more time. Require a $1 donation to paypal. If a person is truly interested in joining the conversation it won't matter to them. But spammers won't be as willing.

[dolanbaker]

The simplest solution is to make the first five or ten posts pre moderated, very few spammers (if any) would be willing to engage in multiple conversations to gain the moderators trust before posting spam.

[Pops]

I think I agree with pre-moderation, especially as slow as the site is nowadays. It's at least 4 clicks to delete a spammer. I'd at least feel like my time is better spent clicking through some posts to be approved than deleting spam. Especially if there is a warning before posting.

[davep]

We use pre-moderation for new users on another site I moderate, and it works well.

[Tanada]

Pre moderation has my approval, I am sick of wasting 15 to 30 minutes of my life every day trying to clear out the spam when I log on early in the AM.

[SeaGypsy]

Hip hip Hooray! Let's do it.

[dolanbaker]

Hip hip Hooray! Let's do it.

+1

[dolanbaker]

Hip hip Hooray! Let's do it.

+1

[SeaGypsy]

Currently getting about 10 spam posts to each real. Over the top.

[Sixstrings]

Here's an idea..

Don't know if it's doable or not..

But if you could give long timers the power to delete a thread / move it to a review bin or something then that you'd increase your spam police.

It would be a win-win, the forum members complaining about spam could just click a quick button instead of reporting and waiting. If anyone deletes something other than spam, then their membership would come under review.

Barring those drastic measures, as it is the mods do a great job I think.

[dolanbaker]

Here's an idea..

Don't know if it's doable or not..

But if you could give long timers the power to delete a thread / move it to a review bin or something then that you'd increase your spam police.

It would be a win-win, the forum members complaining about spam could just click a quick button instead of reporting and waiting. If anyone deletes something other than spam, then their membership would come under review.

Barring those drastic measures, as it is the mods do a great job I think.

good idea, i think theoildrum does that.

[SeaGypsy]

I made a similar suggestion ages ago, it never got anywhere. It's a shame to have to stifle initial posts, but that seems the least controversial place to filter. We have had the odd new member show up with some gems, which is always good; these would still get through. Something semi automated would save our dear mods a lot of work and prevention would drive the rest away in short order.

"NO WE DO NOT WANT YOUR GOD DAMNED FREE MOVIES SO BUGGER OFF ALREADY OK?"