Newbies should not be allowed to post until verified.

[bridonca]

I have no problem with newbies posting, but it should not reach the board until a moderator can vouch for the post. That way, there is no more 3am spam. I suspect this will affect genuine newbies not one bit.

[OverDrive]

That's not a good idea. I own a website and I too get this kind of spam. What they need to do is create layers to weed out spam bots. I own IPB, so I have it set with captcha + challenge / response questions. Since I've implemented both layers, I've had a 99% cut in spam. When I start getting spam again, I just change up the challenge questions and everything goes away again.

If you restrict newbies from posting, they will turn away from the site guaranteed.

[Jake]

I use a custom CAPTCHA image I made myself which has cut 100% of the bots out. The only spam signups I get now are just guys doing manual signups which you can't really stop. They don't usually come back once you delete their account once.

All the standard PHPBB spam blocks have been cracked so they offer little protection.

[bridonca]

I should be more clear. I think newbies should be able to post, I think the post should be saved, but I do not think it should be put on the board until a moderator has a chance to vet the post. Kijiji waits a day or so on the first newbie post before they release it out in the board. I see zero spam there, lots of members also.

[dom]

The idea behind the suggestion is a good one. The only problem is that some newcomers came to the forum because they need specific help. If they post their question, it would be quite irritating to have to wait a day or so before the post is even put on the board, let alone wait for someone to respond. I think new ways of avoiding Spam Bots from joining is a good idea, and will pass that on to the head Admin.

[bridonca]

How about a day of rest for newbies? They cannot register on Sunday. I say this because it is going to take at least 36 hours for someone to take out the spam that is here now. Worse, a well meaning member is going to reply to that spam, thus validating the post, and it will stay on the system.

[FONGO_kris]

Bridonca, I understand what you're going for here and if this wasn't a forum geared for support (no examples, please; I am aware that there are support forums which exist that have this policy), I would agree with you. As we grow, we're bringing more staff online to help with the forum which does include pruning spam (speaking of new staff - Welcome Dom). This should enable us to more actively keep on top of spam, and general moderation of the forum. At this point, it is simply not something we are ready to do to our forum. Personally, I would rather delete spam than have 1 / 3 of our first-time users coming here for support realize they cannot post, abandon hope and never coming back.

[Martin]

Pourquoi ne pas bloquer les nouveaux users sur le forum pendant au moins un mois sauf pour la section appelé "Problem report" afin d'aider les nouveaux users et d'éviter de retrouver des niaiseries de petit con qui s'enregistre et post n'importe quoi sur le forum dans toutes es sections du forum?!

[dom]

Un mois c'est longtemps. Le user voudrait probablement pas retourner si il n'a pas acces au centre de communite. Je vai traduire et donner le message a l'administrateur pour voir si il aime l'idee ou sait d'une facon de la mettre en fonction.

[Ice]

I'm liking the ideas here, including allowing newbies to post because usually they're in need and we have a lot to offer. I see fpl-name everywhere as staff... perhaps some of us usual forum folks can be upgraded to Moderators to help combat any spam, and current fpl-mods can be upgraded to fpl-admins. There isn't any difference between the accounts unless you start pushing buttons.

[FONGO_kris]

Unfortunately, permissions were defined for each of the Global Moderator, Administrator and Registered Users groups (as well as Guests). You're correct in assuming that fpl-name are staff.

Though the support function of this forum is aimed to be driven by the community, all moderation is done by paid freephoneline.ca staff.