A Serious Discussion on a Serious Problem

[Canderel]

Dwarf-hammer, on the similar forum, which options did you go through to stop spamming?

My biggest concern is that a person typically wants a quick answer. I just joined to ask that one question, and now the time between my asking and it being answered goes through a bottleneck.

[madmonk]

That is the inevitable downside of my proposal and it is something we should all be aware of.

[Grey]

It seems like a solution worth trying out. We only need moderate a single post from each user to determine if they are legit or not.

I'll happily volunteer to help moderate new users' posts.

[Shoob]

Though at the same time we need to make sure that they can't post after the first one until it is accepted, that is, if they post one spam message and then post a billion more, and we only moderate the first one, will the rest go through?

or, another option is to make a forum (that only mods/new users can see, and that is the only forum that new users can post in), then if their post is legit (mod approved) their ban is lifted, and the post moved to the appropriate forum, otherwise their account is deleted. (not sure how possible this is without some coding)

[Dwarf_Hammer]

Dwarf-hammer, on the similar forum, which options did you go through to stop spamming?

My biggest concern is that a person typically wants a quick answer. I just joined to ask that one question, and now the time between my asking and it being answered goes through a bottleneck.

Spammers are rare in the forum, so we just ban any that pops up. We have several moderators who focus on different sections of the forum. And we recruit more mods as needed.

[Hedrachi]

Maybe run a script on the forums somehow? Build a blacklist of domains and automatically ban accounts that post links to the blacklisted domains, then delete the offending posts. Could also do the same to posts that have above a specific percentage of their text as url tags.

[madmonk]

It is very gratifying to see so many people willing to help!

Could I ask one other thing...

To ensure we have an even spread of Mods round the globe, so that we can maintain a reasonable 24 hour coverage, I would need to know where you are geographically located. If you are not averse can you post your location (country is fine) or send me a PM if you would like to hide where you live.

I reside in New Zealand, by the way - if you hadn't already noticed.

[darkgod]

Yes indeed thanks to all the candidates!

[Wombat]

I'm near New York City.

[tiger_eye]

In UTC?05:00, but my working/waking hours are currently more like UTC?07:00.

[Garumsh]

EST here.

[madmonk]

UTC 0 or 1 would be really good!

[Grey]

I'm GMT, but sleep odd hours ;)

[Final Master]

I'm UTC -6 here and can check at least once every day, usually in the morning [about 8 am - 11 am] or late at night [10 pm - god knows when].

FM

[Dwarf_Hammer]

I'm UTC?05.