New members approval (spam fight)

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par
Posts: 8623
Joined: Mon Sep 21, 2009 11:56 am
Name: Pasha
Location: Saint-Petersburg, Russia
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New members approval (spam fight)

Post by par »

Hey, friends!
Many of you already know that our forum has become an easy spam target.
We have seen several massive spam attacks over the recent days.
The last drop to me was PM attack when many users (probably all?) have received an advertising message in Russian.

Yesterday I have turned a very effective anti-spam feature on.
When a new user posts her first message on the forum it is not seen by the audience.
The post only gets visible after approval from the moderator.

I did not want to do this for a long time.
For two reasons.
1. Approval is a barrier between a guy who wants to ask and the community.
2. I did not want to overload the moderators.

Unfortunately now I think we must protect the forum reliably.
Do you like this change?
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countryroads
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Name: Marty
Location: Mansfield, Ohio USA
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Re: New members approval (spam fight)

Post by countryroads »

Hi Pasha,

I have already been using the New members approval. It may be 1 extra step, but have you ever tried to remove 500 spam posts in 1 day? And then the next day, you have 300 more spam posts to remove!

This approach is a lot better than trying to remove the spam. My question is - there is an option to let the new user know that they have been approved. Do we leave this option on and let them know they have been approved? Or is it okay to remove the check mark and just let their post become public?

If the post is a Spam post, do we still ban the spammer? And will disapproving the post be the same as deleting the spam post? Or do you still want us to let you know about the spam so you can completely remove the spammer?

The only issue that I have is what you have been concerned about. The new user's post is not public until one of us approve it.

Even with the extra step, I like it.

:)
Marty
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par
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Re: New members approval (spam fight)

Post by par »

Hey Marty!

I would appreciate if I was notified that my account/post was approved.
I think we should notify the user.

There is no doubt, if the post is spam - ban the account.
I don't think there's much sense in removing spammer account.
Banning is enough.

If you disapprove the post, it will never show up on the forum.


Thanks for your support!
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Mallorca
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Name: Werner Heidotting
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Re: New members approval (spam fight)

Post by Mallorca »

Hi friends,

yesterday I was wondering about this new option 8)
I think it is a good way to ban this idiots of spammers :evil:
In other forums new members has allways to approve by the mods.
Werner
FvE
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Name: Fred
Location: Leiden, Netherlands
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Re: New members approval (spam fight)

Post by FvE »

Hi Pasha,

Thanks for turning this option on.
I agree with Marty, I think this is much more efective to ban spammers, despite the extra action asked from us.
It's dreadful to remove spam after it's been post.

One more thing guys: lets all keep on answering the posts as we did.
Let the one who approves a post not automatically be responsable to answer it as well.

Lets all keep up the good work on this forum! :good:

Fred
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par
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Re: New members approval (spam fight)

Post by par »

Thank you, friends :)
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