Spam post or single-post-spammer

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chiefie

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#7854 16-May-2006 09:08

Lately, there have been quite a lot of one-time poster, single-post-spammer etc appearing in the forum.

It is pretty easy to see whether these people really are intending to stay and discuss about Geek stuff or pure evidence of spammer. 4 posts that I have seen so far are from single-post-spammer with nothing more to say other than looking for developer or checking out a cheap deal at xyz site or so and so.

I think it is time that Geekzone needs to beef up the security a bit, or putting more restriction to the newbie.

Perhaps implement CAPTCHA to interrupt those quick registration and post. And may even extend CAPTCHA to cover create/reply/edit of new posts and comments. just to help reducing quick-posting. Sure it will turn out to be pretty hassle on all other members but i think it will be pretty well accepted. At least that may help reducing the number of spam posts.

Or perhaps the new members will have very limited access to the forum, until they can identify themselves and their intention with the admin/moderators. This way, they will get "ok, welcome" induction, or a "boot-off-they-go".

Or just more moderators. (LOL)

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freitasm

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#35829 16-May-2006 09:41

I think you will notice that such posts are short lived here on Geekzone. Most are removed in a matter of minutes, since we do get notified via e-mail of all new and updated posts. Since we have one person working full time on the site (me!) these posts are removed pretty quickly. Even when I am out and about, I still get the notifications on my Pocket PC via push e-mail, and the bad ones are removed quickly.

We also have a moderator (although if anyone else wants to be in this position, please PM my account) that does a pretty good job on keeping threads on topic, with links (hey people still don't know that simply copy and paste of a URL into the editor will automatically hyperlink it!) and when I am not available removing those spam posts.

Also, there's already a procedure for registration (which was probably implemented after your registration) which requires people to confirm e-mail addresses before actually creating an account in the forum. This is in my opinion better than the captcha, since it authenticates e-mail addresses, while captcha is only used to differentiate between humans and machines.

chiefie

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#35830 16-May-2006 09:45

oh... that says a lot of how long i have been with Geekzone! LOL....

mmm no doubt email confirmation is still the best to check the authencity of the email, and i think combining that with CAPTCHA mean, someone has to manually register, manually confirming the email address. [double slash combo]

Anyhow, thanks very much Mauricio! Geekzone is great!

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paradoxsm

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#35884 16-May-2006 17:23

And let the legend live on........

(i'm far to busy and unconnected to do moderator duties or i'd be in with a grin though i'm a little one-sided at times.)

Another option is to make new posters with less than 5 posts be forced to "authenitcate" new posts via email confirmations link (but can reply freely) Just a thought.

tonyhughes

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#35887 16-May-2006 17:34

Authenticating is not really the problem. generally what happens is someone decides to URL-drop, and they sign up to many different forums to do that, and still use valid email addresses to create accounts.

A better option that making them email-validate their new posts is to set their posts to hidden until approved by a moderator.
[perhaps for users with < 2 posts OR member less than 24 hours old]

Upside - no spam from new members, clean boards
Downside - slight delay for genuine users looking for a quick answer (would be unusual for more than a 6 - 8 overnight delay here)

Cant forget that although the regulars here have a merry old time, every day there are new genuine users seeking help, and the amount of spam that lives longer than ten minutes around here is pretty minimal, before it gets deleted, or URL-removed and shot down in flames (I love my job sometimes).

cokemaster

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#35888 16-May-2006 17:39

Perhaps instead of implimenting CAPTCHA systems (which breaks text browsers), maybe the first couple of posts for new users should have their posts moderated?

Edit: By moderate I mean, it should be approved before it is shown...

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freitasm

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#35889 16-May-2006 17:41

I don't think a post delay would be user friendly. People look for instant satisfaction, and posting about a legitimate question without having the post showing up instantly, like in any other board, would be a problem.

As Tony says, spam and URL drops don't live long here anyway...

But we can discuss more of this during the chat tonight.

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#35890 16-May-2006 17:44

Then we'd need more mod's! I have to say, The spam dissappears rather efficiently.

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cokemaster

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#35891 16-May-2006 17:44

Vbulletin 3 had the ability (I think via a code mod) to 'show' the post that was posted by the moderated user but it would only appear to that user...

That way they'd see it but no one else would until a moderator approved it.

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freitasm

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#35893 16-May-2006 17:51

Interesting idea...

tonyhughes

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#35894 16-May-2006 18:03

freitasm: Interesting idea...

In that the user would be fooled into thinking their post was showing? Interesting concept - yes, but I still think the instant gratification thing is probably paramount here - at least while we are so spam-free.

Spam would have to increase tenfold before the status quo was no good I would think.

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#35912 16-May-2006 19:01

I think the status quo works very well. As long as there are moderators keeping an eye on things and maybe people could send a PM to one if they spot something that should be removed.

This place runs very well and it would be a pity to make life harder for those who genuinely come here for help. A very tiny few should not be allowed to change the fantastic experience that is Geekzone.

chiefie

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#35919 16-May-2006 19:58

Some other forums usually have a community vote on the topic/post to see whether it is acceptable, and if it gets to certain threshold, perhaps the forum system will alert the mods?

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