Should CRF Place Restrictions on Newbies?

[LG]

Dang. Does this mean I have to get rid of the life-sized Roseanne Barr cutout at the front door?

We would appreciate it if you did get rid of Rosie Vehicle.

 

[TheSound]

If VB was more...sophisticated we could install a 'bot' filter which would prevent the mass spammers from getting in at all (Without using the IP ban). But we don't have that option.

Yesterday I logged in took a quick look saw 3 spammers banned them within 30 seconds, deleted their posts and nobody even had a chance to read what they posted. That is also the way the rest of the mods do their jobs, sometimes when nobody is here then 70's G or Connie will let us know by reporting it(they have sent us more reports than anyone else) and then the first mod here removes it.

Magic and I don't intend on putting anything in place that would make a new arrival feel unwelcome.

We appreciate your passion TS, but there is no simple way to stop spammers they are clever so even if we put massive security measures in place some will always get through. The horde of robots filling up the visitors box are IP banned, they can't do anything but that also eliminates anyone from that 'area code' from joining the forum.

Actually LG, that lunatic woman with the links from yesterday, her crap was still viewable to all members several hours after she had first posted it.

In my view spammers like her are encouraged to return to forums such as this by the fact that her links remain on view sometimes for at least several hours, and people like her love the fact that the moment they join they can post as many links and crap as they like, instantly. If she’d wanted to she could have taken a couple of hours and posted 100 links on 30 different sections of the forum yesterday, and until somebody like you had logged in to ban her, then there’s nothing that can be done to stop her, and so she very quickly achieved the publicity to her website which she sought. So she must have been very encouraged and delighted that (I assume) some members probably even clicked on all of her links….I noticed she was logged on to the forum during the afternoon whenever I was here, so she was just sitting there I presume watching the hours tick by during the day whilst more and more people read all her garbage, and even linking to her ‘rock’ site.

If there was a total prohibition on all links, for a certain minimum number of posts or whatever, then common sense dictates that they would just leave us alone and they would go elsewhere – and joining here at all would be futile. So far we have been lucky that all the spam links have been to relatively safe and banal sites, but as things stand there's absolutely nothing stopping perverts and serious crackpots or whoever from doing exactly what she did yesterday if they ever found us, which is my main concern and why I personally believe this is a much bigger issue than some other people seem to be making out...there's a bigger picture here.

So her links still got several hours of free publicity even though she was eventually banned…and that’s really all that the average forum spammer needs or wants, she’d already achieved what she’d set out to do long before she was ever banned, so as far as she’s concerned, it was a job well done!

I’m disappointed (and very surprised to be honest) that it seems no action at all is going to be taken.... despite the fact almost 70% of the people who voted clearly indicated that they want at least some sort of action to be taken to try to deter spammers…only two people (13.3% of the poll) voted to “do nothing”.

 

[LG]

^^That's rare TS, most of the time the spam is gone within seconds of it being posted or a few minutes.

You are asking for draconian measures during the hardest time for all forums like ours' to attract new members and keep the forum going. Sooty mentioned that but you seemed to miss it.

You also don't see the smart spammers, the ones who make an account and leave for a few days, then come back insert their links etc. when nobody is watching and usually never come back again. We remove them eventually but there is no way to tell when they register that is their plan.

Answer me this, when you are a bouncer at a bar or nightclub how do you know who is going to cause trouble and who is just looking for an enjoyable evening? (Not counting the bots who's gibberish usernames are easily spotted)

You can't, you have to wait until somebody does something.

I will not support anything to make a new arrival feel unwanted period. If new arrivals follow the rules then there won't be any problems. Spammers will always be here, the list we have is extensive, the repeat offenders are IP banned but that's easy enough to get around by using proxy's or rotating IP's through your provider.

If you do see a spammer then just report it, don't open any links don't post in the thread we will take care of it like we always have. And the members are a big help when it comes to doing that as well. Even putting a post count in before accessing more features doesn't do much, determined spammers post 5/10 pieces of rubbish and then add their links anyway.

 

[Vehicle]

Most spammers are obvious. They only get publicity if people click the links.

Just move on to the next thread, and the admins will get to them.

Sometimes sooner, sometimes later. But they always get them.

Not a big deal, really. I don't sweat them.

 

[Lynch]

TS:

Unless you have a 24/7 staff that is basically employed to read and watch every single poster and every single thread and every single post that comes out on their "shift", there is no way that you can deter spam 100%, not can you remove 100% of the spam that does make it through within seconds of it being posted.

But... if you'd care to donate a fund that would pay the mods and admins to do such a task and divy out the work, maybe we can make that happen. A paid staff working 24/7 would surely change things regarding the handling of spam.

 

[TheSound]

I've really nothing else to say on this topic as my views are already very clear and very obvious, and I would just be repeating myself, and I guarantee they aren't going to change, so this is positively my final post in this thread....except to say that I wasn't asking for draconian measures, I was merely asking why it is we get a poll, and almost 70% of members who voted say that they want something doing, but they are totally ignored in favour of the 13% who say they want nothing doing. In fact to me the subject of the actual spammers has now almost become of secondary importance.

It would have actually been far better for the staff to create NO POLL AT ALL, and just to do whatever you want, rather than ask people to vote in a poll - which by definition implies that the majority vote will presumably carry the day.... but still just do whatever you want.

I personally and certainly won't be wasting my time voting (or even commenting) in any future futile 'member consultation' exercises.

So, hope you enjoy the rest of the pointless discussion!

Cheers.

 

[Vehicle]

 

[Lynch]

have a nice day

 

[METALPRIEST]

I've been a member of many a forum over the years and CRF handles spam wayyyy better than anything I've EVER experienced

 

[Tray73]

^^^ That's one of the things that stood out to me when I first joined here - the way spam is dealt with so quickly and efficiently compared to other forums.