Report post button

You're right, Niklas, in saying that there has been a lot more spam leaking in lately. We ARE getting a lot more than we ever have before and we moderators are doing our best to delete it as soon as one of us spots it. Feel free to PM or email any moderator at any time if one gets by us!!

I am very thankful for the moderators work on this forum which has made it to one of the most helpful on the internet, and that is why I'm really annoyed at this spam.

I think we need another control question to register or something smarter that the spam bots can't get by.

I think thats a good idea, if everyone finds the spam that bothersome. Personally, I don't see the big deal, some of it is entertaining. But I mean, you click the link, you see the hair removal product, MAYBE you go to the website and buy it, maybe not, that may be my personal method, I don't know, and then you're done with the post.

The only reason it may be bad is because we have a lot of kids here at GN, and parents tend to trust this website, and some of these spam messages are a little indecent. However, a 'report' button, that sent up a warning near the thread, in my opinion, would attract more attention than anything else (i'd definitly click it just to see what it said) . So maybe this button could serve to temporarily delete the thread.

Obviously the problem here would be abuse from random people just messing with the site. So, maybe there should be some sort of membership requirement (people with over 500 posts are the only ones who can use it, or the mods could select a few people they trust). This would sort of make sure that someone would always be browsing through that could deal with this stuff before too many people see it.

ANYWHO, is this 'button' even possible with this forum?

I think the notion is that reporting the post would automatically send a message to the mods. We would then take care of the post.

Yeah, if thats the idea, why not just send a PM? Also, there isn't always a moderator on...

why not just send a PM?

Because you would have to send one to each mod, wouldnt you? Is there a PM address that sends a message to all the mods?

Also, I would normally agree with you Taso but if I had pulled up a couple of the spams I saw yesterday, while I am here at work.. I would be fired or repremanded if my boss walked by. Not because I am on the internet, that is fine here, but because they were neked pics.

Jim

I hear ya, definitly understand that. That's why I'm saying we should put it in the hands of the users, that way these spam messages will be taken care of right pretty soon after they are created.

I think thats a good idea, if everyone finds the spam that bothersome. Personally, I don't see the big deal, some of it is entertaining. But I mean, you click the link, you see the hair removal product, MAYBE you go to the website and buy it, maybe not, that may be my personal method, I don't know, and then you're done with the post.

The only reason it may be bad is because we have a lot of kids here at GN, and parents tend to trust this website, and some of these spam messages are a little indecent. However, a 'report' button, that sent up a warning near the thread, in my opinion, would attract more attention than anything else (i'd definitly click it just to see what it said) . So maybe this button could serve to temporarily delete the thread.

Obviously the problem here would be abuse from random people just messing with the site. So, maybe there should be some sort of membership requirement (people with over 500 posts are the only ones who can use it, or the mods could select a few people they trust). This would sort of make sure that someone would always be browsing through that could deal with this stuff before too many people see it.

ANYWHO, is this 'button' even possible with this forum?

You're right on both counts - some of it is entertaining, and some of it's obscene. Me, I come here to talk about guitars - not to buy auto insurance or pills or watch Britney making out with a sheep - and I'd kinda like to keep it that way. Our reputation would definitely nosedive if parents felt they couldn't allow their kids to surf here unsupervised, too; that reputation pays for a lot of funding.

Best,

A :-)

Just done a bit of googling and found this.

It is basically a modification to the forum software which makes posts invisible to the rest of the board and places a message saying that the post is hidden awaiting moderation. It could be set to hide. for instance, the first 5 posts of any new member until the posts have been approved. After the 5 post mark has been reached the new member can post as normal.

This doesn't necessarily have to place extra burden onto the mods as the modification can be set to allow non mod forum members to approve posts. So the task of approving posts could be delegated to anyone with say, Denizen or Addict status. This should mean that the genuine new member will have their post shown without too much delay and the spam bots who typically only make one post should never be seen by respectable GN members.

Not sure of the technicalities of installing the modification (version compatibilities etc) but certainly worth looking into if we do feel something needs to be done about the spam.

HTH.

8)

I haven't looked at v2 of this hack, but v1 had quite a few issues including causing excessive database load, adding significantly to the page generation time, incompatibility with later versions of phpbb, and general bugs. I would think v2 would have addressed these issues, but ?