Do you allow new users to post immediately? On the other forum I am at, new users must have two approved posts before the general public can see them instantly. They could post 50 times but until a mod approves two of them none of them can be seen.
Requiring 2 post to be approved by mods could/would tend to turn some valid new members away. Along with Admin getting a lot more emails asking why they were not allowed to post/or their post aren't being displayed/answered.
At the other site I'm at. The Admin was over whelmed from people emailing him when the spamomatic was set to sensitive and almost every new member was being banned as a spammer. Now he only gets 10 or so a week.
Spamomatic is not auto. A mod has to activate on a spammer post at the other site I am at. Just makes it quick and easy to dump someone who comes and post multiple spam messages.
It has an auto ability. Scans new members IPs. And will not allow ones with suspect IPs. Admin can activate it or not. Plus can set sensitivity for other things.
It has a lot of features a mod doesn't necessarily have access to.
Its not unusual to get several reports on the same spam post. On the Email we receive we see the post title, thread title, and the full post number(EG: 1055708), so we can tell from the report that its the same one being reported.
I run a vb forum the same size as this one and rarely have a spammer get through. I'm not sure who the admin is, but if they want to talk about what I do, just pm me. I can share my IP ban list also, it's quite extensive and I have a technique for updating it that works really well.
I helped the Hoosier Mountain Bike Association harden their site against spammers as well.
You shouldn't have to delete later posts to delete a spam post. Click the checkboxes by the posts you want to delete, hit moderation tools at the bottom of thread and delete them all at once.
The best bet though is not to ban the spammers but to delete the user then add their IP address into the ban list. Once you get 2 IPs with the first 2 or 3 octets the same, ban that entire subnet. Say you get 23.34.45.56 and 23.34.45.87, you can pretty much be assured that 23.34.45.xxx is not needed so you put 23.34.45 in the ban list to block the entire subnet. Keep the IP ban list in numerical order so it's easy to work with down the road. Eventually you have a list that blocks spammers but not real users from even registering.
I believe what Jim is referring to is that we then either leave a post that no longer makes sense, or delete/edit it. Also, quoting a spam post is not a good idea either.
You all must get something tremendous in advertising appeal if you want to let the newbies stretch out their new existence to the point they can spit forth links and spam. If it were possible, and given their IP addresses were showing up on sites that track spammers, trolls and all? Why would you discourage your people from taking them out? Or those of us who like your site for that matter and know you will never come up with a real spammer or troll killing prize.
American Express gives you 2 more ads even if you add only 30,000 bogus newbies in December? And then we, your loyal site visitors sort it out for you when they are embedded. Nice PR strategy I guess. Not without danger you know.
When a person is band, he doesn't show as a count on the new members list. This isn't our forum, it is your forum, we are just members like you are, we just can ban a bad guy. We don't like to see the forum cluttered up with all the garbage either.
If you start a tread like "has anyone tried the new ultra light mud from USG" or "has anyone tried such and such product from say trim tex " is this considered spam or trolling. Everyone must be eating, not much going on thought might be a good time to ask.
Hey, y'all hold down all that smacking and slurping going on out there, and chew with your mouth shut, I'm trying to get my Social Security nap here already. Man that turkey sure was good.
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