Hogwarts
It seems like a reasonable script idea, and for the most part I believe it would cut down a large majority of the present spam.
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Block posting of links for users with < 5 postsAftershockVibe
Hmmm. That's a nice idea.
I'd be interested to see how many of the first five posts of legitimate users contain links though. deanhills
http://www.frihost.com/forums/vt-114585.html By the way, there are plenty of those, without the required quotes to start with, and then being advised to add quotes and to provide the link to the quote. Hogwarts
Well, yeah, but they didn't even put it in quote tags by themself -- or cite the source. They just copy-pasted, and I think it's somebody trying to get attention for their article anyway  deanhills
nam_siddharth
I do not like this idea. It will discourage genuine new users to either discontinue posting here if they find out that they cannot create a post which requires a link, or to spam the forums until they can post the topic they really wanted to post. I am telling this from my own experience from other communities. I genuinely wanted to join some communities, but I could not stay there for long because of the limitations they had on new users. I cannot post in some specific forums, cannot reply to some specific topics etc. I had the only option to spam in those forums where I can post to qualify as a regular user. But during my spamming period I lost interest in those communities and discontinued. So, what I contributed there? The spams, which I never wanted to do. And what could I not contribute? The genuine topics or posts I could have make. Bondings
@Hogwarts, do you encounter a lot of these type of spam messages on Frihost?
Because I do notice them from time to time, but judging from the spam can it's usually just a few per day at the maximum. And if there are more, then it's usually done by the same user in a short amount of time. Of course, a few a day is still a lot and it might be off a bit since I only looked at a few days. By the way, about disabling links. On websites where text links aren't possible/allowed, there are still spammers which simply use a full-text url. And when there are filters for url's they simply use spaces and other obfuscation. By disabling links you limit the effect of spam posts (for the spammer), but most of the time you still get the same amount of spam posts so it's rather ineffective as it is as annoying and needs the same work for moderators to remove. Of course on big websites where there is next to no moderation and spam posts would be viewed by lots of users before (or if) it is removed, then disabling links makes more sense deanhills
In my experience there are also a large number of cut and paste posts from first time Frihosters. I have reported some of those with the report function, which is OK to do occasionally, but I seem to be doing it more often than probably should be necessary. I wonder whether it could be an idea to appoint one or more of the moderators with a fixed brief to scan all new messages of first-time users. Would there be a way for example to code all new Frihoster's first five postings, so that they would be linked to a list of "new Frihoster first messages" creche page for easy handling by moderators? The messages would appear in the Forums, but can be accessed from a separate "creche" page. The first five messages of new Frihosters could then be scanned on a one-off basis? That would also be the opportunity to assist new Frihosters with obvious bloomers like not using quotes, as well as to delete obvious spam. Perhaps it could be coded too, that once the five messages have been OK'd through the creche page, that they would be eligible for Web space. I.e. a link could then automatically appear on a new Frihoster's Account Page that he/she can now apply for Web space. The OK link could be automated, so that when they click on the link, that they are taken to an automated Website space application form that would make it easier for the Administrators to deal with.
Hogwarts
There are some that end up not being reported, such as http://www.frihost.com/forums/vt-114162.html. It's also a copy-paste post, of which Deanhills mentioned, and yet it hasn't been spamcanned. I just reported several posts in < 10 minutes, most of which had links to external services in them (albeit some of those were broken) Bondings
Yes, but copy pasted content is a different issue. The post/topic you linked to, doesn't contain any links at all @deanhills, when handling hosting requests, all posts of the user in question are shown on the same page as the other details and they are checked before accepting the hosting request. So we already have something similar to what you mentioned. Apart from the posts, another important thing is the description of what they want to do with the account. This needs to be checked since often users want to do things that aren't allowed by our TOS (and they don't know it yet), like hosting a proxy. mOrpheuS
There was before. I should have left a note when I edited out the link.  deanhills
This thread has been at least good in one way, in that it has given me food for thought. Am I really being of assistance when I "report" copy paste articles? Or is that a self-delusion?
After viewing a number of Calvin's quotes in mOrpheuS' signature I have come to a simple equalizing Calvin type conclusion that if I do click on the report button, that maybe I will be robbing Moderators from opportunities to make cut and paste discoveries of their own OR robbing Moderators from opportunities to miss out on cut and paste discoveries of their own. Perhaps it would be healthier to adopt an attitude of simple detachment and look at those copy paste postings with uncritical eyes. There may be something really good in them that I can respond to for the time that it takes me to click on the report button and report the copy paste. Bondings
@deanhills, I'm not sure what you mean but if we remove posts due to copy-pasting then they are still visible to the staff (although not in the same topic), so we still know that it happened.
SonLight
deanhills,
I definitely think it's best to report copy-pastes or any kind of inappropriate post. I love a mystery, so I enjoy seeing if I can track it down when a post smells like copy-paste, even when the poster changed a few words. If bad posts are brought to the attention of moderators quickly, then they get removed or modified and others are not encouraged to follow the bad example. I kind of enjoy adding a few hints about where the post might have come from when I see them. It's really too bad those comments can't be shared with everyone. Of course moderators might enjoy figuring out where the post came from as much as I do. If they have that much spare time on their hands, maybe the site could set up a private moderation forum where they could debate which is the original source of the quote. I often find a couple of uncited quotes when I search for unanswered posts. While I think they should be reported (if for no other reason, so the poster will be warned and remember to use quotes next time), I have no problem with answering the post if it raises an interesting issue. deanhills
misterXY
Why not like Are you human? or Captcha? Something like that, per post, and failing it like 100 tries will just lock them out (ISP block from FriHost) and send an e-mail off too wait a week?, do it for like the first five posts, then remove it? Will tick new users off maybe, but note that "Verification Process" or "Anti-Spam Process" will blow over before they know it, and patient enough for free hosting. Blocking links is great, but as noted, there's work arounds
Hogwarts
From what I can see, a lot of spam on Frihost's forums is done by humans; i.e. 'SEO' companies and cheaply paid workers. misterXY
Ya but just as an added layer. Report copy n paste though,, likeeee :p deanhills
Have to agree with Hogwarts. A lot of spam is by humans, willingly, knowingly and quite a number of times with malicious intent. I don't think that cheaply paid workers would have the time to spam however. Probably more like bored individuals, whether employed or unemployed, and/or individuals looking for some cheap thrills and amusement. ocalhoun
Also, possibly people who answer "work online from home & make lots of money" spam emails. misterXY
Here's a novel idea, let's spam the spammers :p
deanhills
kutekitten
First, note, I'm totally against spamming spammers, you don't fight fire with fire... it always comes back to get you eventually. However, for argument's sake, isn't murdering murderers what they do in the states as part of their legal system? I'm aware that it's off topic, but I thought it was an interesting point to bring up lol. Related topics
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