| 1. Ban external links from being posted in the New forum |   | 0 |
| 2. Only allow users with positive karma to post external links | | 1 |
| 3. Add a CAPTCHA system for registration | | 8 |
| All of the above | | 5 |
| Some other idea | | 1 |
| | Total Votes: | 15 |
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| Author | Message |
HarryPutter 
Posts: 2931
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 Posted: 09:58PM Oct 10, 2012 |
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The New? Start Here! forum is getting filled up daily with spam topics, and the mods can't be on 24/7 to clean it. We need to come up with a more permanent solution to stop this.
These are my recommendations for Jake:
1) Ban external links from being posted in the New forum. That forum is the only place being targeted and there is no context an external link would be necessary in an introduction forum.
2) Only allow users with positive karma to post external links. However, many of the spammer accounts somehow have positive karma without having positively contributed anything to the community....so this also calls for a reformulation of how karma is calculated.
3) Add a CAPTCHA or some other challenge test to prevent bots from making accounts.
Now comment and try to come up with other solutions. Maybe Jake can implement some of these if he sees there is support from the community, or use a better idea someone else comes up with.
---This message was edited on 10:02PM Oct 10, 2012---
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JQPublic
Posts: 1764
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Posted: 08:44AM Oct 11, 2012 |
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I think #3 is the most effective.
1. They can turn to General Discussions or use some other way to post links (like this: brain gle.com without the space)
2. The spammers are already getting positive karma by spamming. 
'An idea, like a ghost, must be spoken to a little before it will explain itself.' - Charles Dickens |
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Smithy 
Posts: 965
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Posted: 12:52PM Oct 11, 2012 |
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I thought a captcha would be a good idea, but a lot of the spammer's accounts were opened in August 2011, so who knows how many dormant spammer accounts there are lying around here?
Jake is looking into it and I'm sure he will come up with something magical.
---This message was edited on 12:52PM Oct 11, 2012--- |
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HarryPutter
Posts: 2931
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Posted: 01:05PM Oct 11, 2012 |
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Actually, I thought of a really good idea that I saw on a forum years back.
When someone is making their first post, they have to get it approved by a mod before it is posted to the site. I'm sure the mods will be able to weed out any bots that way. What do you guys think?
---This message was edited on 01:05PM Oct 11, 2012---
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Smithy
Posts: 965
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Posted: 01:12PM Oct 11, 2012 |
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I have no idea how hard it would be to implement such systems technically, but it sounds like a decent idea. The rate of new posters we get here wouldn't exactly create too great a workload, but it may make new users lose interest right from the start if there isn't a mod on to approve their message straight away.
You could combine that idea with #3 and have a Captcha with a user's first post. (Again, I have no idea how hard it would be to implement that sort of thing.)
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Shadows
Posts: 4680
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Posted: 08:37PM Oct 11, 2012 |
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The Captcha seems like the most effective and least tedious solution.
"Time's rushing by me like the wind / Gotta grab each moment that I can / 'Cause I'm never gonna feel like this again" |
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LogicalRoger 
Posts: 2444
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Posted: 09:08PM Oct 11, 2012 |
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Ugh. I hate captchas. I just hope captchas won't ever be a requirement for posting here. That would make the site terrible.
I have been noticing the spam as well and have been reporting the ones I see. It won't stop the posts, but at least they can be deleted. I'm unsure just how many there are daily, but I'll continue to report the spam on that forum when I can unless it gets to be too much.
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Smithy
Posts: 965
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Posted: 03:01AM Oct 12, 2012 |
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I'm assuming/hoping the solution won't need to be as extreme as a captcha with every post, that would indeed be rather tedious.
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HarryPutter
Posts: 2931
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Posted: 03:08AM Oct 12, 2012 |
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I think a first post captcha is the best idea so far 
Jake has the site restricted for certain time, point, and karma thresholds...so I assume implementing something similar like this shouldn't be very difficult.
---This message was edited on 03:09AM Oct 12, 2012---
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JQPublic
Posts: 1764
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Posted: 05:46AM Oct 12, 2012 |
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First post capchas/mod confirmation sounds like a good idea, but will that make the spammers re-programme their robots to make them post twice in a row? The first one will get rejected, but the second may still appear.
'An idea, like a ghost, must be spoken to a little before it will explain itself.' - Charles Dickens |
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JQPublic
Posts: 1764
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Posted: 06:46AM Oct 15, 2012 |
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Sorry for the double post. I've noticed that the friend request problem has been getting more and more serious. Only by registration captchas can we actually solve this problem
'An idea, like a ghost, must be spoken to a little before it will explain itself.' - Charles Dickens |
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charlottes-odd
Posts: 183
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Posted: 01:01PM Dec 28, 2012 |
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This may be a bit of a silly question but what exactly is a captcha? Im not much of a technical person, so things like that dont make much sense to me
But all the spam is really annoying, i really like the new? Start here part, i really like saying hi to new people and finding out about them, it was so lovely when i joined and everyone was saying hello to me 
Heartbreak is where creativity is born |
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Ihmisen
Posts: 172
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Posted: 06:23PM Dec 28, 2012 |
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I would just instate more moderators in that forum. Larger amount in more time zones could sweep the problem away very quickly.
...If the current ones are willing to share the spotlight...
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JQPublic
Posts: 1764
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Posted: 07:44PM Dec 28, 2012 |
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Charlotte, that's the funny-looking text you need to type in before you sign up for an account in most websites.
'An idea, like a ghost, must be spoken to a little before it will explain itself.' - Charles Dickens |
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charlottes-odd
Posts: 183
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Posted: 07:47PM Dec 28, 2012 |
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OH RIGHT!!!  i know the things you mean, never knew what they were called, thanks for clearing that up for me!
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HarryPutter
Posts: 2931
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Posted: 05:01PM Feb 6, 2013 |
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It looks like a mandatory amount of points are required for noobs to post now. No clue what the threshold is, though  I'm guessing it's 50 points.
---This message was edited on 05:01PM Feb 6, 2013---
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