Moderating new users

[fwiffo]

I'm warming up to the idea of not allowing links until a user has 5 posts, though I haven't looked into exactly how it would be implemented. It seems like I'm banning spammers a couple times a day now, and given how aggressively Google spiders these days, even an hour or two between when the spam is posted and when it's deleted can be a victory for the spammer.

We could also add more moderators.

[Chew Terr]

If it's a burden for the moderators or if removing the spam is urgent, adding moderators might not be bad. While ya'all are awesome and always on the ball, sharing the burden/workload doesn't seem like a bad idea. Additionally, if disallowing links from (brand) new members is an easy-to-test option, perhaps we should give it a shot?

[hyperpape]

Spam is mildly obnoxious if you use "unread posts", it's a real pain if you look at the index and see whether your favorite forums update (I'm about 50-50 on those).

Why not let established users mark spam and have it be held for moderation? If misusing this power is severely discouraged, this seems like an ok solution. It's less intrusive than holding everything for moderation, but faster than leaving it to the admins.

@fwiffo Does phpbb not use nofollow?

[Magicwand]

i think we can add report spam button.
if there are more than 3 report it will profile him as the spammer and del all thread stared by that spammer.

[kirkmc]

i think we can add report spam button.
if there are more than 3 report it will profile him as the spammer and del all thread stared by that spammer.

There's already such a button. It's just that there's getting to be a lot of spam, and it takes time for the spam to be deleted. I've seen new spams at least a half-dozen times today. I don't see it getting any better without something to mod first posts.

[Chew Terr]

As hyperpape said, I like the idea of hiding spam once it's been marked as such by a user. A moderater could then either delete the post or override the flag. My concern with this is if it takes much extra programming for the admins to implement.

[Jordus]

The spammer issue should be fixed soon. There is a new update to the phpbb3 forums that fixes a bug in the captcha feature that has recently been exploited by spam bots.

I will implement the update tonight at a low traffic period.

[Jordus]

Update is done.

[Joaz Banbeck]

Update is done.

[kirkmc]

Update is done.

Could this update have removed the "Mark all posts read" text, which is no longer visible at the tops of pages?

[Jordus]

yes... it will be re-added as soon as i figure out the difference in the coding for the new page...

[kirkmc]

yes... it will be re-added as soon as i figure out the difference in the coding for the new page...

OK, thanks.

[Jordus]

Mark Malkovitch read button should be working now. Let me know if there are any problems.

[hyperpape]

I think it also reordered those options: "mark all/malkovitch as read" were on the right, weren't they?

[schultz]

I know I'm weighing in on this topic pretty late (and after the phpbb version has been updated and everything), but still wanted to give my nickels worth of free advice.

Personally, I do not want to see individual account moderation (activating accounts to allow them to post). When I first signed up for an account on GD, I ended up in some form of moderation queue. My account was created, but I couldn't post anything (I could even send PMs if I remember correctly). It was never fixed and so I sat around for a couple of months with an account but not able to participate. I wasn't able to join in with you guys until we all moved over here to L19.

So I'd prefer to keep the work load of cleaning up spammers, and not the work load of activating accounts. Either way, hopefully this is all fixed and we don't ever have to worry about it again.