From some of the posts here i would say the forums need more moderators. I would be happy to assist in this if neede be. I am a qualified horticulturalist and moderate at a few online forums. Let me know if you ever need any help...
Are you talking about the spam, or about problems in conversations? If it's the spam, I'd also suggest considering that people have a day's delay between registering and being able to post. I'm pretty sure this forum software can handle that. Also needing email confirmation that is checked manually would slow down the spam considerably, especially if people had to write something about permaculture on the registration page.
Yeah the spam. There is a great anti spam add on which i installed at my forum (its a phpBB one too) Its called AntiSpam ACP and is available (free) at https://www.lithiumstudios.org/ or just follow the links at the phpbb support forum... EDIT: Just wanted to add I am not affiliated with the anti spam product... I just use it and it seems to work well.
THe spam (PORN) is indeed a problem, however can we avioid the usual delay in messages that moderation that causes?
You can just have moderated membership for the forum, if to join I have to write some sort of intro message that keeps out 99% of the spammers since they're not people but just programs. On the signup you just have "enter here why you want to join this forum" and a moderator gets an email with your message, if it's obviously a spammer they click "reject membership".
Yes, people who already have membership don't have their posts moderated, it's just setting up some 'filters' on who gets to be a member. I think the s/w also allows for people registering with the same email address, or fake addresses, to be blocked. Eric, can you tell us how Antispam works?
the porn spam is a newy here....dont recall seeing it before would be happy to regegister if this is needed to X the spam Cathy
Hi, AntiSpam works similar to the current set up where you can't add ANY additional info until AFTER registering. It also includes a "captcha". Unfortunately that doesn't stop "real people" signups from posting spam. Moderators are usually the best way to rid spam from a forum. when those doing see its "Well maintained" they get the hint and move on. I've just been luck enough to find this forum so i don't want to be pushy, but if there are well known members here who could act as additional moderators it would help keep the place clean. One particular forum I moderate on (Conquer Your Niche) has about 10 moderators for each forum and rarely does a bad (spam) message stay up for longer than a few minutes.
I use the "new posts since last visit" link to access this forum. There's been times recently when there'll be 15 new posts and two of them will be legit. I'm on another forum that is well moderated, but those spam posts still turn up in the new posts link. I'm not sure if that's a technical issue, or if it's because there's so much spam and only so many moderators. Unless you have 24 hour coverage I can't see how you can prevent this, which is why I'm wondering if it's worth putting a delay between registering and posting, as well as requiring people to state why they want to join the forum.
I see that some of the spammers are the same person using different memberships. It should be possible to ban someone based on their IP number and prevent them from setting up new accounts. Eric, does that work with automated spammers?
Unfortunately, although add on scripts will stop a lot of garbage sign-ups there is still the need for additional moderators to keep the spam from manual signers at a minimum. Setting the registration to admin approval can help (a little) but you would have to guess which usernames (or email addresses) are dodgy... obviously "pornposter" would be a delete where "perma-poster" would need further investigation and / or a trial approval. Yeah, there is definetely a need for people in different time zones to be moderators on any forum to ensure 24 hour coverage.
The part i don't get is why the same user is still posting the same garbage... i would have thought he would have been deleted and IP banned by now.
Because there are no moderators. And dealing with spam is being done at a very basic level. Is Murray the only person able to do this? It's alot of work for one person, so yeah, let's consider having moderators. I notice that the keyword list of hot topics on the front page of the forum is virtually ALL p*rn words at the moment That's not a good look if we want more people to join and get involved.
Yes, my point exactly. For those of us who have links in our signatures or recommend a site about organics or permaculture... it doesn't look good.
What i think is interesting is the number of views on some of those threads. While they are still getting hits they aren't going quit. If you permies feel that you really need to see big boobies or old asian sex then search for it outside of this forum. :lol: seriously... those people that hit on the threads, get a life.
hits to pages (views) can often be google bots or other search engine spiders. While they do not always show up as hits some of them do. this makes it worse because it gives the domain (permaculture.org.au) the reputation that it accepts this content. this is NOT good for the forum or the domain.
I am a new member although I have been reading posts here for a while. I find it unfortunate that my first post is about the "spam" on the site and nothing related to permaculture! As a new member I would have no qualms whatsoever about the registration process requiring more details, nor would I mind my initial posts being moderated before being posted, however I realise that requires more people doing the job of moderating. Please, can something be done about it? It's not just the stand alone, pornographic threads - I just opened up a thread about scaly leg mites and the most recent post opened up with some darn awful photographs - just as two of my children were walking in through the door. Thank you, Ree
Hi Mumchook & others I just want you to know that I support you in your comments. I had the same thing happen to me, I openned up a thread which was pronographic[/img]unknowling as my 3 little boys and husband were standing at the computer interested in what I was reading and to find this was to say the least a [/img] huge suprise, and I don't like suprises. So I just go back to our permaculture principles of being self regulating and responsible. There are plenty of sites out there specifically with this stuff on it and we can access it if we want to anytime. We are here to discuss permaculture and be in a different world. Anyway these are just my thoughts...warmly Leanne
Ditto... I pinged Murray with some spam deterrent techniques... and he has tried to use some captchas in the past with no luck. I recommended ReCaptcha after I heard that... as that is pretty secure. I've noticed the spam has lessened... so maybe he has flipped some switches and pulled some plugs Oh... and as a semi-safe guard, look at the user name of the person who started the thread. Most of the posts happen with a non-familiar account.