PLEASE READ: Usernames and possible new Default User Settings

[David Hodgkins]

I'd like to note a Standard Operations Procedure (SOP) related to usernames and get some input on possibly changing some default settings for new users.

SPAM sucks. In order to protect the forum from spam, we use both plugins and manual scans to try and root out SPAM members. For example, we currently have 7051 members, in addition to 41194 spammers that were denied registration. We have also banned over 500 users, almost exclusively due to spam. It's not a perfect process, and I end up manually registering 2 to 5 members a week when our software returns a false positive and the registrant then uses the "Contact Us" link embedded in the rejection messege.

Still, spammers sneak through the process and proceed to try and gum up the works. Usually it's in the form of Blog Posts and, strangely enough, Pic Albums.

In an effort to zap spammers before they do what they do, one of our SOPs is to manually look at all the new registrations and kick out those that look suspicious. One of the things we look at is usernames. If a username looks like gibberish, it goes on our watch list. If there are other strange features - for example, gibberish email address - we sometimes ban a new user on the spot. Therefore it is our recommendation that all new users have a username that makes some kind of sense, or you may be banned without warning. Especially if you have 0 posts, of the posts you have are extremely generic in nature. You can of course get reinstated - probably - by request via the "Contact Us" form.

Another way to help thwart spammers would be to take away their preferred platforms for spamming, namely blogs and albums. Therefore I'm thinking of restricting those privileges to users with a certain post count. What are your thoughts on this? I'm thinking of a low number, say 10 posts or so.

Comments?

:)

[Shanker]

Hi David,

I do understand the problems you are having with spammers but I for one, I don't think I have posted anything as of yet, I have been on here for years, I have the donor car already I have purchased the manual and gone through it
but still need to save up a little more for the kit. kicking me out, would be a big pain. There has to be other ways to clean up the spammers.

[Ray]

David,

That sounds good to me. 10-posts sounds like a very reasonable number.

Ray

[Hankl]

Hi David,

I do understand the problems you are having with spammers but I for one, I don't think I have posted anything as of yet, I have been on here for years, I have the donor car already I have purchased the manual and gone through it
but still need to save up a little more for the kit. kicking me out, would be a big pain. There has to be other ways to clean up the spammers.

Shanker,

This wouldn't impact you, plus we can always work around it if you do have a problem.


I agree with Ray, as much as I like banning the spammers, it takes time.

Hank :cool:

[David Hodgkins]

Shanker is an ID we wouldn't just ban. I'll ban something like 322hgsded7s939 if the spam software doesn't catch it. The last SPAMMER I banned was "Vagilleme" after album spam was posted. I checked "Vagilleme"'s registration due to the name and found the spam.

Thanks for posting, tell us some more about your build!

:)

[Mike N]

David. 10 posts is fine, even 20 isn't too much.

[riptide motorsport]

Do what you must do.

[SStrong]

This is a real problem and I agree that spammers have to be kept off. Hard to separate the wheat from the chaff when you have so many people wanting to join. I haven't posted yet either, but am in the middle of my Roadster build and find the forums to be a great source of information and reply to a lot of posts.

[Movieman]

David, I'm an admin over at XtremeSystems where we have over 135,000 registered members.
We went thru hell with the spammers and I mean hell.
People posting disgusting porn pics, the sneaker and cell phone salesmen. You name it we saw it.
Finally came up with a fix.
A $1.00 registration fee paid thru paypal.
Wasn't a money grab but the one thing a spammer will absolutely not do is pay a buck to get banned after his first spam post.
It has 100% solved the problem.
Best of luck and if anyone complains about $1.00 then they simply don't have to join.
Personally with the great people here and the sharing of info a buck is the best deal anyone ever saw!:D

[tirod]

Plenty of forums I've joined have a minimum count to post in certain subforums. Most often it was in for sale forums, as in 30 posts before putting a for sale up. It minimized the members exposure to a relative unknown just hawking goods.

In this forum, I would support not offering an album or blog unless they qualify by having a financial interest - either a chassis number or "sponsorship", leaving that to be defined. There's plenty of room on the internet for expressing opinion, what should be paramount is having a forum where the subject matter is the focus.

[JoeT]

just checking my post count :)

[David Hodgkins]

OK I set some things up and if we set the minimum number of posts to 20, then 511 people would qualify for using Albums and Blogs.

A minimum post count of 20 seems reasonable to me. It encourages posting - LOTS of lurkers out there - and takes a good amount of work for a spammer to overcome.

Thoughts?

:)

[David Hodgkins]

More statistics:

Of the 70 current blogs, 33 are by users with less than 20 posts. Of those 33, 15 of them are being used to ask questions (That's what the forums are for). 9 more are simply quotes of existing posts (probably users who accidently hit the "blog this post" button under their post).

Which leaves 9 users with less than 20 posts who are using the Blogs as intended that would be affected by the change.

[vnmsss]

Thanks for being proactive on this David. I support the direction you are going, and while it may seem a bit Draconeon to some, the processes you enact with help all members (lurkers too) further enjoy their experience in our community. Whether it's 10 legitimate posts or 20 doesn't matter, although the 20 may encourage all members (new and long-time lurkers) to connect with folks and spark up conversations/dialogue about these great cars. Thanks for all of your efforts!!!

Karen

[David Hodgkins]

Thanks Karen.

One option is to allow blog entries but put them into moderation. That way the few folks that have been using the blogs but don't have a high enough post count will still be able to use the blogs and the spammer posts will never make it to "publication". I moderate posts several times a day already so it wouldn't be much more work. I could also steer the ones who use their blog to post questions to the proper forum. Again, more work, but we could give a hand to those folks who are new to the site and need some direction on where to post questions.

:)

[David Hodgkins]

Thanks Karen.

One option is to allow blog entries but put them into moderation. That way the few folks that have been using the blogs but don't have a high enough post count will still be able to use the blogs and the spammer posts will never make it to "publication". I moderate posts several times a day already so it wouldn't be much more work. I could also steer the ones who use their blog to post questions to the proper forum. Again, more work, but we could give a hand to those folks who are new to the site and need some direction on where to post questions.

:)

I have implemented this. Users with less than 20 posts can still use the blogs but their posts will be moderated (approved) before they can be seen. After I implemented this an issue has been brought to my attention that some folks can't reach the Front Page, the Vendor page and perhaps others as well. I believe I've fixed it but if you have an issue, please PM me or post here...

Thanks!

:)

[Arch]

David,
Glad you are working on spammers, what a pain.

On another note, my post count is low because I find this place confusing. Blogs, forums, etc. Not user friendly for me so I don't visit often.

Good luck,
Arch

[David Hodgkins]

On another note, my post count is low because I find this place confusing. Blogs, forums, etc. Not user friendly for me so I don't visit often.


Arch, I'm sorry you feel that way. You can find 90% of the functionality from the Home page, and then just click the "Links" button to jump to any forum. The blogs are just an added bonus for Build Journals, etc.

I hope to see you around more,

:)

[The Stig]

Arch, I'm sorry you feel that way. You can find 90% of the functionality from the Home page, and then just click the "Links" button to jump to any forum. The blogs are just an added bonus for Build Journals, etc.

I hope to see you around more,

:)

David,

Are you the Forum/Site manager? I've always assumed that you had something to do with it, but was never sure. I posted today regarding the current inability to run searches by individual forums. I wasn't sure who to address it to, so I just posted it in general, hoping that the right person would see it and respond.