Forum Suggestions & User Assistance - suggestion re: spamming newbies

The recent spate of blatant spam messages in various topic areas reminds me of a simple setup at another message board I frequent: New members must undergo a short trial period where they can ONLY reply to existing threads of discussion, not start new topics. This phase can last anywhere from 10 to 20 replies before the privilege of starting a thread of discussion kicks in. It absolutely weeds out the riff-raff and anyone foolish enough to start hammering away with their commercial solicitations in existing threads of discussion is immediately terminated.

That would be great. Can it be done here Joe?

New members must undergo a short trial period where they can ONLY reply to existing threads of discussion, not start new topics.

It doesn't stop them entirely. They simply tack onto the end of a thread with their spam. On a board this size that's actually more difficult to spot. The easiest way to deal with it is to use a moderator queue, but that's very difficult with a board this size. The spammers are getting more clever every day.

I know I reported this latest batch at about 0300 PDT. Still here at 0633 PDT. shrug....

East Hill

But some newbies join because they have a specific question that they want answered.

I have no plans on restricting posting access for new members. A good portion of the new members post less then half a dozen times. I can't imagine making the community that restricted.

As for moderating comments? It wouldn't be possible. We have over 6000 new posts a day. Theres just simply no way to moderate all new posts on a forum of this size.

The [report this post to a moderator] is the best way for us to catch the spam. If the spam is still there after a few hours, report it again. :)

Joe, I don't think Bockman meant that the moderators should moderate all new posts, just the first five or so for new members.

But it would still be almost impossible on a board this size. I know other boards do not allow links until a new member has made a minimum number of posts, but as many people come here looking for (as Daily Commute pointed out) specific questions to be answered, they need to be able to post links to photos for identification.

I don't know if it would be possible to have new members post at least once in the Introductions before they are allowed to post with a link? That could possibly cut down on some of the spam. Still wouldn't get rid of all of it, though.

I am happy to flag spammers, just as long as I don't get banned again for doing so :D .

And as long as you (Joe) say I can send repeat flags, I will ;) .

East Hill

As far as I know the BB software does the monitoring, not a human. After x number of replies to posts, one can then start a new thread of discussion. To me it seems like a win-win situation; the new members who come here looking for specific information about a single problem are funneled into doing a search instead of posting an oft-repeated question, and we're not greeted on Sunday morning with 30-50 new threads started by someone in China selling bogus electronics.

A two-tear system may be nice in theory, but Joe's point is that it might not work well in practice. Think of the newbie who might have lurked for some time... or not.

Then he joins specifically because he wants to buy a bike and has a question on drivetrain modifications. He can't see a similar question on the Commuting or Bicycle Mechanics page. He even did search, but he only found messages related to very different bikes and he is not sure that the answer would apply to his case.

What would you prefer?

A. That this person registers and starts a new tread right away to ask his question?

B. That he posts a useless empty introduction or answers a few "me too" messages to fill a software-driven quota, so that he could then start a tread with his question?

C. That he adds his question onto a totally unrelated tread?

I think "Option A" is by far the best alternative, in essence agreeing with Joe. As for spam, I think there is far less spam and junk on Bikeforums then there is on the internet in general and even in many other forums.

As they say, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it". Or if it's mostly OK, don't try a new solution until you're sure it's a better one.