Spammers

[jpwone]

Hi Sharky,

The site seems to be attractive to spammers. Could I suggest a simple way of limiting the interruptions to live threads causd by this?

For the first 45 days of a new members membership restrict all posting for the new user to a forum called 'New Member'.

This means that genuine new members can still ask questions and comment on topics but only within the 'New Member' forum. The spammers are then limited to only interrupting the flow of one forum unless they wait 45 days before posting.

It has the added advantage of giving beginner traders a place to ask questions again without the question interrupting a live thread or being in the wrong section.

The new members should still be allowed to view existing topics in other sections.

 

[Sharky]

I've now removed all six identical spam adverts from the forums.

Thanks for your suggestion - we'll certainly consider it. The only problem I see with it, is that it would make it very difficult to reply to a topic if you genuinely had something to add. Often new members find the site because they are searching for a particular topic and they hit upon a thread discussing it. They'd have to wait the 45 day period to contribute, or start a new thread about it in the "New Members" forum - which wouldn't be ideal.

As long as we have sufficinet moderators and members keep reporting any spam then anything posted should be removed relatively quickly and the person automatically gets a ban and their ip banned. I suppose we're just vulnerable at UK night time, so maybe we need a US moderator for the graveyard shift.

Often spammers are opportunist they'll register and immediately spam, perhaps even having a cooling off period of a couple of days (before you can post) would be sufficient to get rid of 90% of spammers.

There are various steps that can be taken, but I have to admit that I inherently prefer to not restrict access, and keep the site as open as possible - at least until the interruptions become intolerable (but at least for the moment, I'd say we are managing to stay on top of the spammers).

 

[adrianallen99]

The problem is far worse on ADVFN. You could perhaps not allow new posters to put links or webpage references, or make it so that their first posts have to be moderated before they appear on line.

 

[oatman]

A new member may well be a very experienced trader and would not hang about if refused access.

 

[bonsai]

it works pretty well at the moment

the only problem is getting the Mods out of bed early in the morning.

 

[Sharky]

I agree with bonsai, I think we'll keep the possible changes on the back burner for now - and review them when the need arises.