Would screening 1st posts prevent spam?

[scbingham]

Hi All

I was wondering, if all first posts by users were screened by the moderators, would stop annoying threads appearing in the support forums? The ones listing new episodes of something or another, or ones blatantly advertising.
They are always a 'users' first post.

Personally they drive me nuts .

I doubt it would add too much to their work load & save me gnashing my teeth.

Just a thought. Comments?

[coffeecat]

Thread moved to Forum Feedback & Help.

The amount of spam we get is a fraction of what is was about a year ago – thanks to some measures we put in place last year. And, no, I'm not going to say what they were – spam herders read these and other forums. And also many thanks to all the members who report spam posts so that they can be dealt with promptly.

I doubt it would add too much to their work load

With about 300-350 new registrations a day, yes it would, unfortunately. Apart from the workload, imagine the annoyance caused to new members by the inevitable delay that automatic moderation would involve. We would have endless and justifiable complaints. Some small forums do screen all new members, but it's a counter-productive measure on large ones. It's not going to happen.

But thanks for your interest. Any ideas to combat the scourge of spam are always welcome.

[scbingham]

Coffeecat, it was by no means a dig at the mods, just a thought.

I'll just keeps my eyes open & report as I find them.

Just like to say, you all do great job!

[coffeecat]

I didn't take it as a dig!

I sympathise with your irritation. Believe me, because the forum staff see much more spam than non-staff members, we get very irritated. But there are compensations. We get to see how daft some spammers can be. All the following have happened and have made our day:

Spammers who report their own posts with the Report Post button! Honestly!

Spammers who send a spam pm in reply to the welcome pm from an admin. Good move, that!

Spammers who post in a thread subscribed to by staff - often about spam. Get ready for this thread to be spammed.

Giving the username of an already banned spammer in the referrer field when registering.

[Iowan]

Let's not forget spammers who report OTHER spammers...

With occasional exception, spam posts generally don't stay active for much over 5 minutes. Community and staff usually find/report them and they are gone.

[SeijiSensei]

Spammers who send a spam pm in reply to the welcome pm from an admin. Good move, that!

Maybe an automated process rather than an actual human?

[Iowan]

Maybe an automated process rather than an actual human?

Probably... but still ban fodder.

[jockyburns]

I'm a moderator on a forum I frequent quite a lot and find that some spam comes in waves. A few months ago it was all "Watch the Washington Redskins V New York Yankees",, "Watch Manchester United V Harlem Globetrotters" (you get the idea) etc , etc. They were posting almost every few seconds. As soon as I'd moved a post to the spam archive, another 3 would appear. Once spent over 2 hrs deleting and moving posts. As soon as a new user was banned, a similar name was registered and the spam continued. It stopped for a few weeks , before starting up again. Thankfully, it's been all quiet on the western front, for a month now. They must be spamming another forum)