Moderator Spam Hunters

This is not really that important, but it would sure be nice if the moderators could quicly remove/prevent all the spam health/garbage posts.

Like, is there anyway to detect the ip and prevent these moorons from opening new accounts and posting here for good.

From the type of stuff the bots post, it shouldn't be too difficult to automatically detect it and ban. Fight bots with bots.

Step 1 - Anti-spam bots

Step 2 - ????

Step 3 - SKYNET!

Yeah, killlll the boottttsss....

I think the multiplayer for Halo allowed the host to kick players using their ip, not sure though, or if it is possible.

MayBe make it that you have to answer questions, where the answers are in one of C2's tutorials, when signing up....

Step 1 - Anti-spam bots

Step 2 - ????

Step 3 - SKYNET!

Hehe, iRobots, where's Will when you need him.....

On my own forums I just ban IPs from certain countries known for spamming, but that that's not as international as this forum, so that woulnd't be fair.

The other way is to use a plugin that ties in with StopForumSpam or similar, but that's no perfect as it relies on other forums reporting those spammers in the first place.

Considering the measures that have been put into place (no URLs, no PMs, etc.), I think the moderators are doing a reasonable job of controlling the spam. Spammy posts are usually cleared up within 24 hours of posting (although I do think having a couple of mods across the timelines would be helpful). Really the only next step that could be taken is to manually moderate each new user's first post (and preventing them from posting further until it's been done), but that can quickly become a heavy workload, and isn't all that friendly for legitimate new users.

EDIT: I'll add that spammers seem to sometimes put their URLs in the heading of the post, so that should probably be included in the spam filter.

Also, I guess that this post should be in Forum Issues, but at least it's getting some attention here.

Also, I guess that this post should be in Forum Issues, but at least it's getting some attention here.

Yeah, you're right there. Sorry about that.

Also, I don't want to imply that the mods are not doing a good job already. Just wondering about ways to make their job easier...

The other forums I frequent require your first couple of posts to be vetted by a moderator before you're let loose on your own. And you can't post your second until your first is accepted. This works very well indeed....