[hrothgar]

I'm sure most of the forum users have noticed a rather disturbing increase in the amount of SPAM thats getting posted to these forums.

I don't suppose that we could cross index the BBO membership list with the forum software permission's list. FOrums users would need to have a valid BBo user ID and use the same ID in both places. We might even require that forums members play a certain number of boards per month or some such.

[inquiry]

We are investigating the possibility of BBO membership before you can join the forum. There certainly has been a lot of new spam, but I hope most of you don't notice it. We delete it fairly quickly. Blocking isp seems useless as they spoof isp's so restrictions like you suggest are probably the best way to go. As I said, we are already investigating.

I have found the post with spread-eagle nudity that have popped up a lot lately extremely bothersome, and I have almost decided to remove the ability to post images or links to images to avoid them in the future. But hopefully we can find a sensible solution without going to those extremes. Besides one member seems disappointed when we remove nude pictures of this or that movie star.

[sceptic]

make that two or one twice

[barmar]

If you're going to post pictures, at least keep them on-topic and post the Swedish junior team. Even fully-clothed they're hot.

[FrancesHinden]

hrothgar, on Nov 24 2006, 01:06 AM, said:

We might even require that forums members play a certain number of boards per month or some such.

That's me gone, then.

[Echognome]

I don't think any member of these forums would want you to leave Frances, nor do I think that was Richard's intent.

I think simply having signed up for BBO will get rid of most of the undesired spambots. I am sure there will be a few others that contribute but haven't played on BBO. Perhaps they could send an email request to Ben, Rain, or the other moderators for permission?

Whatever the solution, I appreciate the work of the moderators because ultimately they will bear the burden of the time spent on getting rid of spam.

[uday]

I think it will be enough to require that the registering username match a recently used bbo username. We'll see.

[Walddk]

FrancesHinden, on Nov 24 2006, 03:19 PM, said:

hrothgar, on Nov 24 2006, 01:06 AM, said:

We might even require that forums members play a certain number of boards per month or some such.

That's me gone, then.

Me too. I'm online a lot but I rarely play because I have other BBO jobs to attend to when I'm there. Besides, being online doesn't necessarily mean that one is always at the computer.

I support the suggestion re user ID and BBO membership, but requiring that the members play a certain amount of boards per month makes no sense to me in the context of spam on the forums.

Roland

[inquiry]

Echognome, on Nov 24 2006, 10:26 AM, said:

I don't think any member of these forums would want you to leave Frances, nor do I think that was Richard's intent.

I think simply having signed up for BBO will get rid of most of the undesired spambots. I am sure there will be a few others that contribute but haven't played on BBO. Perhaps they could send an email request to Ben, Rain, or the other moderators for permission?

Whatever the solution, I appreciate the work of the moderators because ultimately they will bear the burden of the time spent on getting rid of spam.

I am deleting three or so spam bot postings per day, and I see records where I am not the only one cleaning them out. In many cases, the post are fairly harmles with no link to click and no photos. Sometimes they have a link to a blog somewhere, sometimes they have links to very undesirable *.pif of *.exe files (and teh http:// link alows you to hide where the link goes). And sometimes they have explicit nude photos. We will keep them out as soon as we spot them, but I think any rules that are to be added will affect only new members... those already here should be excempt, so Francis is safe.

[Walddk]

uday, on Nov 24 2006, 05:27 PM, said:

I think it will be enough to require that the registering username match a recently used bbo username. We'll see.

That's me gone too then, since I am Walddk here and Walddk2 when I'm online (yes, I have other Walddk accounts, but only during VG broadcasts and they are always invisible).

Roland

[pigpenz]

i think its the nature of the beast( the internet)

[jikl]

Upon launch of any new criteria for playing boards and posting on forums, something simple like:

If posts>30 then permission to use forums

That will cover all regulars that don't play much or use a different name on the forums.

Sean

[Gerben42]

I thought this thread would be about Strong Pass Accenting Majors, oh well...

How about having to fill out one of these letter things before posting?

[inquiry]

I would likr to think that any new security rules inacted will be on new users. Any existing user who hasn't caused problems probably will not.And if we do, we can toss them off the site easy enough.

[uday]

OK, lets try this. I changed the code to only allow new forum usernames if the forum username matches an existing bbo username

With luck that will keep out the automated spam attacks we've been seeing. I can't think of any decent way to keep out the human spammers

[inquiry]

With the new registration requirement, we hope that most of the spam will stop. Since it was inacted i have only found one SPAM. It was by a "member' who joined on november 16th. I am not sure how many more stealth spammers there are, but we will remove them (and their post) when they strike. Thanks to all of you who report them when they show up... none stay very long!!!!

[keylime]

I have quite a few recipes that involve spam...

[matmat]

keylime, on Nov 24 2006, 10:59 PM, said:

I have quite a few recipes that involve spam...

have you been to the spam cookoff?

[inquiry]

The spam has clearly stopped for now.. Congradulations Uday!!!

[Al_U_Card]

But what ever will the Vikings sing if there is no Spam!? Wonderful Spam!