07-18-2017, 08:10 AM
It seems that spam accounts have been out of control today. I'm not sure what's changed, but when there are six pages of new posts, with one actual legitimate thread amongst them, we have problems. It basically makes the forum unusable.
There are probably a number of approaches to dealing with this. My suggestion:
As a start, make it so that by default new accounts cannot start new threads until they've posted in an existing thread. If spam in existing threads becomes a problem, make it so their initial posts need to be approved by a moderator. I'd suggest, as an option, those new users could PM a moderator to have their account upgraded immediately. The main intention is to weed out spam bots, not create a gated community.
There are probably a number of approaches to dealing with this. My suggestion:
As a start, make it so that by default new accounts cannot start new threads until they've posted in an existing thread. If spam in existing threads becomes a problem, make it so their initial posts need to be approved by a moderator. I'd suggest, as an option, those new users could PM a moderator to have their account upgraded immediately. The main intention is to weed out spam bots, not create a gated community.