[Cory]

I think if users under a post count threshold post more than maybe 3 (insert amenable number here) links in their post/signature they should automatically get sent to moderation.

The timely removal of spam is definitely because there's very few moderators in some of the forums that weren't getting spammed until recently. I know more moderators were added a year or two ago, but it didn't really help much (I think only one or two of them is actually still active on Chief). I take down stuff whenever I get the notification but anything in obscure forums takes longer since there's only a handful of active moderators as Art said.