spam stopping idea

[Greg Needel]

So recently CD has been getting hit harder then normal (from my view atleast) with spammers. While the mods always do a great job at getting the threads very fast I was trying to think of ways to minimize spam. I know that the latest version of vBulletin has word verification built into it. So I was wondering if it was possible that for a member's first 10 or so posts they would have to do the word verification. It wouldn't be that much of a hassle for real new members but might significantly cut down on the amount of 1-2 post new member spam. I am not sure how easy this would be to implement so I leave this idea out there for you programming types.

[Joel J]

Is there a CAPTCHA challenge given when someone registers?

[karlcswanson]

I was thinking the same thing today about the WildStang forums. Remember that the image verification is also used to make new accounts, so they are already doing one image verification to sign up for the forums, a second would only take them another minute.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Spam has become an serious issue for all forums and email handlers. Our work email hits have gone from 25,000 a month last August to 100,000 in October.

[Brandon Martus]

Originally Posted by Joel J.

Is there a CAPTCHA challenge given when someone registers?

Yeah, when you register you have an image verification. I think theres one for posting as a guest (which we have turned off) .. I'll have to see how hard it would be to make it only appear for new members.

[KTorak]

Maybe having to have at least one non chit-chat post would deter spammers from starting those ridiculous threads about free this and that. Although A) I have no idea if it could be done and B) It would make it a little hard for that rookie team who runs here to make a new thread with a quick question.

[Billfred]

Originally Posted by KTorak

Maybe having to have at least one non chit-chat post would deter spammers from starting those ridiculous threads about free this and that. Although A) I have no idea if it could be done and B) It would make it a little hard for that rookie team who runs here to make a new thread with a quick question.

Problem is, they post everywhere--General Forum, Career, and occasionally Programming, IIRC.

[KTorak]

Originally Posted by Billfred

Problem is, they post everywhere--General Forum, Career, and occasionally Programming, IIRC.

I think you misinterpreted what I meant. I meant that you would have to have a set number of 'good posts.' IE technical posts (so no chit-chat stuff). After so many 'good posts' you could start a thread about something. At a Jeep Enthusiast website that I frequent, they have a system where so many technical ('good posts') allows you do certain things, like start a thread, use the search feature (it bogs down the website), and to link pictures inside of you posts and what not.

[whytheheckme]

Originally Posted by KTorak

I think you misinterpreted what I meant. I meant that you would have to have a set number of 'good posts.' IE technical posts (so no chit-chat stuff). After so many 'good posts' you could start a thread about something. At a Jeep Enthusiast website that I frequent, they have a system where so many technical ('good posts') allows you do certain things, like start a thread, use the search feature (it bogs down the website), and to link pictures inside of you posts and what not.

As mentioned earlier (I think,) this would be difficult for rookie teams. I have been in Chief for a few years now, but this new team that I am on is a whole bunch of students who have never seen Chief. If they have a quick question to ask but have never used CD before, then they are kind of out of luck and would have to ask someone else to use their account. Then that post would not count toward their 'good posts', and the next time they have a problem it would be the same situation.

Just looking at it from this way (and BTW, you guys are really good about handling spammers,)

Jacob

[Pavan Dave]

Actually I think that we need to emphasize more on the "Search" button rather than to do anything like this. Most questions that rookie teams have, have been answered and are searchable, yet in the last two days I have seen the same question arise three times, and before posting if persons had looked at the bottom of the forum, they would have had an answer.

On InvisionBoards, you can create rules for forums that will be displayed above the forum, and they serve as a sort of reminder, and I believe if we emphasized the usage of the search feature not only spam, but the creation of duplicate threads would also be scaled down a little.



Pavan.

[Kyle]

You could have a multiple choice quiz when you register like
1. Where is the Championship even held?
A. Delaware
B. Canada
C. Atlanta

2. What state has FRC a regional competition in it?
A. Delaware
B. Alaska
C. Maryland

But make the answers easy so that even a rookie member would know it or be able to ask a mentor the answer or even have to look on usfirst.com to find it.

or something like that That way even spammers who can get past image or word checks still cant not post.

[Tom Bottiglieri]

Originally Posted by KTorak

I think you misinterpreted what I meant. I meant that you would have to have a set number of 'good posts.' IE technical posts (so no chit-chat stuff). After so many 'good posts' you could start a thread about something. At a Jeep Enthusiast website that I frequent, they have a system where so many technical ('good posts') allows you do certain things, like start a thread, use the search feature (it bogs down the website), and to link pictures inside of you posts and what not.

Wouldn't that defeat the whole point of these boards?

Originally Posted by Pavan

Actually I think that we need to emphasize more on the "Search" button rather than to do anything like this....

This is about spam and advertising, not repeat questions.

[Mike]

I always found CAPTCHAs kind of annoying, so when Team 237's forums were hit by spambots I found a better idea.

Rather than image verification, make the user answer a simple question. "What is two plus two?", "Pick what doesn't fit: Cow, Goat, Lamb, Blender" etc.

If the spammers were really dedicated, they'd search through all the questions and figure out the answers themselves, then feed them to the bots. However with a big enough question bank, they will probably just go to a more vulnerable board.

[Brandon Martus]

There is a hack like this for vBulletin -- I may install it to try and slow down some of this spam.

[ThomasP]

Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz

Spam has become an serious issue for all forums and email handlers. Our work email hits have gone from 25,000 a month last August to 100,000 in October.

I used to work at a survey company and when we'd do the mass emails (to people who signed up on our website or their company provided the email addresses for a company survey), people would sign up the email to receive spam... we'd get around 14,000 emails marked as spam by spamassassin. It's just too easy for people to get you on spam lists these days.