Spamming in the forum, any solutions?

frostie500

Hi guys,
I've decided to open this thread to the forum so that all of us can have a chance to talk about some way of coming to a solution to avoid the sheer volume of spamming that we get in the forum.
As you all know during the season we get tens of threads opened by newly registered users with links to live streams to premiership or la liga matches and all it does is serve to clog up the forum. We've also had an outbreak of spam for jersey sales and I think it's time that we look for a solution.
I don't know what the answers are to this problem. The soccer forum has their minimum post count/register for soccer forum process but obviously for a sport like American Football I would prefer it if we were inclusive. It's a minority sport so obviously we want input from as many users as possible but we also need to get to a point where the discussion in the forum is about Football and we're able to ensure that each of us has an enjoyable time in the forum.
I know that I speak for many of us when I say that the spamming does detract from our enjoyment. It pushes threads down the order of the first page unnecessarily and as a result some worthwhile discussions do not take place because the threads aren't quickly found.
I've always said that I want all of us to have the chance to talk about how we can improve the forum in any way-I love that we have individual threads for pretty much each team now, JaMarcus making the top 100 thread etc.-we have a great community here for football and the only blemish I can see is the spamming.
So if anyone has any suggestions I'm all ears!

adrian522

Well, Could we have a minimum post requirement to start a new thread?

That way new members can contribute to existing threads but not spam the forum with threads about streaming websites?

It may discourage people who come on to ask about how to get tickets etc, but once they have a min anmount of posts they would be able to start new threads.

I don't know if this sort of setup is even possible.

Zaph

Imo, spam is not a significant problem in this forum. In fact since the sign-up requirements were changed a while back, spam in general on the site has decreased massively and is no longer the major pain in the ass it once was. The admins deal with spam as quickly as we can and it's rare that it remains visible for more than a few hours. As forum mods you can simply move a thread to the Recycle Bin once it's been dealt with by an admin. And of course to get spam dealt with quicker, anyone can report a spammer in the Feedback spammer thread.

The reason I'm saying this is that I think it would be detrimental to the forum to start restricting access simply to deal with a few spammers. American Football is near the top of the list alphabetically, which is why it gets more spambots hitting it than Yoga and Pilates, but you really don't want to start turning people off the forum just because of that. As you say, it's a minority interest and restrictions like that will only serve to further marginalise the forum.

Paully D

Honestly, I think it's OK as it is.

The threads to links that pop up on gameday are dealt with swiftly and I'd imagine 99.9% of members on here know that clicking them is not safe.

It's easy to spot posters who have just joined up to promote their jersey sites too and they are easily removed/ignored if needs be.

The forum is not particularly busy during the offseason and over the last few months, apart from the draft, it's been the same 10-15 posters posting. If you start to restrict access then new members that may like join and could make a good contribution (like many have done since the start of last season) may be put off joining.

I'd just leave it as it is.

helimachoptor

Yeah i wouldnt class it as a major problem tbh

TO.

For the most part its grand. But using moninghaly as example I am sure I am not the only one who has reported him in the past

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=81728108&postcount=8160

It was obvious from Day 1 he worked for one of those jersey websites. The grammar and the posts he was showing interest in and the random posts showing he was clearing just posting to try not look conspicuous. I mentioned he quoted an ancient post but Lolth didn't see it before responding to me in the Spammer thread.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=81608477&postcount=305

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=81728510&postcount=8164

Other than that 1 example you guys are doing a fine job.

Zaph

That guy's an out and out spammer using proxies in at least two countries outside Ireland, although to be fair that wasn't so apparent when her was reported previously. I've permabanned him.

TO.

Zaph wrote: »

That guy's an out and out spammer using proxies in at least two countries outside Ireland, although to be fair that wasn't so apparent when her was reported previously. I've permabanned him.

That is your opinion and I respect that but to me it was obvious when I reported him. The fact he quoted a post from 2005 and generally wrote nonsense posts and showed interest in the obvious jersey post smacked far east and interest in said sites. One of the other forums I use on another site their mods are not as active as boards and you see the same patterns over and over again. They are getting smarter but they still smack of spamalama. Just my two cents.

Zaph

Well I only had a quick look at one or two posts, so maybe it would have been more apparent had I looked closer. But please do continue to report anyone suspicious and we'll always take a look at them.

Son Of A Vidic

Any dodgy crap I've seen in the past, is usually quickly dealt with by the big stick brigade before I have even time to report it. So my only suggestion is to keep up the good work.

frostie500

Cool, fair enough lads. It's good that everyone is happy with the work of the mods and the C-mods. Spam is just be a pet peeve for me

eagle eye

I kept reporting all the s@ccer spam that was on here and it was dealt with quickly. I haven't seen any of it for quite a while now thankfully.

Posters spamming/trolling is a different thing. I think we just have to keep reporting people and it gets dealt with.

I'm pretty happy with the way things are here now.

My advice to people is to be careful when you are dealing with a poster who you have not seen posting here before. Always hover over a link and see if its safe before you click on any link that is in a post by a stranger.