New members - gratuitous bumping

[expertc]

Originally Posted by admin

I actively watch for obvious spammers but its a constant battle.

Admin

I know the feeling! Had to shut down 2 forums last year simply because had no time to fight the spammers.

To be honest most of them are signature hunters. This place has much more to offer than a backlink. I would agree making links no-follow 100%. But when I did it with one of my forums and put a sticky – didn’t change anything.

I don’t know if current board mod allows to base live uri on the rep, but this could be an option. Something similar to the Yahoo Answers, until you get enough “points” live link is not possible. Also autoban based on red reps… Just thoughts…

P.S. On one of my WP blogs Akismet has already killed more than 800 spams this month only! I am thinking about switching off comments.

[alex]

Originally Posted by monaghan

I guess a carefully crafted page with companies that have advertised in a way considered to be spam could be produced. (on a page SEO'd to the max of course )

As long as you don't include links to their sites

Originally Posted by newguy

Some people are probably hesitant about pointing out issues they see in an area viewable by all people. Either that or they simply don't know how best to inform others.

I agree with this, I noticed some of the spammy posts, but didn't want to say anything in the forum case it was just a rookie mistake.

[Skinner]

I find killing popular spammed posts on WP does more to cut comment spam as not all spammers have active hunting software they are more just repeaters.

[retired_member13]

It's a tough one. I think the system works pretty well as it is - and there are always going to be people trying it on, regardless of whether links are follow or not, signatures allowed or not etc.

I do also think it's a bit unfair to single out new members, as there have been a lot of new members recently who've added value & interest in the short time they're been here.

Whether it's new members making spurious posts, or established members gratuitously bumping their own sales threads to "add the latest month's exact matches" I guess all we can do as a group is try to discourage such behaviour in a way that doesn't put an intolerable load on the team that keep Acorn clean and tidy and free of such abuses.

As we've seen many times that some people on here will try almost anything to either get links into the site and/or to get their domains for sale in front of as many eyeballs as possible, regardless of how many people they irritate in doing so. They see it as an easy (and free) way to make money, so I don't think any rule change is going to make them change their ways - they'll just find new ways to abuse the system.

Personally I think using negative rep & reporting flagrant abuse are the way to go.

The only thing I'd love to be added to forum functionality is an ignore button that works (for both single threads and for selected members). The current ignore function still flags up the persons activity on the "New Posts" list etc, so that kinda defeats the object - but the ability to remove people who abuse the forum from my own viewing of new threads etc would improve the experience for me enormously.

[aZooZa]

Ty, I agree about the new members here that have added value and made useful contributions. My original post wasn't particularly directed at link spammers, but people who post nonsense continuously from day one.

[expertc]

Originally Posted by aZooZa

...My original post wasn't particularly directed at link spammers, but people who post nonsense continuously from day one.

OK, but it should be a reason for posting nonsense, shouldn’t it? So I can only think of two reasons:
1. Kids having fun.
2. Signature hunters

Could it be anything else? I don’t know…

[monaghan]

I'm not a mod here, but do mod on a few other forums, members can really help the admin / mods by hitting the "report to mod links" (red & white triangle on this forum) as this brings the post to the attention of the mods far quicker than the mods having to work through all the new posts looking for spam.

[aZooZa]

Originally Posted by expertc

OK, but it should be a reason for posting nonsense, shouldn’t it? So I can only think of two reasons:
1. Kids having fun.
2. Signature hunters

Could it be anything else? I don’t know…

Perhaps some are trying to ingratiate themselves into the community a little too quickly. That's another reason. To them (and examples are cited in this thread) it may appear innocent, but it's annoying.

[HariSeldon]

Originally Posted by expertc

I don’t know if current board mod allows to base live uri on the rep, but this could be an option. Something similar to the Yahoo Answers, until you get enough “points” live link is not possible.

This sounds the best option to me.

As well as not allowing any live URL ideally the system should PM any new user getting a certain number of negative reps reminding them of what isn't acceptable and pointing out the futility of continuing such activity.