[PLUG] phpbb question

[randy.rowlette at gmail.com]

Thank you Dale. So far after adding the extra registration questions, I
haven't had any issues. I do currently moderate all postings and adding a
new group may also work after I start building the community.

Thank you all for your help, it is very much appreciated.

Randy

On Fri, Mar 5, 2010 at 1:43 PM, Dale Snell <ddsnell at verizon.net> wrote:

> On Thu, 4 Mar 2010 20:03:22 -0800,
> randy.rowlette at gmail.com wrote:
>
> >
> > Anyone have any ideas on how to help alleviate the spamming problem
> > of a forum board?
> >
>
> Randy,
>
> One thing we did on one board I've been on was to make all legitimate,
> non-spammer users part of a custom group, Full Members.  (All new
> members are part of the Registered Users group by default.  That's
> apparently fixed in phpBB, and can't be changed.)  Full Members have
> all the normal posting privileges.  New members make a posting in a
> forum specifically for them (the only one open to Registered Users),
> saying something about the site. Those postings are not visible to the
> rest of the site.  The moderators read the post, and if they approve,
> the new member's posting is approved, making it visible to all, and he
> or she is made a Full Member.
>
> Now on a busy board this can take up a lot of the moderator's time.  In
> fact, the board I'm on has volunteers who weed through the new
> postings.  They disapprove spammers, reporting them to the mods.
> Newcomers who make the grade (it doesn't really take much) are
> approved, get Full Member status, and a Welcome! We Want Poetry!
> message.  (We pester newcomers for poetry.  It's not much of a
> tradition, but it's what we've got.)  If a new member later turns out
> to be a spammer in disguise, well, out comes the banhammer.  Wham!
>
> Another thing you can do is ban specific IP addresses, blocks of
> addresses, or various domains.  A few months ago our admin went so far
> as to ban everyone in the .ru domain.  The number of spammers dropped
> precipitously.
>
> Anyway, I hope this helps.
>
> --Dale
>
> --
> Q:  What lies at the bottom of the ocean and twitches?
> A:  A nervous wreck.
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