Dealing with user signatures

[intelliot]

How do you deal with signatures?

I've noticed that many people have been posting short (2-10 word) responses that don't really add to the discussion. For the most part, these users also have spammy signatures, with multiple links to casino/shopping/drug sites.

vB doesn't have any built-in tools to automatically restrict signatures, and I don't have the time/resources/motivation to manually keep tabs on everyone.

[writespeak]

Are you asking about moderation methods or vB methods? It sounds like the latter.

vB does have the option to disallow signatures for the first X number of posts and/or X days of membership. That helps discourage newbies who post only to flash their sig.

Lois

[intelliot]

Both, but primarily the latter. Manually moderating sigs appears to be more work than it should be. Maybe my methods are just inefficient?

Problem with the option you stated is that first X posts actually encourages spammers to spam more, because they want to give their sig visibility (by having more posts across different threads) - and the quality of each post visibly goes down (they start writing just 2-10 words, which clearly isn't enough for a quality post).

X days doesn't work either, because these spammers don't leave; they stick around and keep posting low quality stuff.

[wr88]

If they do this, just disable their signatures or remove them.

[Scott]

I'm sure a few addons would help you here - certainly not a default feature - but nothing really exists that can do the job as well as a good bit of manual moderating. Limiting forums where sigs are shown might also help a bit, especially if they are frequently targeted by the spammers.

[Minarette]

X days doesn't work either, because these spammers don't leave; they stick around and keep posting low quality stuff.
Not as a general rule. If their only purpose on the forum is to get a signature shown, they will soon leave and find a forum where they allow signatures on signup :)

[SoftWareRevue]

... X days doesn't work either, because these spammers don't leave; they stick around and keep posting low quality stuff.I think you'll find that it does help. If you configure your Registered usergroup to not have signatures, and then create a promotion based on x# posts and/or x# days of registration that gives Registered users an Allowed Signature promotion, those spammers that join just to show their signatures will simply move on (like Jan said).

[intelliot]

Thanks for the replies :)

I think you'll find that it does help. If you configure your Registered usergroup to not have signatures, and then create a promotion based on x# posts and/or x# days of registration that gives Registered users an Allowed Signature promotion, those spammers that join just to show their signatures will simply move on (like Jan said).

I already tried it. My Registered Users group didn't have signatures, and they were promoted to Participating Users after 10 posts. I found that just decreased post quality as users posted nonesense to reach the 10 post minimum. And even beyond that point, they'd post a lot more because each post means more exposure for their sig.

So # posts certainly didn't work.

I guess I could try basing it on Reputation, but I've never really worked with it and I don't know if even my good members have a high Reputation value.

# days is possible, but as I said, these members don't go away. Many are long-time members with many posts; they're just not highly respected. Maybe have a minimum # Thanks?

I've disabled signatures for now.

[Jan]

Where do these long term members usually post? In one specific area?

[intelliot]

They post throughout the forums. There haven't been any complaints yet about sigs being disabled, so I think things are nice for the time being :)