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View Full Version : To moderate signups or not...

vito
02-13-2006, 09:34 AM
I have had a forum on my main site for a couple of years. It is by no means active on any kind of regular basis, but that's OK. I have it there simply as an alternate way for visitors to ask questions, make suggestions, etc.

I have found that in the past 6 months or so, I have been getting a lot of the nuisance spammers wanting just to promote their sex sites, pyramid sites, etc. So all I ever do lately is delete threads and ban members. As a result, I have decided to turn on the option where I must moderate all new signups.

Is this a good or a bad move? Do I just put up with the hassle of bad posts and leave it as instant activation? Is there anything wrong with requiring moderation?

Vito
Scott
02-13-2006, 09:39 AM
From a user's point of view, I would hate having to wait until a member of staff approved me. I'd most likely leave and not come back. What seems to work well on my board is email validation, therefore if they have a valid email address they can validate themselves. If they don't (which they should have) then they'd usually be approved by an admin at some point later in the day.

This keeps spam low, but at the same time lets those who want to sign up and post do so.
bear
02-13-2006, 09:41 AM
These days, I don't think you can leave a forum open to all without some validation in place. As you've seen, it attracts the worst offenders, and there's no way to track them down.
While it might be cumbersome for 'real' members to get involved, the avoidance of the "casual" spammers will make it better place for all.
vito
02-13-2006, 09:43 AM
Well, let me clarify. I used to require the email validation. But all I would get was signups from people like 3e5fd321q @ gmail.com or crap like that. So they had access to the address in order to validate, but it was clearly a spammer's M.O.

Vito
Scott
02-13-2006, 09:54 AM
That's interesting, did they actually validate?

I know of a few forums which block free email addresses (or at least the majority of them). This kind of mod might be useful to you. Doesn't need to be block, I'm sure it could be modified so that all free email addresses must be approved by staff. A little notice on the register screen to warn people of this would probably be a good idea too.
vito
02-13-2006, 09:57 AM
Ah, thanks Scott. Didn't know about that mod. It would do the trick, I think. Will have to search for it on the VB forum.

Vito
SoftWareRevue
02-13-2006, 10:43 AM
Well, let me clarify. I used to require the email validation. But all I would get was signups from people like 3e5fd321q @ gmail.com or crap like that. So they had access to the address in order to validate, but it was clearly a spammer's M.O.

VitoThem's are likely bots.

Image verification sorts that out.

Email + Image verification means that real people need to be there. Spammers hate to be real people.
Tyler
02-13-2006, 04:04 PM
Email + Image verification means that real people need to be there. Spammers hate to be real people.

We do this. Plus, vB has an option where you can enter your own email on all new signups. By the time they/if even they start spamming, they are already dealt with. Very handy feature IMHO for avoiding moderated signups.