What to do about members spamming to gain entry for something?

[John D]

Hey,

I am running freerolls on my poker forum, a freeroll is a poker tournament you enter for free and real money is given to the players.

I have at least $800 lined up in freerolls this month.

I require 25 posts to enter the freeroll group and members have to be approved before they enter the group and they cant get permission to the freerolls without being a member.

I am getting a lot people coming and spamming with the 25 posts then applying.

I made it very clear everywhere that the posts must be high quality and all accounts are reviewed, but I am still seeing a lot of people coming and spamming.

How would you deal with this?

[Scott]

So long as you've explained that the posts should be decent, they shouldn't have any argument if you tell them they can't enter yet.

I'd would rather have an unhappy spammer than unhappy regulars who earned their right to enter fairly.

[SoftWareRevue]

... I made it very clear everywhere that the posts must be high quality and all accounts are reviewed, but I am still seeing a lot of people coming and spamming...Where did you do that? :)

Closest I can see is the Apply for access to the freeroll group now! (http://www.deuceace.com/showthread.php?t=968) thread.

If that's were the guideline to join is, I'd include it as a link in that forums's description.

How would you deal with this?
Since you're manually upgrading applicants, you could have a penalty (of xx posts or need to wait xx days before re-applying?) if they apply before they have the minimum. ;)

[etechsupport]

Its not difficult for anyone to complete 25 posts in a day as someone would go on posting "Wow, thanks for the great tool", "where did you find that ?", blah blah blah.

Instead of that you can simply mention that those who will post genuine posts would get bonus points or some additional features.

If you make a Airplane, make sure that you carry a parachute before flying :)

[jakeluvspunk]

I agree. You have to be sure you are clear with the rules and your members completely understand them.

[John D]

Hey,

Sorry for taking so long to reply to this, been really busy lately so just coming back on a few of my fav communities :)

Since you're manually upgrading applicants, you could have a penalty (of xx posts or need to wait xx days before re-applying?) if they apply before they have the minimum.

Really good idea! I didn't even think about this to be honest, I think it could work well.

I have had a lot of people applying before they have the number of posts now as well, a lot are applying as soon as they register so it could work to stop that as well.

Instead of that you can simply mention that those who will post genuine posts would get bonus points or some additional features.

Those extra features are hard to come up with really though, especially for the poker market :)
I have been running tournaments that are free to enter with $100-$300 prize weekly for a few months now, it is going pretty well but still not enough people in my freeroll group really and I don't make anything at all from the tournaments.

Hey etechsupport, I think I know your name from an old hosting forum I owned :)

Hey jakeluvspunk as well, I know your name from DeuceAce :)

[Super Nade]

If I see someone spamming to gain access to the normally hidden classifieds forum, I reset their post count to 1.

[Thelemac]

State the rules clearly at the registration page. Make that big and impossible to miss...bright red and huge font would work well.

I'd also consider raising the post count required a bit. I could do 25 posts in an active forum in a half hour, easily.