Anti-spam Proposal

[The Outsider]

Links can no longer be posted on the Org by anyone who has made fewer than 3 posts. We'll see how that works and adjust accordingly.

Well thats good news. I really hope that it works mate.

[rickinator9]

Sorry to bump, but did this really happen? I'm seeing plenty of spambot posts lately, all containing links.

[therother]

They adapted: they post 3 posts and then edit in links.

[BroskiDerpman]

Is there any other ideas? I've also been seeing a ton of spam lately. By making a limit wouldn't the bots/ spammers just clutter the forums more?

Don't want the .Org to be as cluttered as TWC.

Any other filters/ tools that can counter spammers? I'm interested in this.

[drone]

Do we collect stats on registered account email address domains? Several of the bots I have gibbed lately seem to have registered with one disposable email service. Can we filter on these or is this too restrictive for new users?

[therother]

We currently use a wide range of measures to block spammers, including registration checks (bans on specific IP addresses, usernames, email addresses) as well as checks/restrictions on initial posts and so on. In the main these are very successful, blocking literally millions of spam bot registrations.

The spammers that are still getting through are almost certainly at least human-aided. There's not a lot we can do to prevent this without impacting on genuine attempts to register.

We can explore wider IP range exclusions, bans on certainly email providers and the like if the problem gets noticeably worse.

[Andres]

We'll try to think about more measures.

In the meanwhile, you can actively help us fighting the spam horde, by reporting every spam post and thread you encounter.