We want to thank all of you for hanging in there with us when the SPAM got to the point where a few per day went up. It looks like we have got most of the SPAM issues resolved. When we initially added the forum to our website our goal was to create a friendly place for people to exchange ideas about military history, modeling, gaming, etc. Fortunately we had the forsight to require users to register before they were able to post. That kept things clean for quite awhile. Then we insituted the "wavy" numbers and letters that required human eyes to visually verify registrations, and that kept the SPAM off for quite awhile longer. After seeing the SPAM start to pop up we immediately contacted our website developers about it, and they told us that it looks like these are actual people who are making the posts. It took awhile for it to get set up, but we now have a few moderators who have the ability to delete any SPAM that they see. Most of these people were chosen based on previous relationships that GHQ has had with them over the years. This has worked really well so far. Additionally we have added a lot of words to the "censored" words list that will make it hard for anyone to make posts for a lot of different things, and we can continue to add more words. We want you all to know that we are committed to keep this a clean and friendly place for newbies and experienced gamers and modelers to ask questions, show things off, and exchange information. Let's not let the SPAMmers win, the best way to do that is to post, post, and post to let everyone know that the forum is alive and well!
Thanks again,
GHQ
SPAM issues
Moderators: dnichols, GHQ, Mk 1
-
GHQ
- Site Admin
- Posts: 708
- Joined: Tue Oct 19, 2004 1:50 am
- Location: Minneapolis, MN, USA
-
Eric Harvey
- Posts: 21
- Joined: Tue Jan 23, 2007 9:54 am
Idea
jahHow about a couple of 'test' questions during registration, like three different GHQ model pictures: If the registering person can identify the type or nomenclature of any one of three pics correctly, they can continue registration. If not, then they can't register.
For example, a picture of a Panther tank with a question: "Identify this tank: Starts with the letter P".
Anyone here should be able to identify a Panther in their sleep, but someone offering 'mortgage refinancing' wouldn't have the first clue.
Each of the three pics and questions could cover the different categories (military would be one, of course). The questions would have to be pretty simple (simple for us) but too hard for a layman who is trying to peddle, for example, a ** CENSORED ** site. Larry Flint wouldn't have a clue what a T-34 looked like.
If they couldn't answer the question, they could e-mail GHQ to continue registration (giving GHQ a chance to screen the person as a potential spammer)
Anyway, just a temporary solution, perhaps. It might even be kinda fun for newbies.
Eric
For example, a picture of a Panther tank with a question: "Identify this tank: Starts with the letter P".
Anyone here should be able to identify a Panther in their sleep, but someone offering 'mortgage refinancing' wouldn't have the first clue.
Each of the three pics and questions could cover the different categories (military would be one, of course). The questions would have to be pretty simple (simple for us) but too hard for a layman who is trying to peddle, for example, a ** CENSORED ** site. Larry Flint wouldn't have a clue what a T-34 looked like.
If they couldn't answer the question, they could e-mail GHQ to continue registration (giving GHQ a chance to screen the person as a potential spammer)
Anyway, just a temporary solution, perhaps. It might even be kinda fun for newbies.
Eric