[Bill]

Interesting thoughts, Billy. My thoughts in response are:

Originally Posted by mcgyver210

This my main reasons why I have never liked VBulletin. I always use either PHPBB or MyBB

Not really helpful. This board is built on vBulletin. It is unlikely that we will switch to either PHPBB or MyBB at this point, so that is off the table. Of course an Admin decision and Admin action could make it happen, so you might want to take it up with Chris.

one of the easiest ways to combat spam is to have more mods.

Already under discussion. I have someone in mind. Not many members are willing to step into the snake pit, though, so we will see what he says.

1. Set up & use the built in Report Function

As you know, the Report Function is already set up and works. As you also know, I have asked people not to use it, since all it does is dump an email into my Inbox. Dealing with multiple email reports in my Inbox is certainly no easier than dealing with the spam reports in the thread we set up for that purpose. And it does nothing to stop the spam in the first place.

2. You could go to all new members need to be mod approved

Certainly possible, and at least it is pro-active - it lets you sort out the spammer before he posts. As you note, it would require another mod, and I would be worried that a new signup might fall into the cracks between us. But that is manageable. A variant, which I would like to see, is a hold period between the moment a new member registers (this is when I can see his parameters for the first time), and the moment when the enabling email is dispatched and he can log in. Right now, the process is almost instant! Chris, it's TOO GOOD! A 48-hour hold would give me time to see the guy's information and decide what to do with him, before he is given the ability to log in. And if he can't log in, he can't post. And that's what we're looking for.

3. You can limit posting permissions of all members with 0 - whatever number post count to mod approval before their post show up at first.

You're right - it certainly does increase the work load. As noted above, I would rather head them off earlier in the process, such as at Registration To me this is better than waiting for them to post, and taking them down then. And the spammers are ahead of you. We have seen several cases recently in which a new guy comes aboard and makes a very innocent first post - something like "Yeah, I agree." Then his second post is spam.

4. We could also limit new posters to one forum category until they post a few post

I'm not sure how this will help. The spammers don't care what forum they post in. If you give them permission to post in one particular forum, that's where they will spam. And that's what we are trying to prevent in the first place.

In summary, most of your approaches are quite labor-intensive - hence the need for more moderators. I think that a better approach is to do a better job with the automated tools, and I think we can do it. I may be wrong.

We actually have one more option that you didn't mention. I believe you and I have talked about what I call the Nuclear Option. Chris and I have had a short discussion about it, but it needs to be discussed again.

Good Luck with this issue it is an ongoing back & forth battle once your board is on the SPAM Radar as you know

Thanks, Billy. We'll keep working at it. We certainly are on somebody's radar!

Bill