Is it possible to restrict the edit function to paying members only?
I’ve just reported one of those video-streaming spam threads. It was one where the OP had posted then edited their post. Restricting the edit function to paying members only would knock this sort of spam on the head. Not to mention providing an additional tangible benefit to paying to be a member.
There isn’t anything preventing them from posting spam without editing anything. They just do that for some sneaky spammer reason that doesn’t apply here anyway.
No. Let’s stop theft by making everyone pay before they enter a store.
If we did that, then the spambots that are currently hitting us would just continue hitting us, and instead of the forums being littered with live-stream spam, they’d be littered with contentless threads that failed to turn into spam. The actual problem would remain.
And the reason they use editing in the first place is that some boards don’t allow new members to post links, but for some reason the block against posting links doesn’t extend to editing them in afterwards.
Actually, we have a spam filter that very effectively catches their posts if they post the links without editing. Editing the links in after they’ve passed the spam filter is one of many things that they do to bypass our filter.
So it does apply here.
Ah.
So why not just prevent links for posters with fewer than 5 or 10 posts?
That’s what the editing in of links gets around. They just do it as SOP rather than waste time determining if it’s needed or not.
I’ve been on boards where even editing maintained the same strictures as writing a post. It just seems that some degree of restricting posting capabilities for new accounts would eliminate a lot of this streaming spam. I was able to do it pretty effectively under phpBBS and I don’t think vBulletin is any less capable.
I just reported a spam post that had links without editing.
username is reon.lalop
It doesn’t catch them all, but it does a pretty decent job.
The spammers have mostly figured out how to get around it though, unfortunately.
When pigs fly. Through hell. Wearing ice skates. If we have to pay to be able to edit our posts, I’ll leave first. The five minute limit is bad enough as is.
From reading the numerous threads on this topic, the large majority of spam gets caught by the filters with the mods getting a lot of those that get through before they even post.
We get the rest. And even that doesn’t stick around for long. Doesn’t really look like that much of a problem.
Because then the spammers would make 5 or 10 contentless posts before posting their links.
I continue to be amazed by how much effort these streaming spammers are willing to put into posts that mostly end up being blocked or deleted within a few minutes. Even at Bangladesh pay scales, it seems like it wouldn’t be worthwhile.
They constantly change their behavior. For a while they were creating nonsense titles for threads, then partially copied titles of existing threads. Then they would perfectly copy titles. They gave up on that after a while and started posting nonsense or partial copies again. But it’s wasted effort to try to disguise the title, since a spam thread is almost instantly recognizable anyway. They might as well just post “Here’s streaming spam” and save themselves the effort.
For a while they tried to get several uses out of one username. Sometimes they would get off 3 to 5 posts before being banned. Now they seem mostly to only make one post per name before moving on to another. That’s a bit of work: register a new username, get a new email, post a thread, and then edit in the links.
Nevertheless, although the streaming spam is annoying, we get most of it in pretty short order. I don’t see that it’s necessary to make major changes in the way we treat new users just to get rid of them.
These are why I support restricting the edit function based on registration time.
These same guys have been posting spam here day in and day out for many months. What stops them from stockpiling registrations for 48 hours and then using them?
This would deter most normal spammers, but you guys underestimate the lengths to which the streamers will go.
Start the clock with the first post, then.
As we’ve been saying, we don’t feel the nuisance created by the streaming spammers is sufficient to justify placing restrictions on genuine new posters.
This seems like a solution in search of a problem.
Ah I didn’t know that. I stand corrected.
My understanding was that no restrictions are placed on links in posts, etc. regardless of account age or user status. I knew this technique must be for bypassing some such filter in use somewhere, but didn’t know we had one.
Although as noted, plenty seems to slip through that filter even in messages that haven’t been edited so often times it’s probably an unnecessary step on their part.
I am 100% confident spam would find a way even if we limited guests ability to edit posts. It would just limit guests who were actual posters without doing much if anything to stop spam.
Is there really enough of a spam problem here to need to further counter it by restricting actual posters?
The current system works well. If something does slip through, you can bet someone will report it soon enough. Maybe I could see a mod wanting a new “better” method of filtering so he/she doesn’t have to answer such reports, but I would think anyone that lazy wouldn’t volunteer being a mod to begin with.