Disable new forumers from starting topics

[SekoETC]

With all this spam we've been getting lately, I think we should restrict new posters from starting new topics. This requires having active moderators that keep an eye on the welcome new players topic and other equivalent topics, and assign rights to anyone who doesn't sound like a bot. People who have urgent problems can use sticky topics.

[marol]

New user is automatically banned when attempting to post a link in his very first post on forums. I think that's enough. Remember that many users register on forums just to look for help in problem experienced in game, so they start new topic on General Support.

[SekoETC]

Even when they are banned, the damage is already done and there are spam topics damn often these days. Maybe I should just apply to CD, it just sounds funny because I often get smacked around for too much swearing and such, so it's not like I was the perfect image of a moderator, but it annoys me to see obvious spam topics sitting around and no one awake to remove them.

[marol]

No, damage is not already done, cause such a post is automatically deleted.

[jexter]

New user is automatically banned when attempting to post a link in his very first post on forums. I think that's enough. Remember that many users register on forums just to look for help in problem experienced in game, so they start new topic on General Support.

I was banned this way at first
But I assure you - I'm no bot, just wanted to post a link (can't remeber what) in my first post

[formerly known as hf]

Spam topics rarely last very long...

The easiest way around this is to stop new users starting a topic as their first post, and have one of those 'introduce yourself' topics. That way - they post there first, then can start a topic straight afterwards...

[SekoETC]

But how could it be programmed? I was managing a forum once and there assigning rights to users was based on ranks. It sounds like granting rights automatically after a user has posted in a topic would require specific programming. Oh, unless there were ranks defined by post count and the second rank would start from post count 1. Anyway, on Human-age forums new users aren't allowed to post pictures or links for god knows how many posts and that's very annoying. It's like dozens.

And there has been a lot of spam lately. Maybe they just didn't contain links then.

[Zanthos]

its easy to spam without giving a link.

google.com as opposed to http://www.google.com

[marol]

its easy to spam without giving a link.

google.com as opposed to http://www.google.com

Bots don't use such tricks. They try to advertise and deliver a clickable link, so potenitial customer doesn't need to type whole address into address box. Yours is not clickable.

[ceselb]

They can be clickable, if you use certain extensions. but you're right, for the most part they're not. I do load the new posts query several times a day and have been deleting spam every week or so.
It's very easy to spot, I think it's the same bot over and over again, they look very similar.
An easy rule would be to flag a first poster suspicious if the first post contains $, £ or eur. That would catch 95% of the ones I've seen.
They're probably coming from a specific net block too, so it should be simple.

[joo]

There should be a warning on the introduction page about posting with a link.

[formerly known as hf]

But how could it be programmed? I was managing a forum once and there assigning rights to users was based on ranks. It sounds like granting rights automatically after a user has posted in a topic would require specific programming. Oh, unless there were ranks defined by post count and the second rank would start from post count 1. Anyway, on Human-age forums new users aren't allowed to post pictures or links for god knows how many posts and that's very annoying. It's like dozens.

And there has been a lot of spam lately. Maybe they just didn't contain links then.

I didn't mean anything fancy. I just meant set it so that new users can't start a topic with their first post. They wouldn't /have/ to have their first post in the intro thread - it's just be there for that purpose

[SekoETC]

What I described is also nothing fancy, it is how it would be managed unless we want to start tampering with the forum source code and god knows how that is done.

[Tangential]

Hmm I'm kind of on this topic. I sort of don't like the idea of disabling the option to create a new topic for new members, but I can see the benefit of it.

I think I registered on the forum a year after I started playing the game only because there was a glitch that needed to be fixed and I started a topic to shed light on the problem. Not allowing new members to start a new topic can be a hindrance to the overall Cantr society. But it also deters spammers, I guess.

If there were some rule like "new members must post at least 5 posts before creating a new topic," I don't think it would be too bad. It might be a small nuisance to the new members, but if there's an urgent need to create a new topic, they will be willing to do some quick replies to existing topics.

e.g.
Post 1: Hi! (General discussions -> Welcome, new players - Bob's topic)
Post 2: hey! (General discussions -> Welcome, new players - Jane's topic)
Post 3: Welcome! (General discussions -> Welcome, new players - Bill's topic)
Post 4: Hello! (General discussions -> Welcome, new players - Sara's topic)
Post 5: Greetings! (General discussions -> Welcome, new players - yo mama's topic)
Post 6: There's a glitch in the game. Characters without any keys can easily walk in and out of buildings and vehicles in town X. Thanks. (General support -> possible glitch - my topic)

Not too annoying for new members. Just a thought.

[Voltenion]

how about when you want to creat a topic you have to do one of those stupid and annoying codes?

you know those numbers and letters like "9ogh"; "sd8fa" and wharever...or maybe you'd only have to do this on your first topic.



bots can't pass those codes right?