ADMIN CLEAN UP
Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2013 5:17 pm
Hi Guys,
Spam clean up is now about to start. I'll post more as things happen, but here's the plans and changes so far:
WEB LINKS per post cut to ONE:
A first quick change made is to limit the number of "links" in any post to 1. This was previously unlimited, and many spam posts contained multiple web links. It will cut the number of posts in the short term, but is open for review, as it may force spammers to make multiple posts to get all of their links listed.
Regular users generally have no need to list any weblinks, but the "0" setting means unlimited, so the lowest I can set it to is one.
SPAM ACCOUNTS WILL HAVE PASSWORDS CHANGED:
Rather than deleting their accounts, it strikes me it is more disruptive to change their account passwords.
Only one AR account is permitted per email address, so by locking that account it ties up the email address too. If the account is deleted, then a new account could be set up using the same email. The password change should lock out the user, preventing any further posts.
I'm also toying with the idea of a spammer group, which has no posting permissions, and moving users into that group.
If you are a real user caught by this, I'm sorry, but you will have to register again using a new email address and user ID, then PM a moderator to get our attention. We can reset the password to restore the account (sans old posts) but the chances are I'm not going to be causing problems for any genuine forumite.
Big spammers are the prime target for this, and their posts will be deleted as I go.
Spam clean up is now about to start. I'll post more as things happen, but here's the plans and changes so far:
WEB LINKS per post cut to ONE:
A first quick change made is to limit the number of "links" in any post to 1. This was previously unlimited, and many spam posts contained multiple web links. It will cut the number of posts in the short term, but is open for review, as it may force spammers to make multiple posts to get all of their links listed.
Regular users generally have no need to list any weblinks, but the "0" setting means unlimited, so the lowest I can set it to is one.
SPAM ACCOUNTS WILL HAVE PASSWORDS CHANGED:
Rather than deleting their accounts, it strikes me it is more disruptive to change their account passwords.
Only one AR account is permitted per email address, so by locking that account it ties up the email address too. If the account is deleted, then a new account could be set up using the same email. The password change should lock out the user, preventing any further posts.
I'm also toying with the idea of a spammer group, which has no posting permissions, and moving users into that group.
If you are a real user caught by this, I'm sorry, but you will have to register again using a new email address and user ID, then PM a moderator to get our attention. We can reset the password to restore the account (sans old posts) but the chances are I'm not going to be causing problems for any genuine forumite.
Big spammers are the prime target for this, and their posts will be deleted as I go.