PDA

View Full Version : Changes for Registered Users to protect each other



gusstrand
09-20-2012, 09:53 AM
There have been a number of users registered recently that have been able to jump through all of the hoops and questions to prevent bots, which tells me they are humans, likely in some "work from home" type scam or otherwise who sign up for forums solely to post in the forum so that a link in their signature becomes part of the message and someone will possibly click on it.

Their messages are almost always on an old post, vague and overgeneralized, and there is always a link in their signature to some video site, electronics sale, or whatever.

You will see them as "Guest" posts if I have caught them and not deleted the posts. When I block and subsequently delete the users, the posts turn to guest posts. I've left a couple of them as examples: http://smallstreams.com/showthread.php?7432-Newbie-from-Pittsburgh&p=52708#post52708

If you see a post that looks like what I've described above, please let me know.

To mitigate this, I watch every new user for their first few posts, and have made the ability to have a signature on the forums part of the subscription benefits, rather than merely a registered user automatic thing.

Thanks for your understanding and participation here, folks.

Go fish!