Stopping spam (or, The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming!)

Looks like the new forum is letting through more spam than the good old HT4K system. All the ones I've seen so far have been from former Soviet Republics. It's pretty odd because they show up as gibberish since they post using the cyrillic character set, so they're not really getting their message across. What was really hilarious was the one from the Russian online car dealership.

Anyway, one of the other boaty websites I follow is divided into a public and private posting area. Both areas are visible to all, but the private area is only for posts from people who have purchased a product. That pretty much limits the spam to the public posting area while keeping the tech support part clean.

Maybe something similar would work here, too?

Laszlo

 


12 replies:

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RE: Stopping spam (or, The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming!)

On the site I administer you have to be a member in order to post.  And requests have to be ok'd by me to be a member.  I've been running the forum for 4 yrs. now and about 6 mo. with the current SMF software.  Not one spammer yet on the new software.  Since Russia and Nigeria, countries not known for sailing,  are responsible for most of the spam, requests for those from there don't normally get approved. 

Am I wrong or is there a decline in usage here?  I've never seen software with so few features.  Can't even tell when new posts are made to old topics. 

Kim

RE: Stopping spam (or, The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming!)

Kim,

There's always a decline in Spring. The weather gets better, Okoumefest approaches and folks leave their computers and head for their shops. I don't think that it's connected to the new forum.

It would be good, though if threads were displayed in most recently posted order - that is, when someone posts to a thread, it moves to the top. It'd also be nice if the most recent post date was displayed, instead of the thread start date.

So you launched your Duck yet? I'm going to start varnishing on Saturday.

Laszlo

 

RE: Stopping spam (varnishing duck)

Hey Laszlo!

You'd better get the darned Duck done for Okoumefest! Looking forward to seeing it. You got "Only 7 days, 23 hours and 4 minutes left! "

George

RE: Stopping spam (or, The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming!)

Dang soon.   I varnished the hull.  Sanded through to the glass in one spot on the deck and got scared to sand any further.  Lousy varnish coats.  Got out the 100 grit and took the power sander to the deck.  Finally got a near perfect deck varnish coat.  Couple more and I'll be ready for the water.  Gonna call CLC right now to order the foot bracket kit so I don't drill holes. I'll be varnishing in 10 min. 

I actually did have enough epoxy to finish. 

Kim

RE: Stopping spam (or, The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming!)

"It would be good, though if threads were displayed in most recently posted order - that is, when someone posts to a thread, it moves to the top. It'd also be nice if the most recent post date was displayed, instead of the thread start date."

 

Excellent idea! I belong to several other forums that do this and it makes the user experience much nicer. I bet it would increase usage of the forum, too.

Mark

RE: Stopping spam (or, The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming!)

George,

Don't you have a shuttle to launch or something? Seriously, though, thanks. I've been so busy sanding that I didn't have time to wind up my cuckoo clock and you're just the perfect substitute. :-) I have a vision of your head popping out of an opening in a beautiful pointy wooden box that is decorated with exquisitely onlaid leafy vines, saying "O-koo, o-koo".

Really seriously this time, you're not only going to see it, but you'll even be able to paddle it. The only question at this point is whether it shows up varnished or just epoxied. It's starting to look as if the temps here won't support multiple coats of varnish drying in time for next Saturday, so I might just punt on varnishing until it gets warmer.

Kim,

Don't forget to post pictures when you're finished. I think you'll like the braces. I put mine in before I put on the deck, but there should be enough space in the Duck 12 cockpit that installing them with the deck on shouldn't be too bad.

One thing you could do to make it simpler is to attach the studs to the rails with 1/4-20 nuts (not the ones that come with the kit because they're nylon locknuts which shouldn't be reused), put a dollop of epoxy on the bottom of the studs, turn the boat sideways and put the assembly in place. Once the epoxy cures, the studs will be tacked into place, perfectly aligned. After you do the other side, you can take off the rails and finish bedding and glassing the studs in place without worrying if the rails will fit back on correctly.

Good luck,

Laszlo

 

RE: Stopping spam (or, The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming!)

I much prefer that posts are listed in chronological order and not reverse chronological order.

Because it's just not natural to read things backwards!

Why don't I like reverse chrono posts? 

 

Or did you mean that the whole thread shows up near the top of the list?

I agree that identifying new posts would be helpful, and would help discussions go beyond a few replies.  Once a post gets more than a few it's hard to tell if there is something new that has been added to the discussion without opening the post again.

I recall an early post by someone at CLC right after the new website was launched saying that two things were yet to be done, (1) the archive from the old forum was being converted, and (2) notification of new posts.  Hopefully, those two changes are still in the works.

 

RE: Stopping spam (or, The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming!)

 

Yes, lots of annoying tics yet on the Forum.  We're working on it.  The webmaster did something today;  I think threads with new posts now bounce to the top.  And there's some sort of blue thing going on, don't quite understand that.

RE: Stopping spam (or, The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming!)

Seeing blue?  Perhaps its a drug side effect.

RE: Stopping spam (or, The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming!)

Peter - ROFLMAO!!

John,

The new forum features are great. They seem to bring the forum to life. I also like the feature where my order status is displayed after I've logged in. I see also that the Okoumefest countdown clock has started (replacing poor GeorgeK who now has nothing to do :-) )

One more forum tweak and I'll be ecstatic - a builders' forum link at the bottom of the page (near the Add A Reply box).

See everyone Friday,

Laszlo

 

RE: Stopping spam (or, The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming!)

Laszlo,

The clock HAS been running! Where do you think I got the countdown from? I may be a rocket scientist but I don't keep track of OkoumeFest down to the minute! (And by the way we are getting ready to launch another shuttle but I've got time to get to Maryland and eat some crabcakes before I have to head back to CA to support it!) And just for your information as of 1030 Eastern you have Only 6 days, 2 hours and 30 minutes left! to get that boat varnished!! Also looking forward to paddling it.

See you in just over 6 days!

George

RE: Stopping spam (or, The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming!)

I'm ecstatic! The "Return to Forum Topics" link has made my day. Thank you CLC Webmaster.

Laszlo

 

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