Spam prevention: Posts from new users will be filtered for spam

[ECO]

Hey all,

Due to a continued increase in spam, which has ranged from the most subtle to the most *ahem*...graphic, I just activated a filter for posts from new users.

This will subject new user's first X posts to screening via a stringent third-party spam database, and hopefully weed out the remainder of the spam I can't catch manually.

If for some reason your posts aren't making it through and you think they should, please send me a PM or email. I expect to have to work out some kinks.

Thanks.

[ECO]

It's working so far.

[westerman]

And a good idea. Yesterday's posts were definitely NSFW (not safe for work). Actually they weren't safe for home either. It is a shame that our beloved site got hit that way.

[ECO]

Bump for not needing to modify this setting for 6 years.

[GenoMax]

Perhaps not quite working yet

Not the kind of spam from this morning but still .. just saw one pop up (from an existing spam user).

[ECO]

Thanks. Different reasons, but got it too.

[dpryan]

There's another one that just popped up. Seems to be largely throttled at least.

[dpryan]

This one literally asks to be banned under "instruments".

[GenoMax]

Spambots appear to have made a come back .. at a reduced rate though.

[ECO]

Some of the first accounts didn't get banned...I'm keeping an eye on my phone from the road...:/

[Brian Bushnell]

Still seems to not quite be working. Though, most of the spam posts now show up as "moderated".

[dpryan]

Seems to be only one account (slowly) getting through at the moment. Depending on what permissions they get, you might want to just deputize a few more moderators.

[Brian Bushnell]

Another possibility, at present, is to prohibit the use of non-ASCII unicode characters in new posts, if you have that kind of flexibility...

[GenoMax]

Looks like the bots are working through the new "300 seconds between two posts" limit.

[Brian Bushnell]

Looks like the bots are working through the new "300 seconds between two posts" limit.

It's a lot easier to clean up, though.