Ideas how to prevent Spam on SL

Question

We apparently got a spam problem on SL. Let's get together and brainstorm of ideas how to prevent this!

Answer 1

It's just because mod(s) are not given enough power to permanently delete an irrelevant post...

Answer 2

1) DO NOT allow less than Level 5 OR hours old accounts to post more than 1 question in an hour.
2) To make a post disappear, consider reports from non moderators too - like report from 2 or 3 non moderators == report from 1 moderator.

Answer 3

Give.
Mod.
Full.
Power.

Answer 4

My suggestion:
It seems like mods can't delete posts. But what if we reverse how the forum works for mods? What if a thread is only visible once that thread has been approved by a mod?

By doing so, mods, still have no power to delete posts, but they can approve posts, i.e. make posts visible to ordinary users.

The disadvantage though is that ordinary users can't see their posts threads immediately. But to this I also got an idea:

Only posts of newly created accounts (e.g. created less than a day ago or accounts lower than level 3) have to wait to be approved by a mod. All the other users can post immediately.

Threads by new users will take longer to appear. But big advantage is we don't have to be pestered with spam (over 10 spam-threads within 1 minute??).

By doing so, spam posts will not be seen by ordinary users and the forum remains clean. Furthermore, mods don't need the rights to delete posts thus can't accidentally harm the forum.

I think this will prevent spam for good and is not that much of an management overhead. What do you think?

Answer 5

Yep ! @Retro 1)Limit of posting questions , only one an hour .
2)More Mods

and everyone Report the account first , account removed = all post removed

Answer 6

Maybe 3 report rule should be changed to 1.

Answer 7

Deleting and banning are short term and time consuming. I mentioned earlier about a simple captcha or question to be answered before the post is posted. This could prevent automated bot posts.

Answer 8

Wow! It's getting real bad now. Dozens of posts in 10 mins.

Answer 9

You divide the forum into two sections: One beginner and one advanced.

Beginners (= newly created accounts) can only post in the beginners section. By doing so, spam bots will remain in the beginners section forever and high quality posts by more seasoned users can be found in the advanced section. This increases the quality in the forum as well.

So, by dividing the forum into two sections, you can kill two birds with one stone.

Answer 10

maybe set a time limit for only 1 question per 2 minutes

Answer 11

I disagree with some of u posting only 1 question an hour would be too much
and @thanh le mods aren't online always so it may take days to go thorough all the questions so its not possible

Answer 12

@_Retr0/- I see some mods on here like every day. Also this approving/disapproving of threads only applies to NEWLY created accounts.

So, I don't think it will take days. Maybe hours, but not days. The advantages are that the majority of the users aren't pestered with spam. Also having to approve threads by newly created users, mods have the rights to not approve posts by newly created accounts who ask the same questions over and over again.

I didn't say my solution makes everyone happy - but I wonder whether there is one.

Answer 13

KT superrr

Answer 14

A limit to how much can you post in a given time. Your rank can affect this, and have no limit on, say, level 7