Today I’m starting a new maintenance process to help keep the site running more smoothly.
Since we switched to the new forum software and the new site design, we have seen a resurgence in new accounts by Spam-BOTs. With the old design, there were mods installed to help. I’m not going to bother with many mods this time around.
Instead, I am going to make some fairly simple maintenance routines a common practice and make a few new member requirements. First, you must sign-up to post comments on the site. On the forums, some guest posting is still accepted, but the best sections are for registered members only.
Second, I turned on the self-activation function of the forums and made the first comment posted by any subscriber a mandatory moderation. This is to make sure that bots don’t just sign up and spam.
Third, today I begin a weekly deletion regimen. I will be deleting un-activated accounts more then a few days old on the forums and any new member that has a suspicious email address or user name on the main site. This is to keep the membership pruned down to actual people. If you sign-up for the site… make sure you send me an email or post a message on the forums or at least post a comment on the news so we know you are real.
And if you sign-up for the forums… make sure you activate your account or email me if you’re having trouble so I can activate the account for you.
To give you an idea of how silly this problem is, I’ve just deleted 25 accounts from the main site with sexual, video, pill, or card advertisement keywords in the user name and/or email addresses. I’m sorry if I delete someone by accident, but we need to keep this in check. If you’ve been around this site for very long or perhaps used to visit Chris Livingston’s Concerned forums, then you know how bad this has been in the past.
Thanks,
– The Wildcat
