There has been a steady number of spam messages posted here every day. If you haven't noticed is because prkos has been diligently purging them. If you subscribe to the feeds you won't have missed them.

The spammers aren't bots, so our CAPTCHA is not a deterrent. So to reduce the spam and the work prkos has had to do to keep the forums clean, I've had to enforce stricter rules for guest uses and new users.

Guest users and new users can post new topics and reply, but they will need to be approved before they will appear on the forum. This means your posts may take a couple of hours to a couple of days to appear.

New users will not be able to define a signature, and there are a few other restrictions that I think spammers may abuse otherwise.

The definition of a new user is someone who has only made less than 5 posts. Once you've posted more than this number, your status is automatically upgraded, you can post without approval, and you get all the normal features of the forum.

I'm sorry for the inconvenience this causes legitimate users.

+1

should we delete the unapproved spam or just disapprove? Whats the difference?

If you haven't noticed is because prkos has been diligently purging them.

And other members have been diligently reporting

From past experience with other forums, I would guess you should delete, and I assume then ban. Because if you just disapprove, they may still be able to post other messages. Or maybe a disapprove allows the user to edit? But it's been a while since I moderated a forum, so maybe things have changed?

Also, thanks micro! I always hate when I join a forum and have to wait to be approved. But now I understand why. This spam has just been crazy (especially the *orn)!

prkos wrote:should we delete the unapproved spam or just disapprove? Whats the difference?

Disapproval give you the opportunity to notify the user that the post was disapproved and why. Because we're dealling with spammers, we don't need to tell them about the disapproval so it's fine just to delete the post instead.

brynn wrote:And other members have been diligently reporting

Thank you! You get a shinee badge

LOL!

Sorry to hear that the human spammers are wasting time, our time and theirs. Wish we could somehow have a global database where spammers on any site are permamently blocked from spamming, and, for a recurring offense, a ban from the internet.

a ban from the internet

Oh if only there was a way!

Um, there IS a site where you can report spammers, I think. Let me see if I can find it....ahhh,
http://www.malwarecomplaints.info/
Oh wait, that's malware. Where's the one for spam....?

Ok, I guess you can't report spam, but here's a great website that really is VERY informative, re avoiding spam, stats, laws and regulations, etc.
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/spam/index.html

Also http://www.spamcop.net/

prkos wrote:Also http://www.spamcop.net/

The version of phpBB this forum runs now supports checking accounts against spamcop and spamhaus.org. The thing is, these services are used for identifying email spam and when I've cross checked spammers on this forum against the DNSBL list, there's never a match. So I haven't enabled the feature because it also puts load on the system, and I feel it's not worth it if it doesn't identify a majority forum spammers anyway.

For a brief period I had included a mod I wrote that matches spammers against stopforumspam.com, which I think is a far more relevant and effective list, but my mod was buggy and I didn't have to the time to correct it so I had to remove it.

There is another mod implementing stopforumspam: http://www.lithiumstudios.org/forum/vie ... f=31&t=941
Newest requires 3.0.6 or higher.

Man, I wish spammers would find something useful to do in their life.. if they wanna spam, there's plenty of forums that welcome/have places for that. IMHO, it should be 3 posts, because 5 means it could take a few days for someone to go non-newbie status, or it could be circumstantial. i.e. if someone's posting an intro to them self (in the right place), following rules, and posting artwork (this here is the main one), then they are obviously not a spammer. (hint, hint )

I am a new member and I had a post on the topic Printing Gradients in Help with Inkscape, and it has disappeared. Thanks.
Rita L.

rita laurance wrote:I am a new member and I had a post on the topic Printing Gradients in Help with Inkscape, and it has disappeared. Thanks.
Rita L.

That's is because they required approval. Your post has now been approved.

I can't even start a new topic in general. I would like to ask a question, should be simple and I have searched the forums for it to no avail.. Can I please have posting rights?

Never mind, I can post in "Help with using Inkscape." Thanks.

just posted a new topic/question..well i thought i had, but it became a "saved draft". i couldn't find any way of actually posting it. is this the approval process or something else? thanks.

chriswww wrote:just posted a new topic/question..well i thought i had, but it became a "saved draft". i couldn't find any way of actually posting it. is this the approval process or something else? thanks.

That will be something else. You have full user access to the forum.

To use the draft, reply to the topic you were saved the draft for, then click the load button. A draft message box will appear above the post area--click the draft subject to load it. You should then see your message in the textarea and be able to "Submit" it.