Need anti-bot, anti-spam measures at this new board

[Tom T.]

Giorgio, it looks like you're going to have to implement email validation/activation, recaptchas, etc. here also. Sad, but that's the way the world is today.

[Giorgio Maone]

There's already a captcha (even though not reCaptcha) in the anonymous forum, and what I've seen so far is probably low-life human, rather than bots.
So nominating trusted moderators (like you) is probably a better anti-spam countermeasure.

[Tom T.]

"trusted moderators (like you)"

OMG, what an honor! .. and I wasn't even aware it happened. Never been a Mod before; can you point me to a Help or FAQ, here or at MZ, that explains how to do these things (delete spam, lock topics, etc.)?

Also, must tell you: the Real World's time demands are very irregular for me. Might be here frequently for a while, then disappear for a while. In other words, can't commit to being here on some regular basis, and I hate accepting commitments that I can't keep. If that's a problem, no offense if you demote me. If that's acceptable, cool.

Edit: I just noticed the "Mod CP" in the upper left and looked it over. Seems pretty intuitive and self-evident. Will look it over more and learn while using. Of course, if any questions, will ask you, Alan, Nan, etc. Thanks again for the honor.

P. S. I attempted to "strike" the part of the pre-edit post asking for FAQ on moderator activity. I noticed that neither nor [strike] work here. Any special reason?

[Alan Baxter]

Also, must tell you: the Real World's time demands are very irregular for me. Might be here frequently for a while, then disappear for a while. In other words, can't commit to being here on some regular basis, and I hate accepting commitments that I can't keep. If that's a problem, no offense if you demote me. If that's acceptable, cool.

Not to worry. You're not committed to anything. But now, if you see one of those spams starting a topic, just go to the quick-mod tool in the bottom-right, select delete topic, and Go. If it's a post in a topic you want to retain, click on the "?" in the triangle for the post, then use the mod tool at the bottom to delete it. Piece of cake, eh? Just don't practice on my posts. They're gems.

[Tom T.]

May I practice "banning" on you? After all, you told therube there was a button for being notified only on erudite, informative posts, and I've spent hours looking for that button. Seems ban-worthy to me

[GµårÐïåñ]

Giorgio,

I know modding the forum software is a pain and you are busy but I reviewed and looked for some solutions to offer just in case you wanted to implement them, here are some of the mods that I think might help:

Anti-bot Guest Post Mod
AntiSpam Mod
Better Captcha
Stop Spambot Registration

Hope it helps and they are useful to you. Otherwise we will remain diligent and keep them off your board. You also probably already know this one but phpBB Hacks might be a useful resource to you.

Ciao.

[Giorgio Maone]

here are some of the mods that I think might help

Thanks, they would be very helpful indeed, if only they were compatible with PhpBB 3.x

[GµårÐïåñ]

I am sorry, I was hoping the tweaks wouldn't be too difficult. I will keep an eye out for better solutions and will keep you posted. In the meantime I have a copy of the phpBB in development and will play with the mods to see if I can get a nice clean working solution, then all you have to do is review it, drop it in place and get it done easier.

[Tom T.]

If there is some drop-in solution that takes very little of Giorgio's time and effort, that would be great. Otherwise, considering his higher priorities of ABE, bug fixes/enhancements on NS and FG, his real job, real life, etc., my humble personal preference would be that the minutes or hours that he has available for NS and FG be devoted to those things, rather than to a lengthy or difficult anti-spam php modification. I can't help Giorgio write any of his code, but I *can* help by checking in and deleting spam whenever I have a few spare minutes, so he can do the other.

I'm impressed with how relatively spam-free the new forum is. It seems rare for a spam to stay up for more than a few hours, and the life of many is measured in minutes. There rarely seems to be a lengthy time that someone isn't here, at almost any hour of the day or night (another reason it's nice to have the trans-global Nan M back ).

Guardian, if you can work that for Giorgio, great! If not, I'm happy to get my daily exercise on the "delete" button. Cheers!

[GµårÐïåñ]

Well I will be happy to help where I can. There is no solution in the world that is 100% and nothing will permanently or complete remove the spam, just the most obvious ones. Ultimate we still need the human interaction but less likely that a spam would go missing for too long. Currently we nail them within a few minutes of them appearing actually. I know that I have a feed and even when I don't take time to reply to a message until later, I WILL ALWAYS swing by and nail the spam at least before walking away.