New Policy: Please Register To Post

[cyberscribe]

In response to a recent spate of offensive forum spam, we have changed the policy of this forum such that you now have to register to post messages. Thanks for your understanding as we work to improve the user experience on this forum.

[joelcpa]

Thank you,

Joel

[SteadyEdd]

A most excellent idea. Such a shame that we have to suffer idiotic posts such as those yesterday.
Edward

[TesTeq]

A most excellent idea. Such a shame that we have to suffer idiotic posts such as those yesterday.
Edward
I do not agree. You assume that spammers are not able to register. Today we've got new idiotic posts about PSP. It simply does not work. When one human being posts something on this forum other human being should read it and judge if it's spam or not.
TesTeq

[LeonGTD]

Great! I think it is the first step to stop the spam. Second step as usual is to have couple of moderators spreading out each part of the timezones to remove posts and users.

[ceehjay]

Thank you. I think this is a first step. Of course, it won't stop determined people from registering under a variety of names, then spamming. It is pretty easy to recognize most spam without reading the message. I have no desire to put money in the pockets of those who post links using their referral identifier so that clicking on the link or buying a product will earn points or money for them.

I, too, think having a few trusted moderators is a good idea.

If spamming is allowed to take up a large percentage of the posts, the forum will eventually lose its usefulness. Wading through a lot of spam discourages most people.

Carolyn

[spectecGTD]

I agree that requiring registration is a good idea.

Nothing will stop all spam, but the harder you make it for these idiots, the better for all of us.

In the criminal world, there are "opportunity thieves" who will simply try all the doors until they find one unlocked and there are "determined thieves" who will get in no matter how many locks you install. At least registration will stop the "opportunity thieves". (I regard all spammers as nothing more than thieves because at the very least they are stealing some of our time).

[jerendeb]

I thank you for the change in policy. I will also remain vigilant & email someone at davidco when I see something that looks like spam.

[Day Owl]

Thank you. If this policy reduces the number of spam messages, even though it can't eliminate them altogether, it's worth it.

[jkgrossi]

Thank you VERY much!

[TPorter2]

Appreciate it! Thanks for thinking of the users...

[Jason Echols]

Thank you so much!!!

[TesTeq]

As I see the spam problem still exists despite the registration requirement. Probably you are too busy to read the forum and manually remove spam.
I've got a solution. There is a significant group of active "Senior Members" who are reading and posting regularly. Give them the power to mark the suspected spam posts or even remove them to moderation area. Then you could check them and verify if the post removal was justified.
TesTeq

[Brent]

Excellent idea, TesTeq, though I suspect that's not possible with this board software.

[spectecGTD]

I don't think the expectation was ever that registration would completely stop spam, but it sure has decreased the number of occurrences. Besides, registration would enable the exclusion of repeat offenders and the majority of them aren't going to go to the trouble to continue registering under different aliases.

Fortunately, most spammers aren't smart enough to word their posts in a way to attract the attention of engaged participants, so we actually have a couple of levels of protection from these thieves & idiots.