Comics Discussion => Flipside Discussion => Topic started by: Brion Foulke on February 22, 2011, 10:57:54 pm

Title: If you like having signatures, read this!
Post by: Brion Foulke on February 22, 2011, 10:57:54 pm
So, today I've been downloading a bunch of mods, in an effort to try to prevent spammers from getting into the forum.  Only time will tell how well they work, but at least a few are still getting through even with the various filters and tougher registration code.

What I would really like to do is make it so that you need to have a certain number of posts in order for signatures to be enabled.  All these forum spammers want to do is register as many accounts as possible with signatures in them... even if they make zero posts, if they have links in their signatures it apparently still helps them.  However, it seems there's no way to link signature permissions to the number of posts someone has, there's no mod that I can tell does that.

So I'm thinking about completely disabling signatures on this forum.  That way there will be little benefit for spammers to sign up.  I know some of you have signatures that you like, but would this bother anyone?
Title: Re: If you like having signatures, read this!
Post by: dynamicmoves on February 23, 2011, 06:56:18 pm
A signature is kind of like a piece of yourself.  That being said, most people quote other people for their signature.  
I honestly disable signatures and avatars on all the forums I start to post regularly on.  

EDIT: I don't care if you disable them, and if it kills bots, I'm all for it.
Title: Re: If you like having signatures, read this!
Post by: Ryuu on February 23, 2011, 07:29:47 pm
i like forum signatures, they allow me to share things with everyone who reads my posts, as well as people who read the specific forum the post in question is in

signatures also allow you to tell what kind of person you are talking to easily, as people will often have a signature that relates something about them, or quotes something they find amusing or agree with. signatures are about expression.

but i guess if it help stop spammers i'll live
Title: Re: If you like having signatures, read this!
Post by: Brion Foulke on February 24, 2011, 12:31:51 am
Well, I wanna try it just to see what kind of effect it'll have.  Sounds like you guys can live without signatures for awhile.
Title: Re: If you like having signatures, read this!
Post by: Yeti on February 24, 2011, 01:03:37 am
"It's okay.. we stopped the terrorists!"
 
Excellent work.
Title: Re: If you like having signatures, read this!
Post by: Oddball on February 24, 2011, 09:00:16 am
go for it Brion you're the Boss.
Title: Re: If you like having signatures, read this!
Post by: Ryuu on February 24, 2011, 05:28:28 pm
cries for my mini wallpaper sig
Title: Re: If you like having signatures, read this!
Post by: Blackwolf359 on February 25, 2011, 12:30:08 pm
Could always just copy and paste our sigs in if we still want them...
Title: Re: If you like having signatures, read this!
Post by: Brion Foulke on February 25, 2011, 02:20:05 pm
Don't worry, your old signatures are still there.  If this has no effect I may reactivate them.  I'm still bothered because spammers can still put links under "website", and I can't seem to find a singlemachines mod that turns that off.  I wish there was a mod to stop people from putting links in their profile until they've reached a certain post count.
Title: Re: If you like having signatures, read this!
Post by: Ryuu on February 25, 2011, 06:43:52 pm
weird, i'm still seeing sigs...
Title: Re: If you like having signatures, read this!
Post by: Brion Foulke on February 26, 2011, 12:41:06 pm
I just restored signatures.  So if you already had a signature, it should be restored now exactly the way it was before.

Seems like I found a better way to fight the spammer!  I've been looking for a way to stop them from putting links and signatures in their profiles based on post count, and I think I've found a clever little way.

I took the user group "fresh meat," which is people who've made less than 10 posts, and I made it so that they can no longer view or edit their profiles!  This means they can't worm *any* links into them whatsoever, until they make at least 10 forum posts. 

Of course, this won't stop spammers from actually posting links in the forums, as strangely there seems to be no permissions based way to stop people from posting links.  But at least those are easy to spot and delete.  The main thing is that I want to take away their reason from registering dozens of accounts per day.  I don't know if that will actually stop them from doing it, but at least now they won't get anything out of it.
Title: Re: If you like having signatures, read this!
Post by: Ryuu on February 27, 2011, 02:06:25 pm
well they never dissapeared for me lol
Title: Re: If you like having signatures, read this!
Post by: Brion Foulke on February 27, 2011, 09:36:36 pm
That's kinda wierd, but doesn't matter now.  Anyway, back to deleting bots!
Title: Re: If you like having signatures, read this!
Post by: Ryuu on February 28, 2011, 12:11:45 am
have fun :p
Title: Re: If you like having signatures, read this!
Post by: dynamicmoves on February 28, 2011, 04:52:03 pm
I just restored signatures.  So if you already had a signature, it should be restored now exactly the way it was before.

Seems like I found a better way to fight the spammer!  I've been looking for a way to stop them from putting links and signatures in their profiles based on post count, and I think I've found a clever little way.

I took the user group "fresh meat," which is people who've made less than 10 posts, and I made it so that they can no longer view or edit their profiles!  This means they can't worm *any* links into them whatsoever, until they make at least 10 forum posts. 

Of course, this won't stop spammers from actually posting links in the forums, as strangely there seems to be no permissions based way to stop people from posting links.  But at least those are easy to spot and delete.  The main thing is that I want to take away their reason from registering dozens of accounts per day.  I don't know if that will actually stop them from doing it, but at least now they won't get anything out of it.
Ah, it could take me a day, or a few years to hit 10 posts.  I suppose that's the only problem with post incentive, some people will spam useless posts to make the incentive. 
But, compared to bots, I'd rather have it this way.