So, is there a way that we can let members that are new (joined within the past week or so) and/or have fewer than a certain number of posts (maybe a dozen or so), be marked by ANYONE as spammers, so that their stuff can be hidden, and their posting privileges suspended pending appeal? I think it would help a lot of regular users could flag spam to help keep the forums clean.
Well, I was thinking something along the lines of blocking them automatically, and hiding whatever they have already posted, without admin intervention. Hence the limit on only allowing it for new users, to catch most spammers, but prevent it from happening to normal users. Admins would still be notified, and could still review the reported post to see if the person should be given access back or not, but then normal users could kill spam without having to wait for admins to jump in and get rid of it.
I'm not sure - I think I'd like to try a another captcha (we've had success in repelling them for a while by changing captchas). It seems the most trouble-free both for new users and existing ones. demonnic will do some work when he's available, he's our admin.
If it helps any, and I know I'm new here so this might be kindly declined..., but I work from home and I check the forums often. I'm happy to be a moderator and delete/move spam posts to a hidden forum section?
To be honest, most of the problem is down to the forums software being used. It's notoriously susceptible to this crap and requires almost constant revision to the anti-spam methods.