As I’m sure you’re all aware, of late there has been an increase of possible “spam” posts within the forum. Some small amount of debate has ensued, regarding the best way to deal with this, and I have my opinions (rather strong ones, actually) on the subject. However, rather than add to the discussion there, I feel that this is best dealt with in this location, as what I’m going to suggest (and actually have, already) is best posted here.

Ok, enough preamble. I feel that the best way to handle the problem with spammers is to limit their ability to spam, not by placing restrictions on everyone in the community, but upon new members, who haven’t been “vetted” yet. If we could remove the ability to post any sort of URL link in their signatures (and, preferably, in their posts, as well) until they have reached a predetermined post count (at least 5, nominally 10, but no more than 15), then we can significantly reduce the number of spammers that infect these boards. I find this to be a better solution to the problem than installing some sort of Turing test within the login process.

I totally agree Dave! We’ll use your input very soon.

What we’ll also do is to check the links themselves. If they link to a ‘bad link neighborhood’, they are

In the past we had some trouble with people with Bipolar Disorder. They posted many interesting posts on this website, and then suddenly their mood changed and they started to link to adult & gambling websites.

What I want to say: we’ll take precautions! Thanks for adding this (and this is a good place to discuss indeed )