'Probie' Status for New Members

[BeccaBeez]

Will a new member receive any formal notification of their promotion from 'probie' to full member?

[DigiFluid]

That sounds like a lot of work for your staff for the rather rare instance of attack. But hey, no hassle for me

[Darren]

Will a new member receive any formal notification of their promotion from 'probie' to full member?

Not that I know of. Their posts will just cease to be queued at a certain point.

[Wildrose-Wally]

I guess that other board where I'm an admin was not the only one to be hit big time by spammers during the night. This morning I had quite a mess to clean up while hurrying to get ready for work.

We can't use the probie method on our board though. Too bad.

(Oh yes, this post is also a test, it being my first post here. Just to see if I got that new status.)

[Skydiver]

since you were a member before it was implemented, you don't quite fit.

it'll apply to new members once they join

[STILE BOT]

This is my first post but no one can see it yet until it gets approved ?

That's cool and all, just wanted to figure out how this probie status is going to work.

[Morbo]

man its a good thing i am such a well respected member already

[Skydiver]

yes, isn't it

[Morbo]

to be serious for a moment - as a big forum poster type guy person thing, if i couldn't post right away, i wouldn't bother with the forum. i'd move on to the next one.
just my perspective.

[Skydiver]

if that's what happens, so be it.

the alternative is to do nothing and leave ourselves open to another attack like last week's.

Unless and until there is legislation in place to punish those that abuse others online, and the ability to turn transgressors over to the authorities, there's not much we can do beyond try to control and prevent it as much as possible

[Skydiver]

or, in some sites, you CAN'T post a link. it is totally stripped. as is any and all symbols other than those used for punctuation.

[Darren]

Yep. Another alternative for us would be to disable the IMG tag and file attachments entirely, so that people could link to images (good or bad) but not cause them to display inline.

That's an extreme step that would alter the nature of our forum, I think. Instead of doing that, the mods are happy to take on the extra work of managing Probie posts.

[Skydiver]

the elimination of IMG tags, that would also put an end to any and all personal sigs.

Not that i'd lose sleep over that aspect since it's one of the most abused things on the forum

but i'm sure all those people with their pretty sigs would be a LITTLE upset at losing them, simply in an effort to control spam

[Skydiver]

we can do that...but do you have any idea how many sites are out there that have pics on them?

it'd be stopping a flood with a teacup

[ShadowMaat]

If you build a big enough teacup... Kidding, kidding.

[FN-P90]

we can do that...but do you have any idea how many sites are out there that have pics on them?

it'd be stopping a flood with a teacup

i know that but i mean. it would help i think

[Skydiver]

your idea is a valid one, however the sheer number of sites that host photos - 'good' and 'bad' ones is simply too large to block. We'd have to block all those sites you guys all use, including photobucket and other photo sites.

before we'd do that, it'd be faster and easier to simply curtail the use of all IMG tags

A step darren doesn't want to take because it'd remove all you guys' sigs as well, not to mention basicallly killing all the thunk threads

[Darren]

We have started adding some offending sites to a block list, however, so that any links or IMG attempts from that URL will be thwarted.

Unfortunately we can't include free hosting sites like PhotoBucket in this list. And there are a near infinite number of domains, so ...

[topaz_bean]

We have started adding some offending sites to a block list, however, so that any links or IMG attempts from that URL will be thwarted.

Unfortunately we can't include free hosting sites like PhotoBucket in this list. And there are a near infinite number of domains, so ...

Ah okay, I was gonna say there are certain well known sites that primarily aim to display offensive and/or disturbing images, which obv. I won't name here, that could be blocked, but you already have a block list, so I could have saved my breath!

Although, in fairness, the people who joined the other day seemed pretty practised at what they were doing (how pathetic is that?), so they probably wouldn't link from an easily recognisable domain name anyway.

[Pitry]

your idea is a valid one, however the sheer number of sites that host photos - 'good' and 'bad' ones is simply too large to block. We'd have to block all those sites you guys all use, including photobucket and other photo sites.

before we'd do that, it'd be faster and easier to simply curtail the use of all IMG tags

A step darren doesn't want to take because it'd remove all you guys' sigs as well, not to mention basicallly killing all the thunk threads

My sig! My pretty sig! Ban all new users if you have to, just don't touch my pretty sig! [/devil soul-selling]


Another possible option is something a friend of mine is doing on his website, the only way to register is to post a request (including email and SN) on a specific area of the forum, he sees the request and so can approve the legit new members.