Misuse of Forum by peddlers.

[sarnoga]

It appears that this forum has drawn the interest of tramps and peddlers who want to misuse this form to advertise their porn sites and Viagra sales. There are several examples of this posted recently in General Hypnosis.

Whoever is doing this would have to create accounts to do so. These posts are all off topic. I don't know what means EMG has to put a stop to this but it seems to me that these people are usually relentless and if posts like that continue it will soon make this forum an unpleasant place to visit.

I personally don't like having to wade through a bunch of crap to get to the real posts.

No doubt just banning the individual user accounts that are being used to post such crap will only result in them opening more accounts. There may be a better solution.

I encourage EMG to find a solution and have included a poll in an attempt to isolate the best way to deal with this problem, that is if anyone but me sees it as a problem. Please participate in this nice little poll for the fun of it.

This poll is set to expire in 30 days so vote while you can.

Regards,

Sarnoga

[EMG]

What it means is that a spambot has found us and is able to create accounts via an automated technique. I will modify the login process slightly and it should stop.

[Calimore]

Tie them infront of the television and feed them marsipan and make them watch reruns of I Love Lucy until they die.

Amazing! How does Sarnoga know my plans for retirement?!

[darkenedav]

Hate to point this out but I raised this with the 'site dev' forum part and 0 reply.

It's staggeringly easy to be honest. There simply needs a 'flag' box or 'alert admin' on each thread (much like the quick reply area) where people can flag a post to admin (obviously the more flags the more prioritised it is).

Then they can simply ban the person from posting and remove the post :)
{with an email sent to the one on record when you setup saying why and if you dispute it goto xyz etc}
Tada!

[EMG]

It's not a bad idea, and is on the dread TTD list, but the list is REALLY F'ing long. What I need is a FT PHP developer to make the site the way I envision it. Oh, and the mone to pay them... ;)

Hate to point this out but I raised this with the 'site dev' forum part and 0 reply.

It's staggeringly easy to be honest. There simply needs a 'flag' box or 'alert admin' on each thread (much like the quick reply area) where people can flag a post to admin (obviously the more flags the more prioritised it is).

Then they can simply ban the person from posting and remove the post :)
{with an email sent to the one on record when you setup saying why and if you dispute it goto xyz etc}
Tada!

[darkenedav]

fair enough.

If I get into the whole PHP dev side I'll lend a hand but thankfully my job is design only at the mo ;)

Besides it couldn't change too much :) Half the appeal is the fact the forum is a little retro for me :D

[EMG]

Yeah, the problem is that with every year that goes by, the site starts to get more and more retro. Not, entirely, a good thing. Right now iphone/itouch/ipad users can't even play files(a fix is coming).

[Calimore]

Yeah, it sometimes feels a bit retro, at least it does for me. I obsessively ran a couple of BBSs back in the 80's but got away from even using bulletin board-like services to be a more committed parent and husband. Now, 25 years later, the kids are grown and the Old Lady is just happy if I make it home every night.

Not that that has been a problem - my ever increasing interest and involvement at WMM has managed to keep me off the streets for two years so far. Sure, that makes for safer streets, but one has to ask, what does that mean for the internet? :P

[darkenedav]

iphone/itouch/ipad users can't even play files

Hate to state the obvious but that's a user error most times.

I've a HTC tattoo (android touch) and I regularly check for msgs on it, also I download the mp3 and just put it as an mp3 as after all how often do you impulsively listen to an mp3 trance on your mobile?

[sarnoga]

Tie them infront of the television and feed them marsipan and make them watch reruns of I Love Lucy until they die.

Amazing! How does Sarnoga know my plans for retirement?!

It must have been a hidden subliminal in one of your files that I listened to.

[Neith]

If we can hypnotize them into playing on the railroad tracks. Does that mean we can dress up and laugh like Dick Dastardly? Or Muttley for the TF fans?

[guytohypno]

A simple capture code usually stops the spambots, and it's a minor inconvenience for real posters.

[Route42]

iphone/itouch/ipad users can't even play files

Hate to state the obvious but that's a user error most times.

I think this is probably the case, too. I've been using an iPod Touch for the better part of 2 years and have never had any trouble with WMM files.

(Well, except for the subliminal for TrainSexMen, but that was a problem file on all systems I tried it on.)

[sarnoga]

If we can hypnotize them into playing on the railroad tracks. Does that mean we can dress up and laugh like Dick Dastardly? Or Muttley for the TF fans?

Of course you can, if you desire.

[stan]

If you're interested in hypnosis a small delay won't matter.

I suspect many, like myself, just lurk. So how about an initial 1 week 'read only' period ?

[lexii]

A simple capture code usually stops the spambots, and it's a minor inconvenience for real posters.

be sure to get a good one tho. i could write a script to get around most of them 8/10 times (not that i would - just making a point).