Webbie; if one's first post includes a link, send it to a bucket awaiting moderation.

gardensla, This is such a good suggestion. But I don't think the PTB will take the time and effort to reprogram their system and filter out these nightly spammers. I hate to be so negative, but after all the technical problems we've seen and all the great ideas for "tweaks" to improve the website we've really seen no changes.

I think it's pretty clear there's no moderation in the wee hours of the night and the hoaxers have noticed, because that's when all of the threads appear and they remain until about 7:30 or 8 a.m. For those who think the nightly messages are not a big deal... some of the links go to dangerous websites, some in other countries, some known for phishing, malware, or identity theft. Anyone who doesn't know this might click a link and fall prey to some bad things, bad people.

However, it's always worth posting the idea. Never know when it might catch someone's eye and make a difference. Thanks for posting!

On 3/3/2015 gardensla said:

I am so tired of finding the home page clogged with spam posts nearly every morning. The way to stop this cold is by sending all first time posters who include a link to a special "awaiting moderation" bucket that you review before allowing the post to go through to the home page. New, legitimate posters will find a home here; spammers will find it not worth the trouble to wait.

Spammers have found the chink in your system's armor (well, it's not exactly difficult to figure out that apart from a few banned words, there are no real rules here); put up a wall to keep them out!!

Home page clogged with spam posts ?

Yes- it's annoying, for sure! You don't even need to click on the thread to know that it's SPAM. The barely coherent English titles posted in weird places (Beauty's Best Gifts, for example) are a dead giveaway.

I've seen the spam too. But I think 99% of posts with links are legit. Why would webbie want to edit for the 1%? No business in its right mind would operate based on the 1% (except in politics, sorry, couldn't resist). Most businesses look at the 80/20 rule. They operate based on 80% of what goes on.

On 3/4/2015 CalmInTheHeart said:

I've seen the spam too. But I think 99% of posts with links are legit. Why would webbie want to edit for the 1%? No business in its right mind would operate based on the 1% (except in politics, sorry, couldn't resist). Most businesses look at the 80/20 rule. They operate based on 80% of what goes on.

I think you've missed my point.

On 3/4/2015 Tinkrbl44 said:

On 3/3/2015 gardensla said:

I am so tired of finding the home page clogged with spam posts nearly every morning. The way to stop this cold is by sending all first time posters who include a link to a special "awaiting moderation" bucket that you review before allowing the post to go through to the home page. New, legitimate posters will find a home here; spammers will find it not worth the trouble to wait.

Spammers have found the chink in your system's armor (well, it's not exactly difficult to figure out that apart from a few banned words, there are no real rules here); put up a wall to keep them out!!

Home page clogged with spam posts ?

The morning I posted this there were NINE spam posts in a row on the home page. In my opinion this is an issue. If it's not an issue for you, that's fine. Not really sure what your response adds to the discussion.

On 3/5/2015 gardensla said:

On 3/4/2015 Tinkrbl44 said:

On 3/3/2015 gardensla said:

I am so tired of finding the home page clogged with spam posts nearly every morning. The way to stop this cold is by sending all first time posters who include a link to a special "awaiting moderation" bucket that you review before allowing the post to go through to the home page. New, legitimate posters will find a home here; spammers will find it not worth the trouble to wait.

Spammers have found the chink in your system's armor (well, it's not exactly difficult to figure out that apart from a few banned words, there are no real rules here); put up a wall to keep them out!!

Home page clogged with spam posts ?

The morning I posted this there were NINE spam posts in a row on the home page. In my opinion this is an issue. If it's not an issue for you, that's fine. Not really sure what your response adds to the discussion.

As I said in my previous post, I think you make a good point gardensla.

Again, the problem seems to lie in the fact that there's no moderator on duty in the wee hours of the morning (my guess: no Webbie here between about 12:30 and 7:30 a.m.). If they cared about the nightly posts with links which might be dangerous to their readers and posters, they could staff the position during that shift or they could alter the programming and scrutinize the first posts made by new members.

I don't really see that happening, but continuing to raise the issue can at least warn posters to report those nightly spams and also to stay away from the links in those threads.

Hi gardensla (and others who share in the concern raised by gardensla),

Thank you for posting this topic in the Suggestion Box forum (my apologies for the slow response). We are actively researching our options to get this problem that you raised corrected.

In the meantime, we could use your help. Please use the report inappropriate link when you come across these types of posts to insure we see them and get them removed.

Thanks again for your suggestion!

(sorry, I'll try again!)