Private Message Spam

[FrankZ]

We have had an issue with a new member using private messaging to send out spam. If you receive messages that look like spam, especially from recently subscribed users, remember you can use the report feature

to send the site staff a notice. This will send a copy of the message to the site staff so we can deal with the issue.

This also works if you notice spam in the forums and we haven't cleaned it up yet, we do try to get it before anyone sees it.

Thank you.

 

[Petek]

Other sites that I frequent have dealt with this problem by, for example, limiting new users from sending PMs until after they have been registered for at least two days and have at least two postings in the public forums.

Petek

 

[GB]

That might be a good solution for some sites Petek. The downside is that often times new members have questions that they need answered by staff members and sometimes the only way they know how to communicate those questions is by PM.

I have been on sites like that before and found it annoying. There are some sites I use that I never post and have no desire to post and and would not want to post fluff posts to get to the minimum so that I could send a PM.

 

[Petek]

Quite true, each board has to decide what works best for its members. I'm a moderator on a gaming board that once had more than 400 spammers register in the space of several hours. That's why they decided to adopt draconian measures.

Petek

 

[Andy M.]

I guess you could limit the number of recipients on a PM.

 

[FrankZ]

It can be a real task weighing ease of use and a welcoming environment against keeping out the undesirables. In the end I think allowing people who wish to join the community access to the community is a good thing. The undesirables mostly show themselves quickly and are shown the door. This was a case where it was more covert, but in the end the outcome was no different.

We have defenses in place to deal with the more aggressive of these types we just hope to not have to use them.

Thank you.