Hi Friends,
This is kind of a follow up to this post:
https://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=460049.msg3957326#msg3957326
I think the remaining questions might better be discussed with the larger forum community.
Admin panel > Forum > Posts and topics > Post Settings > Time required between posts from the same IP.
The help info associated with it says
QuoteHere you can select the amount of time that must pass between postings. This can be used to stop people from "spamming" your forum by limiting how often they can post.
If you post a 2nd time in less than the time set, the message you typed is lost. So I thought maybe the Sisyphus mod could at least retain the message. The time delay would remain, but at least you don't have to type the message again. But it sounds like that can't work.
But the more I think about it, the more I wonder if this option still belongs in SMF? I wonder if it might be a vestige from the very early days of malicious spam?
Because really, with all the other more powerful spam tools, the only members who would post spam would be newbies. I can't imagine any established members would suddenly start spamming. So why have this affecting all members? Unfortunately, it's not a permission - at least not that I've found. Or maybe just not use it at all?
Or have other SMF admins seen established members start spamming? I remember when you didn't even have to register to participate in a forum. And with guest posting, this option seems more useful. But guest posting seems pretty rare these days.
Maybe there's an angle I haven't thought of, but I'm thinking I can....well it doesn't look like it can be disabled, but at least lower it to 1 minute, or something like that.
Thanks for any comments :)
Use it or not, that's up to the admin really - The setting is in seconds. You can specify 1 second if you want, and any roadrunner will be happy.
Is there a question buried here somewhere?
The implied question is 'can the posts be protected or kept somehow', to which the answer is yes but it requires some serious tweaks in the bowels of SMF to really pull off across all the browsers.
I'm sorry for not being clear about my questions. I'll try to be more clear.
Yes, originally I wanted to save the message which had been typed, so that the time delay would still be in effect, but the member would not lose the message they had typed. digger seemed to indicate that it cannot be done with Sisyphus mod (certainly not easily, as far as I understand his comments).
Since that's not possible, I wanted to find out what other SMF admins think about this option (the posting delay) :
-- Is it really a significant measure against spammers? (Since my forum is set up to moderate the first 2 messages of new members, I can see what spammers try to do, and delete before everyone else sees it. I certainly have not seen a spammer try to post more than 2 messages. So no one has ever tried to post many messages repeatedly.)
-- Since I don't see how this option is very useful, I have to think it must have been a helpful measure at one time? Or maybe under certain conditions? Can anyone elaborate on its usefulness, past or present?
-- Or otherwise is there some threat that I'm not aware of, which this option protects against?
-- Why are all members penalized when spammers will be newbies, 99% of the time?
-- Should there be a permission for this, so we can set up so that only the newbie group has to deal with the delay?
-- How do other admins use this option?
-- If there's more of a threat than I realize, from this kind of spam, and if I wanted to essentially disable this option; is there another way to block this kind of spam (certain configuration of various other options, or other mods, for example)?
Better? Thanks again :)
Usefulness in the past: flood control on spammers. Assume for a moment a spammer got in, this forces some delay between posts to prevent spammers blasting thousands of messages. Say 10 seconds between posts, that means a maximum of 6 per minute, 360 posts per hour.
Maybe reduce the time delay to a point where it still throttles spammers - but doesn't interfere with regular members so much.
Ok, thanks.