Does the SMF Forum Need A Board for Spam only Discussions/Help?

[sangham.net]

In some cases just voting is helpful (not in all!). Especial if it is the positions are near 50/50 and not issues with real heavy results for many.

You mean we could take a poll?

Why Johann - you do have your moments. 

Yes, the light version could look like this:

Does the SMF Forum Need A Board for Spam only Discussions/Help?

* Yes
* No
* I have a opinion, but I don't like to be responsible
* I like to be responsible, but I am not sure what would be good
* A Redirecting board to Spamsheaven would be enough

-Time for voting 2 weeks
-Voters can change their votes
-Show vote after having voted

The bare majority of the result is authoritative to take action.
The result can be arraigned within 2 days by sending 300 emails to the board main administrator.
With not deleting the pool within the first 5 votes the administrator declares his acceptance of the result and will execute the result it as authoritative.
-----------------
The more advanced pool would need some preparatory work, which could cost even a whole period of the residence of the legislative committee and its opposition, as it would integrate such things like "if the board is ...there and like this...then yes"

2 or 3 works like the "PhD thesis" would be better I guess. So it takes away the "power" of the people who just say "I am against it" but do not present anything.

[Irisado]

The problem with polls is that you would need a representative number of votes for the result to have any meaning whatsoever.  Polls can also be easily skewed by people voting without being in possession of all the necessary information required to make an informed decision.

I've always taken the view on any forum that members are entitled to make suggestions, but it's up to the staff who run the forum to decide whether, and how, they are going to be implemented.

[xrunner]

The problem with polls is that you would need a representative number of votes for the result to have any meaning whatsoever.  Polls can also be easily skewed by people voting without being in possession of all the necessary information required to make an informed decision.

So in effect it's no worse that the election system of the United States, with which we elect individuals who control nuclear weapons.

[kat]

How about having a poll, to decide if we should have a poll?

[xrunner]

How about having a poll, to decide if we should have a poll?

[kat]

I'll take that as a "Maybe"...

[Irisado]

So in effect it's no worse that the election system of the United States, with which we elect individuals who control nuclear weapons.

I never said it was any better or any worse than a country's electoral system.  All I'm saying is that I don't think that it's the right way to go in this case.

[xrunner]

So in effect it's no worse that the election system of the United States, with which we elect individuals who control nuclear weapons.

I never said it was any better or any worse than a country's electoral system.  All I'm saying is that I don't think that it's the right way to go in this case.

Well that's a valid opinion. 

[LiroyvH]

Cleaned up some spam in this topic... Please at least try to keep it clean.

[xrunner]

If they (meaning the powers that be) would just use a little political skill they could have their cake and eat it too, so to speak.

All they have to do is post a poll and say "We're talking behind the scenes about the spam board and we'd like your input. We can't guarantee what we'll decide, but we'd like your input in this poll.

Let's say they don't really want the spam board, and let's say for the sake of argument that it's going to be ~50% split in the poll. Well, they got at least a 50% chance of the poll indicating what they already want. So there's no downside to the poll in that case, it will just show what they already want to do and at the same time let everybody vote.

If the poll shows a majority do want the spam board, they already have an out as indicated in the opening statement. There were no guarantees given, and due to extenuating circumstances blah, blah, blah we decided against it.

This way they give the community a way to participate, but yet hold on to the reins.

Now, if you want any more advice on the politics of forums I stand ready, willing, and able to advise in any capacity. 

[winniethepooh]

Cleaned up some spam in this topic... Please at least try to keep it clean.

I was just joking, and now you put me on post restriction? can i please have my posting abilites back?

[LiroyvH]

I'll reply to you in a PM as this topic isn't a "why did I get a warning" thread either.

[hugbear]

Hi everybody!

I've come to these boards looking for help with a spamming problem. I even did the undoable (search "spam") and this topic came up second.  After reading 11 pages of "anything and everything" a question popped into my mind: should I keep using the SEARCH facility and keep bumping into meaningless off-topic or should I just pick a random board and post, leaving it to the moderators to bother finding a suitable board to move my topic to?

That being said, here's my question.
Is there any way I could make the registration page offer two options:
1. for native (romanian-speaking) users (99% of our user base), with normal automatic registration (Captcha, questions and e-mail activation)
2. for foreign (english-speaking) users, with moderated registration?

And here's the second question: how do I activate moderated registration?

I hope I haven' been too harsh in my opening paragraph, but spam trouble usually bears some urgency (automated spamming can stink up a forum quite fast...).

Finally on-topic : From a user-desperately-looking-for-answers' standpoint, YES, a board/child board dedicated to spam problems would be a godsend (especially if properly advertised).

Thank you all!

[kat]

You really need to start a new topic about your problems, Hugbear. They'll just get swamped amongst all the... er... Spam, in this topic.

[hugbear]

Now that I've cooled off a bit, I suppose I should have started by thanking all the contributors for this great piece of software that they've gracefully let everybody use for free. And the helpful support bunch, too! Thank you all!

Oh, and scratch that second question, that was dumb!

I'll try to find a suitable board for my quest...

[sangham.net]

Sadhu!

[kat]

[xrunner]

Now that I've cooled off a bit, I suppose I should have started by thanking all the contributors for this great piece of software that they've gracefully let everybody use for free. And the helpful support bunch, too! Thank you all!

Oh, and scratch that second question, that was dumb!

I'll try to find a suitable board for my quest...

[butchs]

When I see a new spam method I take note.  I must admit there is one spam software program out there that I figured out and just did not have the time to write the code to add it to my firewall.  If it actually drove up some bandwidth I would have taken care of it but as it runs now my software blocks 90% of the attempts which usually send the operator elsewhere.  By the end of the year it will block 100%.

A spam board I dunno the use of it.  I need to gather data in order to correctly stop the bad guys.  I need to see what they are doing and pinpoint their weakness.  A spam board will most likely list spammers that are known and blocked by some existing SMF method and will probably cause more harm than good giving the impression SMF is vulnerable when it is not.

[MrPhil]

You're missing the whole point of the discussion. The question is whether to separate out questions and answers about fighting spam (mods, methods) from the rest of the 1.1.x and 2.0.x discussions. A huge amount of the talk on the general support boards deals with spam topics, burying non-spam topics and making it harder to find them. That's why it would be good to isolate spam-related talk into its own board or child boards.