Re: Detecting / Controlling Forum Spam
I just want to say that I don't disagree it's an occupational hazard with a forum.
However, if any bunch in the world are clever enough to come up with a solution to this problem, I should think the WPW community is that bunch.
And for the record, my biggest concern is not that the spammers are doing this, but rather - and I think this is important - it is that our community resources are being skimmed with no one really being helped.
For instance, a spammer comes to WPW and signs up to post a regurgitated question and then our braintrust members spend their time responding, asking questions and trying to help this fake posting.
Meanwhile, the legitimate postings and questions from real community members are being fraudulently deprived of the energy, goodwill and creative thinking that gets poured into the spammer's post.
Probably the legitimate postings all get answered anyway, but wouldn't it be better if we had a way to prevent the wasted effort in the first place? More energy and effort would be available for the legitimate postings.
And then there's the wasted time component. When I come to WPW and check for "new posts since" my last visit. I detest wasting my time clicking links to posts only to find that some bonehead has posted "good infos. I am looking for this." or some other such trivial comment in half a dozen topics within the space of 3 minutes.
It's frustrating. I'm venting. And I bet there's probably a whole lot more of this crap that our dutiful moderators delete before we ever see it.
But, isn't there something we can do?
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