The spam is getting quite annoying. I assume the decision was made not to require it because this is/was a small forum and people may not want to bother to register to ask one small question, but there were ten spam threads created in this forum in the last two hours, and it's becoming a real pain in the ass.
Edit: I just PMed mcm with:
Peng wrote:Since you're the second user to join and your description thingy is "Site Admin", I'm assuming you're someone who can make this change...
The spam here is just getting really annoying, and I expect it will mostly go away if mandatory registration is turned on. And if there's someone around to quickly ban spammers and a CAPTCHA, I expect it'll really go away.
(If you respond, please do so in the thread I created about this. I'll probably post this PM there, too.)
Actually a while back mrbene made me and Icedogg both administrators to deal with the spam issue. I have thought about restricting posts to registered users only before but didn't want to as it seems around half the users posting here aren't registered.
True I have been irregular and Icedogg will likely have done most of the cleaning up in the past. Alright, posting in the forum is now only open to registered users.
@guest, I can see both sides of this. But I feel that if someone has a question, it's not to much to ask to register. Cost nothing, and you don't have to give any real personal info. Anyone can get an email account just for this forum. Takes maybe 10 min tops.
I wish it didn't have to be that way, but because of spammers it does. Before the argument is made about blocking IPs, or blocks of IPs.. that does NOT work. I sit here one day and watched the same spammer use 25 different IP's and none where even close.. not even the same first number. Fact I seen one that used an IP that is common to a regular user..and I'm pretty sure it wasn't the user. So apparently IP's can be faked.
Also, I would argue that discussions has drop on the regular adblock's site because nothing is happening there. No new versions and the devs hardly ever post there. mcm being the exception. Not criticizing them.. I visit there often, fact as much as I am here. There just isn't anything going on to discuss.
There is plenty of cases of sites that you have to register to post that have tons of post. TEM's one. Neowin.net. I could list thousands.
What takes longer? A registration or the uninstalling of the extension? Why should I register, when I will post only twice and then never come back? When I must register somewhere, only in order to ask a simple question, then I move along in most cases. Deinstalling is faster and causes less trouble.
Registrations will not stop spam completly, some spammer even can circumvent the captcha...
Stop it no, but slow it down.. already is. Most the simple problems for this extension has been ask an answered, so you'd only have to search a little. But if it's a more complex problem, asking you to take a min to register isn't to much to ask, IMO.
I agree it's a pain. Like I said I can see both sides of it, I really can. But I would ague that when someone comes to the site and sees a bunch of spam they may uninstall and move on anyway. Thinking it must not be run very well.
Maybe it would be a good idea to create a section or only a single topic area just for guest posting. Even if it gets spammed, the main areas will still be clean and non-members could still ask a question. At that point, maybe the spammer will just give up.
guest wrote:What takes longer? A registration or the uninstalling of the extension? Why should I register, when I will post only twice and then never come back? When I must register somewhere, only in order to ask a simple question, then I move along in most cases. Deinstalling is faster and causes less trouble.
What's more beneficial for you? Taking two minutes out of your day to register (you could even use spamgourmet to create a disposable email address) or uninstalling Adblock Plus? I'd say the former is.
guest wrote:Registrations will not stop spam completly, some spammer even can circumvent the captcha...
Of course. But it'll cut down on it significantly. I'd say we get more spam here than on the registration-requiring (and possibly CAPTCHA-using, I don't remember) MozillaZine Forums.
