Idea for spammers

The spammers are obviously trying to post click-bait to lure web traffic. I doubt they are getting much/any traffic from actual users of the site (we're pretty good about reporting/deleting them quickly), but they might still be generating traffic from web crawlers.

Maybe we could do something like disallow hyperlinking until the user has 10+ posts or something?
I made a suggestion to twicker a few weeks ago regarding a similar criteria, only requiring that a certain percentage of the message had to be non-link. He replied that he was already going to implement something like that soon.
There used to be a post limit before URLs were clickable back when I first joined the forum, I believe it was at 50 posts. The issue is that people asking for help often post screenshots or link to long text files, and it's annoying to have to select the link and drag it up into a new tab.

I think helios' approach is better, but it isn't hard to dilute a post with non-link text.
I smell a lot of lorum ipsum with that approach. Post count requirement would be good. If they are spam and try to circumvent that, they're likely to get banned before they get past the threshold.
But then you'd get a lot of first-post newbies having to artificially increase their post count in order to add screenshots to their questions.

Of course, if we had a "spoiler" button and the ability to embed images, that wouldn't be too much of a problem... until you get people linking to websites relevant to the snippet they've posted.

ie:
*Newbie is following tutorial on how to use FMOD
*Encounters error
*Posts to cplusplus.com in order for help
*Isn't able to link the website where they found it
*Potential helpers can't provide solutions due to a lack of information
The link will still exist, it just wouldn't be clickable by instance
spam.com


> it's annoying to have to select the link and drag it up into a new tab.
yes, your browser sucks.


> in order to add screenshots to their questions.
unless your problem is graphic related, I don't see a need for screenshot.
If it is, then you probably better go to an specific forum.


> Idea for spammers
I was expecting advice to get/produce more spam
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The link will still exist, it just wouldn't be clickable by instance
spam.com
I don't really see the point in blocking spam like that, if a human will still have to go and delete it. Spam is annoying because it's an eyesore, not because you might accidentally click its links.
wasn't suggesting anything, misread Avilus' post as a response to LB's
unless your problem is graphic related, I don't see a need for screenshot.
If it is, then you probably better go to an specific forum.
That paragraph was just a cheap attempt to get those features added to the site :p
closed account (E0p9LyTq)
it's annoying to have to select the link and drag it up into a new tab.


I just right click the link in question and select the option to open in a new tab or window. Works for Firefox and IE.
closed account (E0p9LyTq)
@Disch,

Or have a moderation system, all new posters automatically have their first x posts go to a "hidden" queue for a human to review before getting added to the regular forum queue.
@FurryGuy: Chrome does that too but it's honestly slower than just dragging the link up.

FurryGuy wrote:
Or have a moderation system, all new posters automatically have their first x posts go to a "hidden" queue for a human to review before getting added to the regular forum queue.
We don't have moderators and I believe twicker intends to keep it that way for a while.
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Or have a moderation system, all new posters automatically have their first x posts go to a "hidden" queue for a human to review before getting added to the regular forum queue.


I was going to suggest that people with above 1000 posts could review the posts before going public but what's the point? I even have the right to report a post and then it's deleted(I believe if the poster has < 10 posts) so there is really no point.

I would just say that this site continues using it's current system. Yeah there are spammers but their posts get deleted quickly.
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