Somebody get rid of nsk

[jont]

As much as I agree with the concept of paying to be a member I don't really see the powers at Actinic going that route - especially with all the free open-source software on the market. From a PR and marketing point of view it would be an uphill struggle and another arrow for the open-source companies to promote the "free forum". Actinic would essentially be making everyone pay for support (the forum is not officially support but real life is a different matter) which is not so good if it is to sort bugs and other such issues that should be solved for free.

[guccij]

Actinic would essentially be making everyone pay for support (the forum is not officially support but real life is a different matter) which is not so good if it is to sort bugs and other such issues that should be solved for free.

Until I switched to Actinic, I was with a software package which charged you for every support ticket and whose forum was never read, let alone moderated by staff. As a result, that forum is next to useless and users are left to sink or swim. I jumped ship and landed here, tg.

I know this isn't Actinic support, but Actinic people DO read what's being posted here and I'd rather they were able to spend time doing that, rather than having to delete spammers and their multi posts.

Paying a tenner for access to this hugely valuable resource would be peanuts imo.

[TraceyHand]

*sigh*

and this morning...we have yet ANOTHER one posting on every thread he/she/it can find.

If we're not going to have some sort of charging for new members, then moderate new member sign ups.
don't allow ANY posting until new membership has been approved and, if this takes time, allow the new, unmoderated member to search the forums in the meantime.

I'm betting we'll get fewer 'noob' questions/posts that way too because they'll have found their own answers in the forum first while waiting to be approved.

[Duncan Rounding]

The latest stint (cjawcrusher512 ) appears to be more malicious than spam - no links no keywords.
Perhaps just stop sign-ups over weekends.

[TraceyHand]

I hadn't even read any of the posts when I posted that, tbh
I just saw the ream of new posts in the list and felt the urge to comment (not like me, eh? )

Stop weekend sign ups...moderate ALL sign ups... (or give someone 'weekend priviledges' to moderate the weekend ones)
I think we're all agreed though that something needs doing

[Darren B]

I agree

Actually the moderation bit has been mentioned, errrm once or twice, but at the the end of the day, i see alot of these come from china, block their ip ranges from the server, simple as, and yes i know you can use a proxy e.t.c but the more barriers you put in place the less likely they are to persue and will bugger off to another forum that is easier pickings

D

[cdicken]

Hi all - this weekend was particularly bad for spam. We shouldn't flatter ourselves that spammers are targetting our forum specifically - we just happen to be using a well known piece of forum software, for which there are programs out there which allow the automatic posting of new threads. All someone needs are some valid login details (which can be bought cheaply enough from companies who spend all day signing up to forums) and you're away.

Really the only way to slow this down is to manually verify new members, and I have recommended this to the management team this morning. Thanks for the offer of policing it, but we shouldn't expect you guys to do that for us except as a last resort.

[Fairyglass]

While I'm really happy to pay a tenner to access the forum, unless the profit goes towards the expense of moderating it I have to question the wisdom of paying Actinic for what is at present an informal information source populated by (very experienced and helpful) volunteers.
A solution would be that when purchasing Actinic you pay for membership of the forum as part of the cost of the software. Surely it's not hard to limit membership (those with posting rights) to those who own the software the forum relates to- just like the Developer section is at the moment?
Anyone using trial software, or looking to purchase, should be able to freely roam the forum looking for answers, but not be able to post- if they can't find a solution they're within their 30 day trial and so should go to Actinic support imo.
*ducks down under parapet*

[RuralWeb]

when purchasing Actinic you pay for membership of the forum as part of the cost of the software

Not really workable as people would then expect answers from the forum as they would view its use as part of the purchase of the software. We would see more of the "I demand an answer because i have paid for the forum" posts.

If Actinic were getting paid for the forum and it was seen as part of the software deal then some people on here may not post anymore?

[jont]

Maybe the initial log-in could be the license key which you can then log in and change to your pets name later

[RuralWeb]

should be able to freely roam the forum looking for answers, but not be able to post- if they can't find a solution they're within their 30 day trial and so should go to Actinic support imo.

I totally agree with this point - Actinic tend to hide the 30 day free support IMO so new users find thier way here and get upset when they are told to contact support etc and not post here - I just ignore them now

[jont]

Not really workable as people would then expect answers from the forum as they would view its use as part of the purchase of the software.

Indeed - that would require a member of paid support to be online at all hours to answer the questions.

[george]

Maybe the initial log-in could be the license key which you can then log in and change to your pets name later

Corrie the Staffie ain't impressed with that idea LegoBloke.


Almost all fora get spam in some way. The most frustrating issue with this one is not always the actual posts (which can easily be ignored) but the thread email notification kicking off...

...anyway, apart from that I think its alright as it is.

[Mark H]

"If Actinic were getting paid for the forum and it was seen as part of the software deal then some people on here may not post anymore?"

I agree, and consider any form of payment to Actinic to be a non-starter. It is frustrating enough to be treated as an unpaid member of Actinic's staff without having that formalised by having to pay Actinic to use the forum.

As well as the email notifications, the most irritating thing about the spam is the fact that it drags old (often closed) threads back to the top of the list.

This chinese spam is easily dealt with, we have given you a number of workable solutions, please just get on with it.

[cdicken]

We've got a couple of vbulletin mods to try out, but they need to be tested etc. so please bear with us over the next few days.