Spam messages on this forum

  • Something needs to be done to tackle the amount of spam appearing here, I must tag about 2 posts/users a day and I bet other users are seeing/tagging similar.

    How come it’s so easy for a bot/idiot to sign up here? Is there no email authenticator in the signup process?


    Come on Enscape, add a little security to this place.

  • Hi Paul Russam


    We are aware of this issue.


    Currently we are looking into what we can do short term and discussing internally what the best approach is long term.


    Thank you for bringing this up however!

    • Official Post

    +1

    Thank you - I'm sorry to hear that it's currently as obvious.


    Every time a new user signs up and posts something for the first time it instantly gets blocked by us and has to be approved manually - the problem here is also that many new users simply comment/compliment some renderings in the showcase section, for example, (which we approve) then when they post something else it's usually spam and/or they adjust their signature and include spam afterwards. This is the only reason how spam even gets through.


    We're still looking into ways to perhaps even avoid this in the future in some form.

  • Irony:

    I read this post as it was in my notifications and then the next one was this …….



    I’m assuming that most if not all spammers are bots and not chemically powered meatbags like the rest of us, surely a double opt-in where the new user is sent an email they HAVE to reply to be able to join would go some way to eliminating their presence.

    • Official Post

    Thanks Paul Russam , and sorry about that - there were some settings not fully applied since the last update that made some posts (in certain Forum areas) from newly signed up users come through without permission. This has now been fixed. Up until we approve any new post from a new member manually it won't be visible to other Forum users. Only once a new member has an account active for over 3 days they can then post without manual approval. This should naturally still avoid incoming spam since spam-"bots" are trying to spam here right away after signing up.


    Also, even right now users who sign up freshly already have to confirm their account creation through the e-mail they are using for the Forum. Now with the extra layer of protection of approving every post manually, we hope that only (very) few spam threads will creep through if that user, as mentioned, adjusts their signature for example a few days later.

  • That’s good news, though I don’t envy whoever it is (you?) that has to police all the new users.

    No need to apologise to me, flagging/reporting them to yourselves is in my opinion just good forum citizen behaviour. In fact it’s almost become a bit of a game for me when I browse the unread posts ?

    • Official Post

    Paul Russam , and I always do/did truly appreciate the reports as well, just hopefully from now on you can then spend your time on something else in the Forum. ^^


    Also, that current solution to ensure that as little as spam gets through will just be temporary. Of course, once we'll have even more users than currently, it may be a bit tricky to moderate, although switching to an entirely new (and perhaps more modern/feature-rich) Forum system for example in the not so distant future could also come with its solutions as well. Nothing set in stone though yet when it comes to any plans. ;)

    • Official Post

    Paul Russam , no spam should be coming through indeed. ;) We're now taking down those spam accounts before they even have the chance to post anything whatsoever. I have even more plans with the help of some plugins to fight spammers, but for now, you should generally not have to report any posts anytime soon again. :D