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Forum spammers

Posted: Wed Dec 27, 2006 12:35 pm
by richardwkirk
Recently you may have noticed that a number of spammers have been posting messages on the forum. This is a common problem on public message boards and we apologise if they have offended anyone.

In order to prevent further spam messages appearing we have modified the configuration of the forum. Now whenever new user register they will be sent a confirmation e-mail rather than being signed up to the site immediately. After registering, this e-mail is sent immediately so should only take a few minutes to get to you.

By adding this feature the number of spam messages will hopefully be reduced. This is because the confirmation e-mail contains a link that has to be followed to activate the account. As spammers generally use automated 'bots' to post messages accross many forums this simple measure often prevents them from creating an account to post with. Also the spammers rarely give a real e-mail address so will not recieve the confirmation e-mail to allow them to activate their account.

The number of spam messages will continue to be monitored and if it remains a problem we will investigate further steps that can be taken to prevent it.

Thanks,


Richard Kirk
Webmaster for Chorley and District Natural History Society.