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[AdrianH]

May I suggest that the post edit time settings be adjusted to a one day maximum?  This would prevent more link spammers arriving and ading links a few days/ weeks later.

On many sites/forums now there is a new trend to spam via a normal sign up, adding genuine looking site relevant content then returning to drop links into old posts which often go unseen by staff.

Todays spammer at Kitz has been seeking out sites he can edit content on weeks later whereas many forums prevent editing after as liitle a 2 hours.

[silversurfer44]

That seems a reasonable idea. I would think most edits are similar to mine and that is to correct a spelling mistake.

[tuftedduck]

It is, of course, impossible for Admin and Mod. staff to be "on duty" 24/7 and be always scanning the Forum, and it is thus possible that the odd rogue post or edit can appear.

However, I would like to think that members agree with me when I say that the amount of spam appearing on the Forum is minimal.....in fact I would go as far as to say that it is rare.
A great deal of time and effort goes into preventing spam appearing, and in the main that effort is not wasted.

Admin.staff are up to their elbows at the moment, working in the background on various projects, and it may be that the suggestion above, good as it sounds, may have to rest on the back burner for a bit.

For the moment, all I would ask is that members continue to be alert to any spam, and if spotted, place a post in the "Spam Alert" thread......whereafter it will be dealt with asap.

 

[UncleUB]

I find due to the alertness of admin and members very little spam actually gets through onto the forums.

[jeffbb]

Hi
For the small amount we get (thanks to the sweepers  ) and the vigilance of forum members ,I see no benefit in losing the ability to correct  a post. If a spammer edits an old post then most likely it will be read and recognised as spam the the sweepers will be informed and they  will move in. If its not picked up then probably its not been read so the spammer has wasted his/her  time.

Regards Jeff

[scottiesmum]

If we are all vigilant and make the usual warning posts, they are dealt with so quickly, that personally, I think the current system works well; and if that alleviates the Admin/ Mods work load, all to the good    (Just my three €uros worth whilst nipping in from the sunshine  )

[roseway]

This sort of measure is always going to be a compromise between what's best for members (being able to edit posts) and what's best for keeping spammers out (restricting editing). I think I personally prefer to leave editing unrestricted and rely on people's sharp eyes to spot the few nasties which get through the net.

[silversurfer44]

I fully appreciate what everyone is saying. I agree the admins do a marvelous job and that there is very little spam gets through, however I would have thought that more of a thank you for put the suggestion forward was in order. Even though the measures are not required or even wanted. I thought that Adrian showed thoughtfulness. I agreed that his suggestion was a reasonable idea to think about, obviously no-one else agrees. That's fine, but I found all the answers rather curt. Apart from TD mentioning that the idea would have to go on the back burner.
Sorry but it seems to me that members shouldn't come up with ideas. Even if they may in the long run relieve some of the pressure on the admin.

[tuftedduck]

You are quite right, ss44.......I did fail to thank AdrianH for taking time to raise a constructive suggestion..........so AdrianH, I thank you now and I trust you will accept my apologies for my omission.

Suggestions regarding the development of the Site or Forum are always welcome.....and will always be given full consideration.

[silversurfer44]

And I will apologies for throwing the rattle out of the pram.

[roseway]

Members' suggestions are always welcome, and if we sometimes fail to say thank you at the time it doesn't mean that we're not grateful.

[AdrianH]

You are quite right, ss44.......I did fail to thank AdrianH for taking time to raise a constructive suggestion..........so AdrianH, I thank you now and I trust you will accept my apologies for my omission.

Suggestions regarding the development of the Site or Forum are always welcome.....and will always be given full consideration.

No need for any apologies from anyone TD.

The suggestion was made based on what is now rapidly becoming a trend hitting large numbers of sites/forums. Spammers have changed tack and we are seeing many like the individual removed yesterday, the new attack sees peole joining using "proper" user names and posting site relevant content which no one would suspect to be anything but genuine.

If the site allows unrestricted editing ( which is rare these days) then they return often weeks later to slip in their spam links which then go unseen and your site becomes a free host for them.

Suggestions are just that, the site admins obviously act as they see fit.

[kitz]

Thank you adrian for the suggestion... all suggestions are greatly appreciated.  May I just ask for the time being that forum members be viligant and bear with us a little bit longer.

 
I dropped a hint a few weeks ago that something new may be in the pipeline... what you guys wont obviously be aware of is that work has already started on that process.

This month SMF2 has been given gold status and come out of beta and has much better protection against spam attacks.  However, I think as discussed in the very same topic the prospect of editing templates were mentioned.  Unfortunately due to the heavy customisation and personalisation of SMF1 over the past 6 or 7 years has meant that I cant do a simple upgrade path... and everything breaks.  Im having to start again from afresh with a clean SMF2 install.

We are now at the stage where the custom skin has been designed in SMF2 format and we have a working SMF2 test forum. 

Yet another stumbling block is that SMF2 doesnt have a direct data import function and within the past few days I'm actually at the stage of test2 which is attempting a manual import of data from this forum into another test platform.  Unfort that failed as the data structures arent the same and its currently b0rked. 
So its back to the drawing board and setting up yet another test forum in SMF1, manually importing data.. then upgrading to SMF2.  Once Im happy that this goes well then it will be done live. 

We will be having some downtime on the live forum..  as Ive found the only way it seems possible (without creating and forwarding to a new url), will be to backup this forum.. then destroy it..  then start again on this url.

Obviously  I want to make sure that everything works and its tested as much as possible before messing on the live platform.  So whilst you guys probably arent seeing anything atm.  I can assure you that Ive been beavering away in the background for the past couple of weeks.

[kitz]

Not sure if the above info came out clear.. the basics are

This forum is too heavily modded/customised to do the usual SMF2 upgrade path.
I dont want to do a 'botch job' because that will still leave random customised code in some templates which may on serve to cause problems in the future for further upgrades.

Some SMF users have got around this by starting from scratch with a new url...  eg kitz.co.uk/forum2   I obviously dont want to do that hence why its taking longer to resolve.