Spam Issue with Links - Help!

[JTrollerb123]

Hi, Im having a bigger and bigger problem lately with accounts signing up and posting spam links throughout my forums. I tried enabling the setting that allows me to moderate all posted links - But its becoming overwhelming...mailbox is getting clogged with those alerts. isnt there a way to only allow users that have posted X times or been a member for X days to be allowed to post links? cant find that anywhere

Thank you in advance!

[Jim M]

Do you believe these to be bots accessing your community? If so, I would advise implementing stronger spam prevention rules. I would suggest reading our Guide here: https://invisioncommunity.com/4guides/security-and-rules/spam-prevention-r9/

Currently, your registration looks to only require a CAPTCHA. I would suggest trying Question and Answers but make them something specific to your niche.

What you are asking for allowing the posting of links, this does not exist in the software and would require a customization. You are welcome to post your suggestion in our official Feature Suggestion for review for a future release.

[Randy Calvert]

What you could do however is create a "Newbie" group and make any links posted by them need to be manually approved.  (You can also apply other restrictions such as limit the number of PMs, etc.)  Then create a Group Promotion group that will move them from Newbies to Members after certain conditions.  For example, after they have XX content count or they are a member for at least YY days.  

ACP > Members > Members > Group Promotions

That way only newer members need content approved and not EVERYONE site wide.  That would hopefully reduce the amount of approvals you need to deal with.  

If you are self hosted you can just change the default group to your new Newbie group by editing conf_global.php ('member_group' => XX,) or if you're cloud hosted, create a NEW member group and move all existing members to that group.  Rename the old members group to Newbie and set the more restricted permissions on that group.  

Edited July 25, 2022 by Randy Calvert

[Jim M]

7 minutes ago, Randy Calvert said:

What you could do however is create a "Newbie" group and make any links posted by them need to be manually approved.  (You can also apply other restrictions such as limit the number of PMs, etc.)  Then create a Group Promotion group that will move them from Newbies to Members after certain conditions.  For example, after they have XX content count or they are a member for at least YY days.  

ACP > Members > Members > Group Promotions

That way only newer members need content approved and not EVERYONE site wide.  That would hopefully reduce the amount of approvals you need to deal with.  

If you are self hosted you can just change the default group to your new Newbie group by editing conf_global.php ('member_group' => XX,) or if you're cloud hosted, create a NEW member group and move all existing members to that group.  Rename the old members group to Newbie and set the more restricted permissions on that group.  

Unfortunately, there really isn't a way to do this in the default software though without allowing your other groups to bypass the word & link filters as the link filtering is not group specific. Which I would not recommend.

[Randy Calvert]

Ahh...  well, outside of the default software there is:

@Adriano Faria's plugin might fit the need nicely in that case.  

[JTrollerb123]

Bummed to hear this isn't a default feature.  Certainly a suggestion for future versions.  You've all given me some good ideas - Going to simply try the Q&A challenge first as that seems the most simple.  If that doesnt work I'll work down the list.  Will keep you posted.  Thank you for the feedback!

[Mark H]

Q&A is a good feature, yes. Make sure to create questions whose answer(s) are specific to your community.

Don't use math equations or "What color is the Sun" type questions, as it's often humans doing the registration itself, then turning the account over to a bot to post spam, and they know the answers already. There are apparently also sites that keep lists of answers for common questions, so be sure to change your questions regularly for maximum benefit. 🙂

 

[JTrollerb123]

Good ideas, thank you!