I thought I would update you on our spam problem that caused us to go to the approval before you can post for new members.

You would think that by now that the spambots would slow down but we still get about 10 bogus registrations a day. I know this is a pain in the butt for real new members but this is the only way to keep the board spam free. So for now, we will still go with the approval before your allowed to make your first post method!

Thank you, Karen for your efforts to keep LCT "clean"!

Karen I feel if someone really wants to join LCT for cruising information they will not mind in the least going through the approval process before being allowed to post. Thanks for keeping this community so great! :app:

Haven't been onboard for awhile, but I appalud every effort to do what is best for this wonderful board

Karen running my own board, I know how time consuming it is to go through having to manually approve each member, so I thank you for it.

Karen - thanks for keeping this board spam free. You are the queen!!! <img src="http://smileys.sm...%253D36%252F36_22_31/image.gif">

Yay Karen!



Masaki

Great job, Karen!

Karen, you are the best! Thanks for all you do. :app:

Karen - are the SPAM coming on LCT post links or e-mail addresses as part of their first post? If this is the problem and the software allow it - perhaps you can just set the approval process for those posts - those without these type of links are automatically approved. Flyertalk has the same protocol for new member posts. This will be a lot less work for you.

Peter, I am not sure what you mean?

Ok - pretend that I'm a brand-new poster.

1. "..See www.cruisecritic.com for more information.." - in this case you have to approve the post since it contains an external link to a website.

2. "..E-mail me at johndoe@yahoo.com.." - also need to approve the post since it contains an e-mail address.

3. "How much does it cost to get from Dover to London." - no need to approve this post since it is assumed to be a legitimate post since no links or e-mail addresses in it.

This is the way that Flyertalk is setup for new members now - quite effective in keeping away spam since most have links to other websites or e-mail addresses in them.

I'm not sure the software for LCT allows this option - but was throwing out a suggestion that could mean less work for you and less frustration for legitimate new members.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Peter, our software must be a little bit different as there no options to approve posts after they have been submitted.

Ok - just throwing out a suggestion. On Flyertalk this "approval" process is just for new members also.

Flyertalk uses the same board my site uses and I don't know of a way to do that, unless you wind up setting it to ban emails completely.

The only other thought is they bypassed what is there and played with the software, in which case they're losing their "warranty" on the use of the board.

Really the only way to do it is the way that Karen is, and most web boards that used to not have approvals to join, are now going to the approval process so as to weed out spam.

I post on another board where posts go into a "holding area" visible only to the board owner, until he approves them. He does that to new members, and to people who have a habit of posting things that are objectionable.

I don't know the whys and wherefores, but I know that posts pop up in a thread that weren't there until they got approved.

I watched a lot of our spambots pop up before Karen put the approval process in, and some of them had links to either porn or drugs in their profile.

Internet Brands now owns both Flyertalk and the Software Company that produced that software.

Karen, I can only imagine how much time you devote to keeping this place beautiful and swept up. Thank you so much.