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A big Thank You to the mods

Posted: Mon Jun 19, 2023 5:42 pm
by stam
Just a few minutes ago I noticed every forum was spammed and it's all gone now. This is something I think we've automatically come to expect but is due to the diligent hard work of our Mods - just wanted to say a big 'Thank You' for your tireless efforts!

S.

Re: A big Thank You to the mods

Posted: Mon Jun 19, 2023 6:00 pm
by Klaus
At your services, Sire!

Re: A big Thank You to the mods

Posted: Mon Jun 19, 2023 6:02 pm
by stam
And by 'our Mods' Ι suspect that mostly means you Klaus :)
Thank you!

Re: A big Thank You to the mods

Posted: Mon Jun 19, 2023 6:22 pm
by richmond62
Kisses to our mods.

Re: A big Thank You to the mods

Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2023 1:08 am
by mwieder
I missed the influx of spam but I add my ongoing thanks to the mods.
We need a moderator appreciation day. Or week. Or forever.

Re: A big Thank You to the mods

Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2023 7:45 am
by SparkOut
I missed the spam attack, but also express my appreciation.

Re: A big Thank You to the mods

Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2023 8:04 am
by richmond62
I suspect that huge spam attack might have come about because someone or something has noticed reduced traffic round these parts.

Re: A big Thank You to the mods

Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2023 11:33 am
by stam
But they will have noticed most excellent moderating now ;)

Re: A big Thank You to the mods

Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2023 4:49 pm
by jacque
All hail the mods! Which also includes Richard.

Re: A big Thank You to the mods

Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2023 9:44 am
by SparkOut
Big thanks again for clearing up another massive spam attack this morning

Re: A big Thank You to the mods

Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2023 9:55 am
by stam
Yeh I saw that spam attack - and yes another massive thanks to Klaus and Richard who tirelessly moderate the forums!

This is getting silly tho… it’s been so long ago I registered with the forum I can’t remember, but is there CATCHPA or similar functionality to stave off these bot runs?

Presumably the spammer accounts are permabanned? How about IP addresses?

And, perhaps more pertinently, would things be better if the forums migrated to a modern platform like Discourse?

Just a thought….

Re: A big Thank You to the mods

Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2023 3:01 pm
by heatherlaine
Yes indeed, thank you Richard and Klaus for your efforts.

We do have captcha/are you a robot/answer these questions anti spammer measures on signup. Unfortunately there is a body of actual people who spend their lives signing up to forums in order to spam them. It's an industry, and a constant game of whackamole. Yes, we ban them, yes we delete them, yes we ban by IP address. There are always more IP addresses, more email addresses, more usernames.

We do keep the idea of migrating the forums to something more modern under review. It might happen one of these days. It's a vast body of information to migrate. Many people do not take kindly to change :) Others would view it positively.

We will just have to see.

Best Regards,

Heather

Re: A big Thank You to the mods

Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2023 6:33 pm
by FourthWorld
Discourse is my new favorite forum package.

If migrating from PHPBB is easy then why not? But if it's at all difficult these forums could be maintained as an archive, with a fresh start on a new forum for new content.

Re: A big Thank You to the mods

Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2023 8:24 pm
by richmond62
As far as I recall, the forums are already duplicated somewhere else.

Re: A big Thank You to the mods

Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2023 9:01 pm
by dunbarx
Richmond.

Where?

Craig