Just a quick note that we're getting many complaints of new members joining this board and starting threads that are nothing more than just covert spam attempts. Obviously, they fail to read and abide by the rules.

Please note that I've installed a new modification to the board that prevents any new member from starting a thread on this board until they've made 10 posts (contributions to existing threads), and that their signature files will also not appear until the 11th post, too.

Hopefully, this will discourage spammers and deter members from joining for the sole purpose of abusing this board.

This is a great idea, Michel -- although I've already seen at least one new member rapid-fire posting a dozen variations of "Great post!" in different threads, no doubt to get his/her minimum. Oh, well, there's always someone trying to game the system. The minimums are still a good idea.

Ditto, Ken. TheFundRaisingDiva is posting one liners all over the place, in an obvious response to this change. Some people suck.

I've taken care of that. The Diva's back down to two.

These one-liner postings are breaking one of forum rules. If you are new here, please read the rules before posting.

We will continue to monitor the board and pay special attention to folks who wish to play games.

If you see anything suspicious or any post-trumping, please let one of the mods know.

Thanks for the heads-up guys and gals.

In the Diva's defense, sort of, I see now that they wanted a critique of their website, but were unable to start a thread asking for one until they had their minimum. So it's not like they were trying to spam the board with Russell's report or something.

Thanks Michel, that's good news, but I'm not so sure the signature thing is working. This post caught my eye today with a signature 3x as long as their short post and I see only one other post from them with the same thing going on.

In regards to Kens post about critiques, this is why I love the Sitepoint policy of requiring 3 reviews/critiques from a member before they're allowed to ask for a review of their own site.

Thanks for your efforts to keep this site a great resource, and to your mods for keeping on top of junk like this!

I hear you.

I've implemented a signature hack that limits signatures to no more than 500 characters, and 5 lines deep. However, this hack is not retroactive. So they don't apply to current signatures. If you see any, please report them using the post reporting feature on the upper-right corner, and we'll fix it.

There is a side benefit. I've been on this board for just over a year. I post very infrequently and only started a few threads.

This has made me wake up and realize I need to contribute more to this board.

Keith Goodrum

I'm wondering if "rep power" could be brought into service in this plight.

If nothing else, could possibly make the part of the forum code that checks posts more efficient ?

Dunno -- just a thought.

I'm sure it could be gamed -- but it would be a lot harder

Great news but I hope this won't jeopardize any newcomers who is sincerely want to learn more from this board.

Haha, I've seen this as well.