So in my interest to see what the current registration process for Massassi was for the forum game I should have up late tonight, among other reasons, I tried registering as a new member. Here's the page we currently have, for those of you who don't know:



As you can see, it's very simple, and at least for me, the e-mail verification after went quickly. This is good for allowing new members! As you might imagine, however, this also makes it easy for spammers. As you can see, we currently have one deterrent (a random question) which I presume weeds out a number of spambots. For those who don't know, though, Massassi still gets a strangely high number of spammers, and we've resorted to mass IP-blocking and, at times, even closing down the registration, neither of which I think are ideal solutions. This has already caused a complication for a member who recently moved to China and now currently is blocked along with the rest of the country.

So, for you all, I'd like to hear what your suggestions may be as far as better methods for weeding out spammers, after which we'll have to figure out which, if any, are feasible:

• Add more security measures, such as captchas and the like. The upside is that, in theory, more security measures of this nature would deter spammers. Depending on the set-up, however, this may also deter legitimate users. I would be interested to hear your suggestions on which of these you like the most and least, ideally linking to examples of such.
• Add some form of "recommendation" system, where a new member needs to be sponsored first by another existing member. The upside is that this would eliminate not just spammers, but even theoretically reduce members joining that the whole of Massassi just doesn't approve of (maybe they break the rules in other ways aside from spamming). The downside, of course, is that this would create a level of elitism, and make it impossible for just new people to wander onto the site.
• Require that the new user post a number of times (say 5 or 10) before given the option to, say, post anything more than plain text on anything more than one forum board. I was part of another forum that did this, though this was used less as a spammer deterrent and more of a "bad/inactive member" deterrent. Upside is that it'd allow the moderators an easier time to weed out spammers (since I personally don't notice a number that slip through some of the less active boards), the downside is that we'd still see them on likely the Discussion Board, and it'd be bad for me since it's not uncommon for me to get people who register just to post on the ISB.
• Increase the number of moderators to lessen the burden on any one moderator to clean out the spam when it appears. Upside is already mentioned, while the downside is that there's no guarantee that anyone made a moderator will do their job (since it's volunteer), we already have a number of moderators/admins who don't seem to frequent Massassi, much less do their part, and it doesn't fix the root cause of getting rid of spammers.
• Charge money for being a member. Upside is that this would virtually deter all spammers, and the downside is that it'd deter a lot of other people too for a lot of legitimate reasons.
• Not change anything. Upside is that it'd remain the status quo, and nothing would get potentially worse from something we've done on our end. Downside is that it'd remain the status quo, and there's nothing stopping the problem from getting worse.
• Close registration. Upside is that we won't get any spammers. Downside is that we won't get anyone else.

If there's something I didn't cover, please bring it up! Personally, I think the registration could stand to have at least one or two extra standard security measures added (I admittedly don't know what the latest and greatest in deterring human and robot spammers), since I'm not convinced it's even weeding out the spambots well, and I don't think that would be adding any significant problems for legitimate users. Should this not appear to make a dent, though, I would suggest looking into something like a recommendation option, as realistically, we don't get too many legitimate new members, much less ones not brought in by an existing members. I don't know how flexible our forum system is to allow for that, though, so it may not be an option. This is why I want to hear what you all have to suggest.

Please take this topic seriously and offer legitimate suggestions. Thank you.

EDIT: I would also lump some sort of "review" system with recommendation. That is, new members apply, and other members (they may be admins/mods, or just some pool for all members to look at) could review to accept or not. That would alleviate some of the issue for complete stranger-yet-legitimate members to allow joining. I wish to clarify that I don't think this is an ideal solution, and none of this I think will be easy or good. I do think it needs to be looked into, though, and we have a bunch of smart people here who can solve these sort of problems.

A. Captchas don't work. They result in more spam, not less.
B. Recommendation system would equate to closed registration, as most new members here have no relation to existing ones.
C. Making them post in one forum or use plain text just makes the effectiveness of their spam less effective, it doesn't make them spam any less.
D. Adding moderators is good and all but it doesn't solve the underlying problem (lots of spam).

And of course the rest aren't really options, they're just things other forums do.

A) I just threw captchas as an example. I've seen other systems, such as SolveMedia on the Black Mesa registration page. Again, I'm not saying THAT one should be used, but there are certainly options out there, and a combination of two or more may help. I'd also be curious to see where you got the report that such measures make for MORE spambots than less.

B) I elaborated on my idea to include a "review" system. Also, I'm curious how you determined that most members didn't have a relation to each other. While that was quite likely the case in the earlier years, I have my doubts it's as much the case now. I know the vast majority of people who registered for the ISB, for example, especially in the latter half of Massassi's existence, were due to my urging them to do so.

C) If you read my post, that's exactly what I implied - not everything I suggested was ultimately a spammer deterrent. Some were just options to make things less a problem.

D) Again, if you read what I typed, that's what I said as well. I'm simply outlining ALL the options, not necessarily the ones I think would be good.

The only other thing I had listed was to charge money. Again, it's something I don't agree with, I just listed it as an option.

Please read more carefully of what I typed, and more importantly, everyone please do their best to try and attempt to allieviate the problem, not just shoot down everything people suggest.

A. I didn't get reports. I tried it myself. I used two separate captcha systems and that was the time that, you will note, we were flooded with spam. Keep in mind that CAPTCHAs are usually solved via human labor since it's fast and cheap for them. Any number of CAPTCHAs wouldn't make much difference.
B. Based on inference from the way they don't know anyone and no one knows them.

I know what you said, I read it all the way through. I just get tired of hearing the same stuff over and over.

I think if you made 1000 captchas they might not come!!!

[Not suggesting you do this i'm just saying..]

One idea that came to mind was this:

1. Increase moderator pool
2. Instate some sort of introductory period, like your third bullet, where the new member has to post so many times to "prove" that they're not a spambot, or something. Maybe have it to where moderators have to approve their posts until this introductory period ends, or to where it won't accept their post if it contains links. After this introductory period, they become a full member.
3. Instate recommendations to bypass option 2, in the event that the person is a friend of an established member.

One option that I object to definitely is the paid memberships. While it could cut down on illegitimate members, it would also cut out legitimate and established members.

Also, if we did captchas, we need one that reads "MB is fat," and references other classic forum memes. This is a must.

BAN EVERYONE. PROBLEM SOLVED.

Why not have every new member personally webcam chat with Sarn?

I always liked how the DoomWorld forum registration asked for you to identify the enemy shown in an image on the page. I don't know how well that has worked for their forum, but I actually thought Massassi already had one of those. Boh!

I'm not opposed to new moderators, but I don't really see the need. Those of us that have the ability to do so have been doing a pretty good job at keeping up with the spam.

Plus, @hotmail addresses are banned now, which has significantly reduced the amount of spam accounts.

fill in the blank:

SF_[____]_01

Plenty of way more popular forums out there do not have any of these problems with spam. Most likely:

1. CM is doing something wrong
2. vBulletin is terrible
3. All of the above

Seeing as no one posts anything barely worth reading here in general, it's all kind of a moot point.

i like the sarn option

Says the guy with 26,000 posts.

Found you the answer. And here's my middle finger for option 1.

Since the contest ended this board has been dead

.

The whole "Massassi is dead" is almost as old as Massassi itself.

Also, there's a new forum game. You all should play it, get your friends to play it, get their friends to play it, and so on.

I've got to admit, Gebohq, your forum games scare me (in a good way, though). All those finely-put words, sentences and prose yet all I can really handle is pictures of animals farting.

Animal farting...? I think you give yourself too little credit - you're the guy who made TODOA, after all!

It is likely my most complex game, though the never-played Time to Kill ranks up there. Terminal Testament is essentially like many of my other games, it just happens to now resemble more of an RPG, is all. I appreciate every person who is willing to give it a try, in any case.

This is the best idea so far. Matty, when can we expect to see it implemented?

Seeing one spam thread every few days really doesn't seem like that big an issue to me. The system seems pretty good as is.

Obi_Kwiet: Are DS mentioned, the admins (myself included) generally wipe them fairly quickly when they appear. As I've also said, Massassi currently banned entire countries' worth of IP addresses, and apparently anyone using a hotmail address too... I honestly don't know the whole extent. Considering that much, I'd expect as someone in anyone's else position to see virtually NO spam, especially considering Massassi is not a high-traffic site, last I checked.

It's not a huge deal. I just thought Massassi's general knowledge base could be put to use in things other than politics and insulting each other.

Take that, Madagascar!

That's not because of the spam; it's because they closed off their ports too fast for CM to get Massassi in there.