Fugitivus Discussion Forum

It's a sad day when reCAPTCHA no longer works.

I think making a "real live people" user group and moving the real live people into it would be a good start, but I'd hate to dump that kind of work on your heads. Then again, it's not like we have a huge volume of new users every day. I dunno.

I did it! Feel free to test the requirements with your own test characters. Anyone in the Newly Registered Users group should be able to read almost all the forum (I think the moderation forum is off limits, but that is an old decision and I don't remember why it was made); post/reply only in the Introduction forum.

Here's the thing. ALL users who register with the forum are automatically added, by phpBB (i.e. there's no way to change it), to both the Registered Users and Newly Registered Users groups. There are three effective levels of permission for each possible action a member can take either Yes, No, or Never. Yes means the user can access that function fully. No means a member of that group cannot access the given function...UNLESS another group of which they are a member *does* give them access. The problem I had before was that I had selected No for all the functions we needed to restrict for NRUs. Selecting Never causes an override. So, while before, the "yes" to posting anywhere that the RUs had was overriding the "no" for NRUs, allowing even NRUs to post anywhere at all. By changing the selection to Never, the NRU settings now override.

The inherent phpBB settings are such that after meeting a small requirement (I think something like 3 posts) you are automatically removed from the NRU group.

If you find that you are suddenly unable to post, please either contact a moderator by email or PM, or leave a message in the Introductions forum.

I am hoping that doesn't happen to anyone who is actually a member who posts, but if it does, all we have to do is just remove you manually from the NRU group.

*crosses fingers*

Totally Not Hex can no longer post in this thread, so I think you've done it.

On the other hand, couldn't a vigorous spammer just post three times in Introductions and then go wild? Well, we'll burn that bridge when we come to it, I guess.

@ Hex - yeah, that was what I was worried about when I suggested a manual move for new users to have posting permission outside of Intros.

@Hex: Yes, they could. At the moment, I'm relying on the hope that the energy barrier is too high - first off, they would have to know that that's the boundary they need to overcome - i.e. read the forum (which reminds me, I should create an announcement in Forum Rules that explains how to get out of probation if you're legit). Second, they would have to actually take the time. Most spammers/spambots rely on macros that do the work for them automatically. Posting three times in Intro specifically requires a bit more thoughtfulness.

If the new requirements don't fix the problem, then I would suggest that it is time to talk to Harriet about upgrading some aspects of the forum (such as the registration spam-circumvention and the forum version itself).

It may also be possible to do more extensive googling (mine has been very cursory) to learn how other fora manage the spam problem. I don't want to have to require moderator approval for new users, but that is an option.

ETA: another change I made that I forgot to mention is NRUs are now strictly prohibited from exceeding the "flood limit" so they can only post so much per increment of time. I don't actually know what that default is in phpBB. I will look that up.

They wouldn't necessarily have to know anything; they'd just have to post three times in the only forum available to them. I dunno. We'll see, I guess.

From an accessibility and/or psychological needing/wanting to post right away standpoint, how about if we require moderator approval for new member applications?

I am sure I could figure this out if I tried, so sorry that I'm asking, but how do I know when there is a new member? I would be happy to be involved in approving new members.

Hmm, I don't know how the notification happens. I will turn on the approval-required, make a new member, and then I guess we see what happens!

ETA: We can also limit the number of links per post. I don't know what a good number would be.

New edit: Okay, I created an account and the email associated with my moderator account immediately got an email asking me to review and/or approve the new member. I think this is a pretty reasonable approach, assuming it doesn't create undue barriers for legitimate users.

Are you OK with taking this on by yourself?