Post Control System

[flyoffacliff]

Currently, the only posting limit is 1 post per 10 seconds per account. If the forum administrator does not login for 48 hours after a spam bot starts. Then that single spam bot using a single account could create 17280 spam posts.


New post control system proposed:

1. Limit each member to 50 posts per hour.
2. Limit each member to 200 posts per day.

3. Limit each guest (IP address) to 15 posts per hour.
4. Limit each guest (IP address) to 50 posts per day.

5. Limit total posts for entire forum to 2000 per hour.
6. Limit total posts for entire forum to 6000 per day.

These limits obviously need to be adjustable per forum.

When a limit is reached for a member or guest, they should be blocked from posting until the time expires. If the entire forum limits are reached, all posts should be blocked until the time expires. The forum staff should be notified when a limit is reached, or if the limits almost become reached repeatedly.

If this system seems too complicated, you can inplent a simplifyed vertion.

[Thomasss]

Hmm, i like it. Though, when forum staff are notified, i do not like the idea they can see the member's.. Couldn't be like a graph?

[flyoffacliff]

Dec 6, 2012 13:21:01 GMT -8 Thomasss said:

Hmm, i like it. Though, when forum staff are notified, i do not like the idea they can see the member's.. Couldn't be like a graph?

Thanks.
Why? It's not really a privacy issue.
Couldn't what be like a graph? The statistics?

[Thomasss]

Yes..

[flyoffacliff]

Dec 6, 2012 13:40:42 GMT -8 Thomasss said:

Yes..

I guess so. A graph would be good.

[Ryan Roos]

The flood control is already fine the way it is.

There is no difference between a spam bot making 200 posts or a spam bot making 17,200 posts. Either way the forum has been disrupted. And both take exactly the same amount of time to clean up in v5. Limiting the capability of a bot (who is apparently a registered member, or it would hit a CAPTCHA) isn't going to do much of anything. In the event that something like this happened we have put in place tools that would allow you to clean up the mess in a matter of seconds. In less than 2 minutes you could ban the bot and remove all of it's postings.

Limiting the overall posts that can be created on the forum would only stop members from posting if a bot was going crazy. It wouldn't stop the bot. And if those settings are adjustable on a per forum basis then they simply don't actually matter.

Like I said, flood control is in place. Protections against bots (CAPTCHAs) are in place. Restricting members ability to post isn't something we want to do.

Thank you for the suggestion though.

[rchelitalk]

..... "In the event that something like this happened we have put in place
tools that would allow you to clean up the mess in a matter of seconds.
In less than 2 minutes you could ban the bot and remove all of it's
postings".....

 Ryan Roos
Is this feature going to be a part of the admin panel we have not seen yet or will Proboards handle it on a one on one with the effected forum?

[Shrike]

Dec 6, 2012 15:47:23 GMT -8 rchelitalk said:

..... "In the event that something like this happened we have put in place
tools that would allow you to clean up the mess in a matter of seconds.
In less than 2 minutes you could ban the bot and remove all of it's
postings".....

 Ryan Roos
Is this feature going to be a part of the admin panel we have not seen yet or will Proboards handle it on a one on one with the effected forum?

It's already in there: Admin > Security > Forum Cleanup

[flyoffacliff]

Would about a smaller spamming that may not get noticed/reported right away. In a forum this size with 4.7 million posts. 50 spam ones her and there might not even be recognized as a spam attack, triggering staff to mass delete the messages. So they would just get removed as people report them, which may take a while for some of them. If you know what I mean.

[Ryan Roos]

Dec 6, 2012 17:24:33 GMT -8 flyoffacliff said:

Would about a smaller spamming that may not get noticed/reported right away. In a forum this size with 4.7 million posts. 50 spam ones her and there might not even be recognized as a spam attack, triggering staff to mass delete the messages. So they would just get removed as people report them, which may take a while for some of them. If you know what I mean.

How a staff moderates their forum is up to them. Either way, when you do ban a member you can use the forum clean up to remove all of their posts. The new report system helps ensure that a member wont go unnoticed by the staff. It will be very apparent that a spammer is spamming even if only a single post is reported. The staff will deal with the spammer how ever they deal with spammers. 1 post or 1000, it doesn't make a difference. And the forum cleanup can help remove anything after the fact.

Your post limiting system or not, wouldn't even prevent your scenario quoted above. It has no bearing on the limiting feature. A spammer will be a spammer either way. They will be dealt with either way. And the forum can be cleaned up either way. But if we limit posting on the forum, you are apt to lose members. You wont affect the spammers at all. We wont be limiting posting any more than we already do with flood control.

Adding posting limits is not the way to stay the number one free forum provider on the internet.